Suncadia Trip

 

Suncadia is located in Central Washington State and about 4 hours away from Portland.  It is a very popular resort destination and the resort occupies huge estate in the area.  The resort has a main lodge for its guests and also has many other individual houses for people to buy and rent.  Within the resort, there are also golf courses and hiking trails for various recreation activities.  There are also few bon fires around the main lodge for people to enjoy the warmth and grill some marshmallows.

We decided to spend the weekend at Suncadia Resort since it was sending out a coupon to book 2 nights and get 1 night for free.  It was a good deal.

We left Portland around 6AM in the morning to drive to Suncadia.  Since Suncadia is close to Leavenworth, we actually drove to Leavenworth first.  We first went to Leavenworth Reindeer Farm to feed the reindeers. It was a great experience.

Afterwards, we went to downtown Leavenworth and noticed that there was a parade for the May festival.  There was a lot of Bernese Mountain Dog at the parade and it was crazy.  The dog hairs were flying everywhere in the air.  At lunch time, we went to Louie's Cafe for brunch.  We also checked out the famous Christmas shop in town to all the Christmas ornament and decorations.  Then we went to Whistlepunk Ice Cream for dessert since it was a super hot day.

We got to Suncadia around 4PM and checked in.  We got the room facing the river and the view was beautiful from the balcony.  We could see the river, the mass forest, and the mountains on the far side.  It was amazing.

On the second day, we went for a short hike at Manashtash Ridge.  During the hike, we met few local hikers who recommended The Early Bird for brunch and it did not disappoint.

After we got back to Suncadia resort, we enjoyed our time at the resort's swimming pool and relaxed there.  In the evening, we got some marshmallows from the resort and grilled them at the bon fire.  It was amazing that Suncadia Resort provides marshmallows, Hershey's chocolate, and biscuit for us to grill and make smores.

On the third day, we went for scavenger hunt in the morning.  The scavenger hunt was a tough one.  We had to look for 8 different signs around the resort and it took us 2.5 hours to find them all.  After collecting them, we receives small prize such as cup for completing the scavenger hunt.

At noon we went to Sunset Cafe at Cle Elum for brunch.  When we came back to Suncadia Resort, the fire alarm just went off.  Everyone was standing outside of the lodge.  This was our first time experiencing a fire alarm at a hotel.

In the afternoon, we went to Nelson Farm for an archery session.  There weren't many people there and thus we were just having as much fun as we could.  We were given 3 different bows with different tension strength and we were staying there as long as we could.

Overall, we enjoyed Suncadia quite a lot.  It was a very relaxing vacation for us and it was not pricy either.  We would definitely return again in the future.

Sunset Cafe

 

Sunset Cafe is a fine dining restaurant located at the town of Cle Elum in Washington State.  It offers a wide range of meal selections on its menu from breakfast to dinner.  The breakfast is served till 2PM.  Other than regular menu items, Sunset Cafe also offers a variety of dessert selections such as pie and other baked items.

We got to Sunset Cafe around noon after a long hike in the morning.  There was a lot of parking spaces around the restaurant since Cle Elum is a small town.  The inside of the restaurant was actually quite spacious and it had this home feel to it.  We ordered a Denver Omelet with potato tots and a Bacon Omelet with French Toast.

We got our meal quite quickly after about 10 minutes.  When the meals were served to us, we were shocked at how big the omelet was.  It was unbelievably large.  Although the omelets were quite large, the taste of the omelet was okay.  The Bacon Omelet came with smoke bacon and it had a very strong smoky taste, which was not bad.  The Denver Omelet was more ordinary.  The best part of the meal was the French Toast.  The French Toast was very soft and sweet.  We were thinking that it was the best French Toast that we have ever had.

In general, Sunset Cafe is probably one of the best restaurant choice around the town of Cle Elum and it is also very close to Suncadia Resort.  We only tried the breakfast menu but its dinner menu looks amazing.  We will probably come back and try the juicy steak on its dinner menu next time.

