I visit "Bavaria," in my Bavarian Motor Works

Veritable

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Location
Vancouver, Canada
Car(s)
'13 Cadillac CTS-V Sedan 6MT
...well, as close as I can possibly get, anyways. Leavenworth, Washington, is one of the most famous Bavarian-themed village in all of North America. That in of itself is reason enough to visit, in a BMW. Total bonus that it's nestled right in one of the greatest drives of the Pacific Northwest: the Cascades Loop.

The car club used to do an annual trip there. They haven't done it since I joined, because orchestrating an international border crossing with 20-30 cars isn't easy. Still, old-timers in the club talked about it, so I decided to give it a try last weekend.

Click here for the route as laid out by Google Maps.

Here's some pictures alongside US-2 on the descent from the 4000ft Stevens Pass (photography equipment is a Canon 50D, with Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, with B+W Circular Polarizer):

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Here's Leavenworth. I wasn't able to include my car in any of the shots here, because I couldn't find any parking in the downtown core :-( So, that Crimson Red E90 328i sedan will have to do :p

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Here's Pateros, WA, on my way to WA-20 Eastbound to Omak, my overnight stop:

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Twisp, WA on Day 2, getting ready for the North Cascades Highway (WA-20):

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Finally, here's the spectacular ascent over Washington Pass, where I climbed over 3000ft in the span of 40min:

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You may have noticed that my GoPro was mounted in various positions in the pictures. I have footages for most of the drive, but it will take me some time to sort through them. Here's a quicky upload showing you the aforementioned climb into Washington Pass, on WA-20 Westbound:


More videos will be posted in this thread as I cut them and upload them.
 
M3 sedan always looks better than the coupes.

I think the coupe still looks better, but nothing beats the practicality of a 4door.

anyway, AWESOME PICS!!!! makes me even more excited for my trip to the US this july! :D Going on a road trip as well in California. nothing specific yet. Any great driving roads around the LA-SFO area? ::)
 
I think the coupe still looks better, but nothing beats the practicality of a 4door.

Agreed. M3 should be 2 door, the M5 4 door IMO. :p

A question about the route if I wanted to do it from Portland: is anything west of Rockport worth driving? Or would it be better to drive south from Rockport to Darrington/Arlington/etc. ?

EDIT: Here we go, this looks like a good one: http://goo.gl/maps/J2nA

EDIT #2: Shit, Mountain Loop Highway looks to be partially unpaved. :( http://goo.gl/maps/PAGh
 
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No alcohol beyond this point -> you will NEVER find that in Bavaria :D

:lol:

It just means you have to keep the drink on the restaurant property rather than walking down the street with an open beer.
 
The only problem with the loop is that it includes Wenatchee. Though driving though Wenatchee is probably the only legitimate reason for entering Wenatchee.
 
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Agreed. M3 should be 2 door, the M5 4 door IMO. :p

I couldn't afford one brand-new, even when they were practically being given away in the Fall of 2008 (when I bought my M3). Besides, for mountain roads like these, and then especially at autocrosses, the 4000lb+ M5 is actually a bit slower. I've driven 3-series sedans all my life and I never felt like I needed a bigger car... bonus point that this car is just as capable and just as fast as the sexy M3 Coupe ;-)

Still, if someone offered that NA V10 engine to me, I wouldn't say no....

A question about the route if I wanted to do it from Portland: is anything west of Rockport worth driving? Or would it be better to drive south from Rockport to Darrington/Arlington/etc. ?

EDIT: Here we go, this looks like a good one: http://goo.gl/maps/J2nA

EDIT #2: Shit, Mountain Loop Highway looks to be partially unpaved. :( http://goo.gl/maps/PAGh

Sorry, I'm actually not from the area, so other than the Olympic Peninsula and now the Cascades Loop, I don't have any local knowledge of the roads :-( . I would try to stay away from the drone of I-5 as much as possible, though, so if I were planning a drive for the Cascades Loop from Portland, I'd probably go up the Pacific Coast Highway (US-101, is it?), join I-5 at Tacoma, then start the Loop.

Or, how is US-12 East? That's right in your neck of woods.

