Leavenworth is a city in Chelan County, Washington. It is part of the Wenatchee−East Wenatchee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The entire town center is modeled on a Bavarian village.

Leavenworth was officially incorporated on September 5, 1906. A small timber community, it became the headquarters of the Great North Railroad in the early 1900s. Railroad construction was completed during the winter of 1893. The railroad relocated to Wenatchee in the 1920s, greatly affecting Leavenworth's economy. Lafayette Lamb and his brother, Chauncery Lamb, arrived in 1903 from Iowa to build the second largest sawmill in Washington state.

In 1962, the Project LIFE (Leavenworth Improvement For Everyone) Committee was formed in partnership with the University of Washington to investigate strategies to revitalize the struggling logging town. The theme town idea was created by two Seattle business men, Ted Price and Bob Rodgers, who had bought a failing cafe on Highway 2 in 1960. Price was chair of the Project LIFE tourism subcommittee, and in 1965 the pair led a trip to a Danish-themed town Solvang, California to build support for the idea. The first building to be remodeled in the Bavarian style was the Chikamin Hotel, which owner LaVerne Peterson renamed the Edelweiss after the state flower of Bavaria.

​Leavenworth is home to the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum, which opened in 1995 and contains more than 5,000 nutcrackers dating from prehistoric to modern. Leavenworth hosts an annual Oktoberfest celebration. Leavenworth's transformation into a theme town was inspired, and assisted, by Solvang, California. Later, the Washington town of Winthrop followed Leavenworth's example and adopted a town theme.

For the next few months we will be exploring the historic "101" from north to south. There will be many stops along our journey, and hopefully lots of exploring. Be sure to keep checking for the updates to our Photo Albums for the sights and sounds found along this route.

U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of Washington, Oregon and California, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as El Camino Real (The Royal Road) where its route along the southern and central California coast approximates the old trail which linked the Spanish missions, pueblos, and presidios. The nearly 1,550-mile-long (2,500 km) highway's "northern" terminus is in Tumwater, Washington: the route remains along the Olympic Peninsula's coastal perimeter west, north, and east; the northernmost point on the highway is in Port Angeles. The southern terminus of US 101 is in Los Angeles at the East Los Angeles Interchange, the world's busiest freeway interchange.

US 101 is called the Oregon Coast Highway in Oregon, and the Pacific Highway in parts of California. It is also called "The 101" (pronounced "the one oh one") by Southern Californians or simply "101" by residents of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington. From north of San Francisco and continuing almost to Oregon it is also signed as the Redwood Highway though not often spoken of as such outside organizations responsible for tourism marketing. Urban portions of the route in Southern California are named the Santa Ana Freeway, Hollywood Freeway, and Ventura Freeway at various points between East Los Angeles and Carpinteria, California.

In 2008, the portion of US 101 that runs from the Conejo Grade to the Old Town district of Camarillo was dedicated as the Adolfo Camarillo Memorial Highway to honor the city's namesake and extends through the boundaries of the original Camarillo family ranch. In 2003, the portion of US 101 in Ventura County was named Screaming Eagles Highway in honor of the US Army 101st Airborne Division. Urban portions of the route in the Bay Area are called the James Lick Freeway, Bayshore Freeway, and Central Freeway. A portion of the route between Cochrane Road in Morgan Hill and SR 85 in San Jose is named the Sig Sanchez Freeway. The section of highway between SR-85 in Mountain View and Embarcadero Road in Palo Alto is officially known as the Fredrick E. Terman Highway.

Street routings in San Francisco are more commonly referred to by their street names rather than the route number. Portions of the route between Southern California and the Bay Area are named El Camino Real or El Camino Real Freeway, but such names are rarely used colloquially; the route number is used instead. In Northern California the section of US 101 between Sonoma and Marin counties is often referred to as the Novato Narrows because of the reduction from four lanes to two.

Birch Bay is a protected bay located between Semiahmoo Bay and Lummi Bay. It is also commonly referred to as the community near and around this body of water, but is actually not its own town. Birch Bay is approximately 100 miles north of Seattle and 35 miles south of Vancouver, BC, Canada. It was named in 1792 by Archibald Menzies, a member of the Vancouver Expedition. Vancouver's two ships used Birch Bay as an anchorage for several days. Menzies noted a number of species of birch and gave the name to the bay.

Situated just a few miles south of the US/Canadian border, Birch Bay RV Resort offers convenience, fun, and a family friendly environment 365 days a year. For water-goers, a beautiful saltwater beach is located just a few miles away. There visitors can enjoy swimming and splashing about, along with crabbing, clam digging, and oyster picking. For those seeking land activities, Birch Bay RV Resort has a bicycle and walking track perfect for soaking up the great outdoors.

We enjoyed exploring the area that included day trips to Blaine, Bellingham, Fairhaven and a ferry boat ride from Anacortes to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. We squeezed quite a bit into our ten day stay here. Be sure to check out the photos, this is a beautiful area and the people are very friendly.

• Click to go to Thousand Trails Birch Bay Web Site.