The Early Bird

 

The Early Bird is a breakfast restaurant located at Ellensburg in Washington State.  It is one of the most popular restaurant in the town.  The sign of the restaurant has an unique sign with a bird getting the warm for its breakfast in the early morning.  The restaurant offer unique menus for its customers and serves freshly squeezed juice everyday.

We got to The Early Bird restaurant around noon after the morning hike.  Since Ellensburg is not a big town, parking was not difficult there.  When we entered the restaurant, the first thing to do is to find ourselves a seat.  We needed to find our own table.  It was a busy day on Mother's day but we managed to find a spot by the window.

We looked at the menu and decided to get a Morning Salad, a Big Bowl, and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.  We went to the counter and place our order there, then a number tag was given to use to be placed at our table.

The juice was served right away as we placed the order.  The orange juice was indeed freshly squeezed.  It had such as refreshing taste and probably the best orange juice we have ever had.

After about 10 minutes, our bowls were here.  They were huge bowls.  We have never seen scramble egg served in a bowl and here it was.  The Big Bowl had scramble eggs at the bottom and topped with ham, potatoes, and gravy.  The scramble egg was freshly hot and was so tender.  It was just amazing.  Similarly, the morning salad was incredible.  The vegetables were so fresh and the salad dressing was just the right amount.

We loved The Early Bird restaurant and was so tempted to go back again the next day.  We definitely recommend this restaurant when passing by Ellensburg.

Whistlepunk Ice Cream

 

Whistlepunk Ice Cream is a very popular ice cream place at Leavenworth.  It offers various handmade ice cream at its store.  Many of the ice cream flavors offered at Whistlepunk Ice Cream were also very unique.  Flavor such as chai is something that we have not heard of before.  Whistlepunk Ice Cream is located at the center of the main street Leavenworth and thus it is very easy to spot it.

The weather was quite hot this day and when we got to Whistlepunk Ice Cream, there was already a long line of people.  Thus we had to stand in the line outside of the store under the glaring sun.  After 15 minutes of wait, we were finally able to place our order.  We ordered the floating taste which allowed us to pick 4 different flavors.

The 4 flavors we chose were Chai, Blackberry Fool, Pistachio, and Banana White Chocolate.  The Chai ice cream had a very strong flavor and really tasted like Chai. The flavor was so strong that we had to rinse our mouth before we taste the other ice cream flavor.  The Blackberry Fool ice cream did not have much flavor to it.  We were thinking that more blackberry needed to be added into the ice cream.  The Pistachio ice crem was special.  It had a little pink color in it with large pistachio chunks.  We liked it a lot.  The Banana White Chocolate ice cream had strong white chocolate flavor to it but not much taste of banana.

Overall, we liked the ice cream at Whistlepunk Ice Cream shop.  Its ice cream was not very heavy and very fresh.  The taste of its ice cream did not leave any heavy scent in the mouth of eating it.  We would definitely go again in the future.

Louies Cafe

 

Louie's Cafe is a brunch restaurant located at Leavenworth in Washington State.  It has several brunch menus such as omelet and toast.  Louie's Cafe is not located at the main street of Leavenworth.  Instead, it is located at a more quiet street that is 2 streets down from the main street.

We got to Louie's Cafe around noon after the parade.  When we got to Louie's Cafe, we were a bit confused because there were 3 doors at the restaurant.  We were not sure which door to use.  The sign on the door indicated to wait outside to be seated and thus we waited for a minute and then the waitress greeted us to bring us to our table.  The waitress took us through the door on the left but we figured that both left and right door should be the same.  We were just not sure what the middle door was for.

We ordered a Denver Omelet and a Veggie Omelet.  There was not a choice for the side since all omelets would come with harsh brown as the side.  After 5-10 minutes, the omelets were here.  The harsh brown was made into rectangular shape, which was interesting.  We tried the harsh brown but found it to be more salty than we liked.  The omelets however, were quite decent.  We think the omelets were made with egg only and no added flour.  So it didn't feel very stuffed after finishing it.  The ingredients used in the omelets were also very fresh.

