We like to travel with our Airstream friends. The idea of sharing bites while sitting around a campfire swapping stories of travels past, is pleasing. One such trip, a rally actually, brought us together to sip wine. We got to talking and then our friends asked….
“We’ve never been to Leavenworth, can you plan a trip there, for us?”, they asked. Why me I thought? Then it occurred to me that I had previously planned trips to Walla Walla, Kentucky, the coast, and even up to the Canadian Rockies. I kinda get into the planning thing and love including our Oregon friends in the trips. So that is why they asked me to plan another trip up to the Washington Cascades.
“Sure, we love that place and I know of the perfect campground.”, I told them. “Just there or on to other places?”. They just wanted a short trip up to see the Bravarian-like village.
Skipping ahead a couple of years, there came a call for rally ideas from the Oregon Club, I replied with the idea to rally in October…an Octoberfest Rally, in Leavenworth and share it with the whole Oregon club. I knew there was a big difference between planning for 4 of us and planning for 25 rigs at our new “Octoberfest rally”. The dates were set the second week of October – the last weekend of the celebration in town and the last of the farmer’s markets in Wenatchee. We ended with 27 rigs, or around 50 people. Our campground was again, the Wenatchee River County Park, 5 miles west of Wenatchee and down the hill from Leavenworth.
We asked our friends from Oregon to co-host with us, sharing the duties of activity and meal planning, shopping, and basically making sure we had all the necessary ‘stuff’ to cater to 50 people. A large coffee pot, ice chests and ice, beer, wine, appetizers, breakfast pastries were all items to plan for. Decorations, music, a tent and lights were also needed (I had heard it rains a lot). We scheduled a few activities, but we mainly gathered ideas for places to see and do during our 4 days together. There were festivals in both Wenatchee and Leavenworth, Apple and Pear farm stands, gardens open to the public, and wine tasting. Our group activities included morning coffee and pastries, evening Happy Hour socials with shared appetizers, a Beer Tasting evening where everyone brings in a beer they found enjoyable to share, and a group BYOP cookout where each party brought their own protein to throw on grills we gathered. Side dishes to share rounded out the meal.
Stories were shared including a couple who tubed down the Wenatchee River, stories of the music and dancing in town, and of recent travels. A few folks had brought instruments and played wonderfully together one afternoon. Bagpipes were also brought out to announce the happy hour. Talking extended well into the dark night before lights were turned out and everyone settled down to a peaceful night. We met some wonderful, interesting people we hadn’t met before. We had one set of ‘newbies’ who were attending their first rally gathering and welcomed by all. And we re-engaged with folks we hadn’t seen in a long time, catching up with all the travels we had done. This was a wonderful way to share the camping experience with good people all around. Now I’m thinking….where to next?
