Escape from Seattle: Sleeping Lady in Leavenworth

I was delighted to be invited to Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort in Leavenworth to experience the Taste of the Valley package this past summer. What a wonderful way to close the loop on a culinary/agri-tourism trip that had already taken me to Portland, Yakima Valley, SageCliffe's Cave B Inn, and the Wenatchee Valley.

A Thursday arrival meant a chance to check out the Leavenworth Farmers Community Market. Friday featured an heirloom apple butter cooking class at Cashmere Cider Mill, and Saturday a cheese-making class at Alpine Lakes Sheep Cheese.

But, best of all, this was an opportunity for rest and relaxation at the resort. Sure, I made a couple of excursions into the town of Leavenworth, but the Bavarian Disneyland feel didn't fit this food writer's mood. There are a couple of culinary discoveries to be made in town, but mostly it's the usual tourist-type shops selling tacky postcards and restaurants featuring traditional German fare.

Better was taking breakfast and dinner at Sleeping Lady's Kingfisher Dining Lodge, where Chef Ken MacDonald utilizes fresh, local ingredients--many from the lodge's organic garden. (You can take a guided tour of the garden on Saturdays to see the fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers that get used in the kitchen.)

Service is buffet-style, resulting in meals that are hearty and healthy, though it's easy to overindulge if you want to sample everything. There's also a full-service bar. And the setting is beautiful. You can even eat outdoors at the creek-side meadow, where you might see owner Harriet Bullitt drop in on her private little chairlift (known as Harriet's Chariot).

Previously known as Camp Icicle (used by the Civilian Conservation Corps), the property became a family-oriented dude ranch and then a Catholic camp before Bullitt transformed it into Sleeping Lady nearly twenty years ago. Built to blend with nature, the property contains clusters of cabin-like lodging on 67 acres of land. Sleeping Lady is in a spectacular setting amidst nature, perfect for strolling, birdwatching, and relaxing.

Scroll through the photo gallery, above, for more of the story about staying at Sleeping Lady.