FYI the DYI went smoothly......

7:48 am - Thursday - August 13th - Cashmere, WA - 57° F, 47% humidity, wind 9 mph out of the north by northwest......high clouds today with a forecast high of 81° F.  On this day in 2012 we were at Hug Point on the Oregon Coast......↴

You recall my writing about the errant FedEx package which finally arrived last Friday, which we picked up from my sister's home on our way west from Coeur d'Alene through Spokane this past Sunday.  That package contained a passenger side inside door panel for our 2001 VW Beetle.  The original door panel was slowly deteriorating to the point where there was a large crack in the trim above the door pull (the same door pull I replaced when we were in Wittmann a few months ago because the original had completely broken away from the panel).  I found the exact replacement on eBay for $141 delivered, and while it shows its age, is in very good condition overall.  We've had the replacement panel since last Sunday, so Wednesday seemed to be a good day to switch out the old beat up one for the replacement.  I've had both door panels off in the past, so I was familiar with the vagueries of their removal.  As with any DIY project I undertake there is always the concern that the 'Hockwald Way' will rear its homely head and extend a seemingly simple, straight forward 30 minute project into two, or three hours, but I am happy to report it only took 30 minutes.....

 The nicer door panel installed

 The old door panel literally fell apart as I removed it 

.....and the even better news is that all the switches (door lock/unlock, electric window switch) still work as intended. With the successful completion of yet one my DIY projects TLE and I donned our Sunday best, even though it was Wednesday, and began our drive into Leavenworth.  It is only 10 miles from our current location into Leavenworth, but Mr. Murphy reared his head in the form of road work which had traffic backed up for miles in each direction as only one lane of traffic could pass through the construction in each direction at a time.  Instead of taking us 10-12 minutes it took the better part of an hour to cover the 10 miles, but alas we finally arrived in town, but only to find parking at a premium in this touristy, Bavarian Alps themed town.  After driving through numerous public parking lots looking for that single, illusive parking spot, we finally found one out on the western edge of town.  After a 5 minute walk we reached the tourist area.....

.....as one might expect, all the buildings look as if they had been directly transplanted to Leavenworth from Bavaria at some distant time in the past....

......as we edged closer to the center of town the crowds of people began to multiply.  There was about a 50/50 split of people wearing and not wearing face masks, however, every store required a face mask to enter, as well as restaurants until you reached your table, then somehow, miraculously, the threat to exposure to airborne virus ceased.  Only alfresco dining is offered at the dozens of restaurants in town, which is no problem for those of us who actively seek out such dinning opportunities, however, since indoor seating is eliminated your wait for a table can be significant.  

We determined pretty early on that we were not going to spend any time browsing through one store after another putting on, and taking off our masks like trained seals, so after walking around town to get the feel of the place we zeroed in on Icicle Brewing Company.  We put our names in for one of the alfresco tables, and were told it could be up to 45 minutes....that's okay....what else have we got to do?  The weather was pleasant, and the scenery was pleasant, so we continued walking around town awaiting a phone call advising our table was ready.  Thankfully, we got the call in less than 25 minutes, and were seated within minutes at our, apparently, force field protected table sans masks sipping our Porters, and awaiting our lunch selections........

.....TLE ordered their turkey sandwich, and I their meat platter (an appetizer)....we split both of them while enjoying our brews, and enjoying the safe, virus free environment of our table.....

.....by the time we finished it was approaching 3 pm, so we leisurely strolled back west along the promenade toward our Beetle snapping the occasional picture of the Bavarian themed architecture along the way......

.....of course, on the way home we ran into the same construction traffic, only not backed up quite as bad as it was a few hours earlier.....we were home by 4:30 pm at the force field protected Chelan County Expo Center where we are free to roam mask free.

By the way, I poke fun at the mask wearing regulations we run into as we move through these extremely rural areas, because they are not applied consistently, nor do they make any logical sense.  You can tell that businesses are just enforcing the silly rules to be able to open for business.  While I am grateful to be able to go to a restaurant the thought that we must wear a mask while walking from the host station to our table 8 feet away, but can take it off as soon as we sit, and are somehow then pronounced safe from the Wuhan virus as long as we stay within the small confines of our table is just silly.  We are sitting in an outdoor environment with a breeze, and sitting 6 feet from our dinning neighbors means nothing if they sneeze, or cough and the wind carries the expectorant quickly to our table.  And, yet, I am allowed, by law, to sit there without a mask eating and/or drinking.....how does that make any sense?  By the way, Leavenworth is in a county which has had just 10 deaths in 5 months, and less than 200 diagnosed cases.....I do not feel at risk here....this is not Seattle, or New York where one should feel quite at risk.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!