Leavenworth Christmas Lights + Snowy Lake Serene

this is we're hiking the lake serene today which is a seven point two mile hike if you skip bridalveil falls which adds an extra mile that hikes about a two thousand foot elevation gain we did this hike back in August of 2017 to celebrate one year living here it was kind of a day like this a little foggy rainy so we're hoping we get some better views than last time but regardless it'll be really fun it's not too busy today and this is actually our 60th hike of the year which is super exciting our original goal was 52 and now we're trying to get to 65 I think we have like four more weekend's left so cool even though we didn't actually go to the Falls which so much water that we're able to see like multiple different colleges on the normal trail [Music] it's kind of snowy as former Texans we still get so pumped whatever we see snow even if it's like this little amount like yeah [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is awesome [Music] we made it to the lake and it's a winter wonderland we are hoping there would be snow but I saw a photo from two days ago and there wasn't really any snow at all so I didn't want to get my hopes up too much but it is gorgeous it's very cold though so we made some coffee to keep us warm we're using our awesome custom Yeti mugs that our friend jess gave us jess you the best so we're gonna warm up with some coffee before we head back to the trailhead [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we finish like three hike number 60 is done it took us about two hours to get to the lake and that was with stopping the film and then we spent probably close to thirty minutes there and that took us quite an hour forty five to get back so it was not cheap out of a hike it was really fun it was a lot of fun it's pretty flat uphill the whole way obviously by the switchbacks and stuff they get pretty tough when you get closer but then like you get up into the snow and you kind of forget about the switchbacks and it's a lot of fun to play around in the snow and then once you get to the lake though the water was like against like stark white of the snow it was just really cool to see yeah that was probably one my favorite hikes we've done recently that was fun gorgeous and the perfect way to kind of kick off our wintery day because next we're heading to Leavenworth for their big Christmas light show so for this the third year now that I've really wanted to go we've never gone because we've been too scared to drive on the wintery roads but this year were like we're doing it we're gonna make it happen so we're gonna love and worth for the rest of the day to see the lights to eat some bratwurst walk around it's our favorite town it's a Bavarian village so it's pretty much the closest you can get to feeling like you're at one of the European Christmas markets without going to Europe so we're heading there next we'll see you there [Music] [Music] [Music] we made it - lemon words and the dress was beautiful we saw so much snow it was actually my first time ever driving on snowy and icy roads they weren't really bad at all but for me it was a big deal being from Texas and all so I did it we're here in one piece and yeah we're super bummed to be here and we got free parking lots of these lots are on here 20 bucks of up hop but we just kept driving around and that parking gods have been on our side recently so we got it for free quite a deal so first things first we're gonna grab coffee at our favorite coffee shop in Leavenworth called Argonaut coffee right behind us yeah it's cute super cute little stands we come here every single time we're in Leavenworth sometimes twice in a day we love it that much so we're gonna grab some coffee and then grab some food and walk around before the light show starts yeah give me coffee please [Music] online for sausage huh all right we're a mooch in the house think I said it right hey this is our favorite place city in Leavenworth we come here every single time I got the bratwurst with sauerkraut onions jalapenos and jalapeno mustard so it's jalapeno galore right now again favorite place to eat here can't wait to dig in and I just got a sausage [Music] lunch or I guess it was dinner maybe linner is very delicious yep now we're gonna go do a little bit of shopping before the lights come on [Music] oh I taste like salt or something honey I'd shower after she loves you [Music] [Applause] [Music] my Christmas dream has come true that was so beautiful it was very busy which we expected it actually didn't feel as busy as we thought it would feel I mean there were definitely a lot of people but we still had some space around us we expected it to be everyone smashed together like that one time we went to Rockefeller Center at Christmas yeah the lighting festivities start at about 4:45 but they do a couple speeches they sing a few songs they have like a Bavarian style band out here so about 15 minutes of that and then they do a little countdown to give you some warning so get your camera ready and then they light it up yeah I think they lights came on around 5 p.m. so a lot of people were kind of wondering what's going on so in case you come in the future 5 p.m. out the time when the lights actually come on yeah so we wish everyone a very very happy holiday season we are actually about to kick off a two-week road trip from Seattle down to Marfa Texas and Big Ben we're gonna spend some time in California Arizona New Mexico we're gonna go to five national parks throughout the two weeks we're so gonna scoop up lots of tacos on oh yeah basically the whole itinerary's tacos yeah we're very very excited stay tuned we will have many roadtrip vlogs to kind of recap what we do on our two-week road trip and for everything that we did today we will link to in the description below and we also include our six Seattle day trips guide which Leavenworth is one of the day trips on that guide so if you want to come to Leavenworth yourself we have kind of a built out itinerary it's definitely a little bit more summer focused but there's still stuff you can do in the wintertime so we will see you guys in a few weeks right [Music] I'll try that again and I just got a sausage nobody knows right future future [Music]