BootsnAll Goes Bavarian in Leavenworth, WA

The BootBoyz left Portland today, giving the new Toyota Prius the first real run on a road trip up to Leavenworth, WA. This is the location of our year-end meeting – some time away from the office to really think about what BootsnAll can be and how we can make it all happen. Court and Donovan will be joining us tomorrow, but for today it was just Nick, Dave, Sean and I.

Leavenworth is about 5.5 hours north and east of Portland and involves going over a few mountain passes, the highest being just over 4000 ft. The Prius handled the hills with ease, but coming down the other side of the last mountain was a little tense with some snow and ice on the road. We passed one particularly nasty accident that must have only just occurred. Hope the folks in those cars are OK.

We arrived a day early to check out the house which we’re using and set up the meeting area. The house is very cool and certainly big enough for our needs. We went for a wander around the grounds and it’s all very pretty with a covering of snow. We also got a chance to talk to Groundskeeper Willy (his real name, and a cool dude from Wisconsin).

One of the big initiatives for 2005 for BootsnAll that we can announce now is the BootBoyz rap album, featuring the Notorious N.U.T. and D-Keenah. While we were here we thought we’d take some preliminary shots for the album cover.

But seriously, it’s a beautiful place. Very quiet and peaceful. And even though we were bitching and moaning about the cold and grey in Portland in the days before we left, it all seems so much more acceptable when there’s snow involved and we’re appropriately dressed.

For dinner we wandered into the town of Leavenworth. For those who don’t know, this town decided awhile ago to adopt a Bavarian theme in order to boost tourism. If tonight was anything to go by, they’ve been very successful. The town was adorned in Christmas lights and all the restaurants were full. After poking our heads into a few places we eventually settled on a place with waitresses dressed in bavarian costume and a resident accordian player belting our Christmas tunes. Don’t ask me why these things did not immediately raise some red flags, but let’s just say the experience was mediocre at best and leave it at that.

Inbetween all of this excitement we managed to have a couple of meetings and we’re all fired up for this week. It’s going to be a lot of fun and by the time we see some of you at the BootsnAll party on December 18th (plug, plug), we should be bouncing off the walls.

Some more photos:
Sean explains the finer details of being a choir boy (beer included).

Chris and Dave just don’t get it. Maybe we need more beer.

Alternative album cover.

Really alternative album cover (thx Nick – I will have my revenge).