One of the things on our bucket list for retirement in a few years is to take a tour of the Bavarian alps, preferably in Gunther, but since we can’t easily take him half way around the world, any old Porsche will do.

Lucky for us, Porsche offers tour packages where they set you up in a brand new 911 rental, hook you up with other Porsche enthusiasts and send you on your way through the Black Forest (or Tuscany or a number of other places depending on your preference) for a few days, stopping along the way to stay in 4 and 5 star lodging.

It sounds like a dream, right? Well, it’s our dream at least.

Of course with everything going on in the world and not knowing what the future holds, we aren’t sure we’ll ever actually make it over to take one of these Porsche tours of our dreams, but we hold out hope that in a few years it will happen.

Until then, I found a cheap knock-off version that we can do in our very own Gunther and it’s not that far from us. I had no idea this place existed until recently when the YouTube algorithm alerted me to it by putting the live cameras to this place on my homepage.

Had I known about it sooner, we’d have already been there!

It’s called Leavenworth and, no, it’s not the infamous Leavenworth prison, it’s a Bavarian village in Washington state, about 10 hours each way for us to drive over. I did some research on it and it looks fantastic!

The village has an interesting history, according to the official website:

In the early 1960’s, town leaders had a bright idea: change Leavenworth’s appearance to draw visitors. If the gorgeous alpine hills had no equal except in German Bavaria, the city planned on completing the experience. This was no mere facelift. In addition to completely renovating the downtown area, community leaders created a series of festivals, drawing revelers into town. From there, the Autumn Leaf Festival, Maifest, and the immensely popular Christmas Lighting Festivals were born and continue to this day. To say the change worked is like saying you can taste a hint of cabbage in kraut. For decades, Leavenworth has been a top tourist destination in the Pacific Northwest. More than a million tourists walk our streets every year, finding “Bavarian authenticity and Northwest hospitality.”

Apparently there are tons of things to do in town. Like lots of shopping. There are inns and bed and breakfasts to stay in and of course the winter time means Christmas lights and sleigh rides.

Or, horse and carriage, if you prefer.

It’s a bit late in the year for us to plan a drive over now, because Gunther will be going in the garage soon until spring, but next year hopefully we’ll make time to visit Leavenworth so I can upload my own photos!

I know this post seems like a paid promotion for a town I’ve never even been to, but it’s not, I promise.

It’s just that I’m so happy to have found it and wanted to share. Oh, and if you’ve been there, I’d love to know if it’s worth a twenty hour drive total for us, so please drop a comment if you have!

Danke. 🙂

(all photos in this post are from the official website of Leavenworth.org)