Overall, Louie's Cafe was a decent and cozy brunch place.  It was not very busy because it was not on the main street.  The only downside was that the choice on the menu was more limited.

Manashtash Ridge

 

Manashtash Ridge is a hiking trail near Ellensburg in Washington state. The trail itself is only 1.9 miles long but has steep inclines at several places.  The trail goes all the way up to the summit of the Manashtash Ridge and takes hikers through the bushes along the ridge.  This trail does not require any permit and thus no prove of payment is required.

We got to Manashtash Ridge trail head early in the morning around 8AM.  There were already a lot of cars there but there were still parking spaces available on the right side of Cove Road.  The start of the trail was quite mild and not very steep.  We were quite enjoying the trail at the start with the sun over our heads.

After about 10 minutes, the trail started to climb steeply.  This was our first hike of the season and it was taking us out of breath quickly.  As we hiked half way through the trail and reached middle point of the ridge, the wind started to blow really hard.  It became extremely all of a sudden and the wind was blowing our hats away.

We got to the top of the ridge after about an hour and it was unbelievably windy.  Although it was windy, the view at the top was still undeniably beautiful.  We could see the wildflowers on the hill side and see the snowy mountains on the far side.  There was a large wooden log placed near the edge of the hill, we sat there for a while and enjoyed the view.

Manashtash Ridge was an interesting hiking trail, but it could get very tiring due to no shade along the trail.  Thus if the weather is very hot, it could get exhausting very quickly.

Leavenworth Reindeer Farm

 

Leavenworth Reindeer Farm is a very popular tourist attraction at Leavenworth in Washington State. Leavenworth Reindeer Farm is located just few minutes North of Leavenworth downtown area. The farm offers unique experiences to interact with reindeers and have a close look at the reindeers. The farm offer tours in the morning during the summer season to avoid the heat in the afternoon.

We booked our tour appointment at 11:30AM but we got to Leavenworth Reindeer Farm a bit early at 10:30AM. Luckily, we were able to join the tour at 11AM so that we did not have to wait for longer time.  As we entered the farm, there were chickens running around and 2 large turkeys staring at us. We were a bit scared of the turkeys.  The little girl at the table waved at us to pick out the food to feed the chicken.  Each guest can have a bowl of food to feed them.

After feeding the chicken, we went to check out the gift shop. The gift shop was decorated with Christmas theme with lot of Christmas lights in the barn.  It felt quite cozy in there and very pretty.  There was also a dedicated area for Santa photo but it looked like it'll only be available during the winter season.

Going across the gift shop is where the waiting area is at. We waited there 5 minutes before the tour started.  Before the tour started, the guide went through safety rules.  Although reindeers are very friendly, little kids still need to stay far away from reindeers.

We then headed to the shed where the guide went over the history of Leavenworth Reindeer Farm.  The reindeers at the farm were shipped from Alaska.  It was very difficult to ship reindeers from Alaska to Washington as Canada would not allow reindeers to be transported across its border. So the first few reindeers were shipped by boat.  The newer ones were shipped on cargo plane.

After going over the history of the farm and the reindeer, it was finally the time to feed the reindeers!  Each guest was given a fresh branch of leaves to feed the reindeer, and also a small bowl of food to feed the reindeers.  As we entered the fenced the area, we were asked to raise our arm so that the reindeer couldn't reach the tree leaves.

When we fed the reindeers, the reindeers were tucking the leaves so we had to hold onto the tree branch very tightly.  Then we put the food on our palm to feed the reindeers.  The reindeer mouth felt very very soft.  We could feel its tongue and lip tickling our hands.

We also saw few baby reindeers.  They were so cute.  There was a baby reindeer that was abandoned by its mother and it is currently being bottle fed.  So it was by itself and not with the herd.  We were able to pet it and its fur was so soft.

Overall, this was an amazing experience at Leavenworth Reindeer Farm.  We really enjoyed it a lot and would definitely come back again.  This place is highly recommended when visiting Leavenworth.