December 8th, 2007

When they were little girls, Nicole and Jacqueline went to the Bavarian village of Leavenworth, far in the snowy interior of Washington State.

They had very fond memories of the trip and always wanted to return.

It was decided to head out there for their annual Christmas festival which included a ceremony where the entire town's Christmas lights get turned on.

Well, it seems Nicole and Jacqueline weren't the only little children to fall in love with the town, and want to come back with family.

There must have been 80,000 people there, packed into tiny shops, crammed streets, and noisy restaurants. The line for the hat shop alone was 100 deep, just to get inside.

We stuck around the the ceremony, then bolted before the two lane highway into town became a parking lot.

We'll probably check it out again in the off season.

-Rob and Nicole

Some snow fell at our house a couple days before, so Elliot got to touch snow for the first time.

Jacqueline helps Elliot clean his hands in the Bavarian restaurant

Elliot gets closer to the horse and they check each other out.

Rob Elliot, and Nicole pose with Father Christmas outside in the town square.

The main street of the village, with all the Bavarian-inspired architecture.

Here's the Phantom Lake house with our first snow of the season!

This enormous horse was pulling a fancy carriage around town. He liked Elliot and let him get close for a sniff or two.

It's cold outside, but the horse's breath is like a big heater on his little face.

Thousands of Christmas fans showed their support for the holiday.

A panorama sweep of the festival just as the lights came on, and just before we ran to the car for our escape.