Pics from my weekend....Chelan Winterfest

Our friends invited us to spend time with them in Chelan for Winterfest. What a great reason to spend a couple of days there. It's fun, quaint, colorful, charming and old fashioned. On a walk around town we saw hot dog vendors, ice sculptures and fires in fire bowls. There was music, an ice bar, a skating rink and a torchlight parade. It reminded me a little bit......and in a a very good way because it's one of my favorite movies......of some of the wintry town scenes from the movie Groundhog Day. 

What truly made the weekend, however, was the group of people I was with. The kind I know I both can and should be nothing but myself around. No rigid schedules. It was OK to get up 'whenever', stay in pj's as long as possible or make yourself at home in the kitchen. Play a game, stay up late, go here or there.......or not. We could gush with pride about our own kids, but just as easily about each others. Everyone participated with meals, clean up and helping each other out. I've got to hand it to our hosts. They had twelve people in their home of all different ages and stages and everything went smoothly. I know there was a lot of planning and work ahead of time for them, and what a gift to us all that they made it seem so easy and effortless. But most of all....those people can make me laugh until I cry.

So besides spending the weekend with a group of wonderful friends and family (...and thankfully those who don't mind that I carry a camera wherever I go).....here are some of the things that I liked best about the past couple of days:

 There was snow on the ground in Chelan. Pretty to look at. Enough on the back porch to keep beer cold.

Sharing morning coffee with my friends Amy and Mary who are simply beautiful, inside and out. And yes...we did get matching jammies! 

Lots of down time for watching football...or doing...whatever

Love this town. The main street was closed to cars for the weekend so people could wander and look at ice sculptures....

 And watch the artists carving...

.....or toss a keg. 

Seriously the best hot dog I've ever eaten. Cooked on a street corner by Sam and topped with cabbage-apple sauerkraut and mustard. OMG....it's rare that I indulge in one but this was great!

Couldn't pass up checking out the snowmobile races. Then at the end of the day we stopped in at our friends favorite winery.

I couldn't resist the endless rows of red-brown grapevines in the vineyards. They were so stark against the snow and sort of hypnotizing as they rolled along with the hills. I know they are beautiful green in the summer and heavy with fruit later on, but during the winter against the backdrop of the glass lake....I'm pretty sure that's when they are the most impressive.

 

After a dinner of seriously awesome Cincinnati chili, we went back to town to watch brave souls hit the water for a polar bear swim and then go stand by an enormous bonfire on the beach. It was raining pretty hard so I wasn't taking any pics. The fireworks show was spectacular. Several times we started clapping after assuming that long bursts of noise and color were the 'grand finale'.....only to have the show continue for many more minutes. I had a coat with a hood on, but rain managed to run down my neck and back and somehow up my sleeves. It was beautiful, colorful, and noisy. The crowd was thinner than last year due to the rain, but happy. It almost felt like we were treated to a private showing.

 
Morning light
on the hills. Thanks Clark and Mary!

Have a great week all!

Warmly, Margaret