Once upon a time, Leavenworth Washington was a small logging and railroad community.  Then, the railroad relocated to a different town and Leavenworth's economy went down the tubes.  They really didn't know what to do until they decided to change the town into  a little German village.  Now tourists come from all over to visit! And that is exactly what we did one very cold snowy Saturday just after Christmas.  We left the house at the official adventuring hour.  4:00am sharp with a full compliment of adventurers.  At about 6:00am I woke up as we were crossing the Columbia river into Maryhill Washington near Stonehenge.  We kept on driving for a few more hours and then my dad had to pull over and take a picture of the temperature.  It was 15 DEGREES BELOW ZERO!!!  There were tiny ice crystals floating in the air and the headlights made them shimmer. About 9:30am we finally got to Leavenworth and the drive was worth it.  I have seen pictures of old German towns and this really looked like one.  There was LOTS of snow (some of the snow piles were bigger than me) and it was all decorated for Christmas.  It was very cold and I, being a klutz, found a way to fall down an ice hill.  Luckily I wasn't hurt (except for my pride).  There were lots of little shops that had neat things.  There was one that was full of Russian nesting dolls (one of my favorite things).  My dad took a picture of me in a traditional Russian headdress.  I bought a nesting doll set there. We spent several more hours walking around and browsing in the little shops and then it was time to head for home.  The drive home seemed longer than the drive there and we were sad to be leaving because it was such a nice place.  The mountains and the snow and everything made me really feel like I was in a small German village in the Alps.  We really need to go again and spend more time there.  And maybe buy another nesting doll!