Oh, no off-roading, no matter how promising the forestry roads look on Google Maps.... For my BC trips, I use a book that was written by a couple of motorcyclists that describe, score and rank all the fun driving roads in the region. I personally don't ride and don't see much point in riding, but they also don't do unpaved roads, so that book is an excellent resource for me.
 
Sorry, I'm actually not from the area, so other than the Olympic Peninsula and now the Cascades Loop, I don't have any local knowledge of the roads :-( . I would try to stay away from the drone of I-5 as much as possible, though, so if I were planning a drive for the Cascades Loop from Portland, I'd probably go up the Pacific Coast Highway (US-101, is it?), join I-5 at Tacoma, then start the Loop.

Or, how is US-12 East? That's right in your neck of woods.

Oh, no off-roading, no matter how promising the forestry roads look on Google Maps.... For my BC trips, I use a book that was written by a couple of motorcyclists that describe, score and rank all the fun driving roads in the region. I personally don't ride and don't see much point in riding, but they also don't do unpaved roads, so that book is an excellent resource for me.

Ah, I wasn't sure how much you had researched the loop.

I-5 is certainly boring -- I just did it last Friday and Sunday to visit my sister in Bellevue outside of Seattle.

I've never been on 101 up in Washington, but I've been on 101 along the Oregon coast dozens of times growing up and it's not exactly the most fun road to drive. 2 lane usually and can be slow. Still, better than I-5 and would allow for a longer trip... :)

Never been on US-12 either, plus that would bypass a lot of US-2 as well as Bellevue which I'd want to stop at.

I don't know the roads of Washington very well either, unlike Oregon roads (I've been all over this state growing up). OR-6 to Tillamook through the Tillamook State Forest for example has some awesome roads and switchbacks: http://goo.gl/maps/kxU9
 
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I'm not affiliated with these guys at all, but I own the BC book (funny, it was recommended to me by a club member, former Z3M Coupe driver and now Z4M Coupe driver; he was, in turn, recommended to get the book by another club member and still Z3M Coupe driver), and used it to plan 3 different driving trips last year. I have photos from those trips that I should post here sometimes....

They have these kind of books for Southern BC, Washington and also Northern California. I guess you would benefit a lot from the Washington one ;-)

http://washington.destinationhighways.com/

Obviously not specified on the website (they want you to buy the book), but I believe WA-20 both directions is DH1, or in their opinion the best riding (and driving I guess) road in all of Washington State.
 
I've never been on 101 up in Washington, but I've been on 101 along the Oregon coast dozens of times growing up and it's not exactly the most fun road to drive. 2 lane usually and can be slow.

Yeah, which is why you wait for you chance, drop a gear or two and whiz past all the caravans and trucks. :mrgreen:

I drove the coast from Vancouver to Southern California last year, it's an amazing road. I did it during the week in winter though, probably a much different story right now.
 
Yeah, which is why you wait for you chance, drop a gear or two and whiz past all the caravans and trucks. :mrgreen:

Well, when the road gets REALLY good, it's often carved right on the river front / lake front / ocean front, with limited lateral space and visibility, so you usually get double-yellows all the way :-(

Here's a clip of my car climbing the Stevens Pass, and NOT keeping up to a Chrysler 200 Convertible. My car was no match for the Imported From Detroit Chrysler muscle....


(Actually, I was maintaining the 60-65mph speed limit throughout; not sure why he sped up so much past me, then slowed down so much, then almost ran into my lane as I passed him, then sped up so much again... with predictable result)
 
Here's US-2 Eastbound, picking up where the previous video left off, driving alongside Wenatchee River, ending with a slow drive-through of the Bavarian-themed town Leavenworth:

 
Here's the final 2 videos, both taken from the stretch between Pateros and Okanogan.

The first one shows you how crazy the weather got. Sunshine, blue sky, Harleys out for a nice day ride... and pouring rain at the same time?


Here's the longer video, mostly showing Washington State Route 20 through the Okanogan National Forest, one of the best roads I've ever been on.

 
Here's the longer video, mostly showing Washington State Route 20 through the Okanogan National Forest, one of the best roads I've ever been on.

Holy wind noise...

Great video otherwise though!
 
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