Lisa and Martin at Leavenworth

Lisa and I drove over the snowcapped mountains at nearby Stephen's pass to spend three days in Leavenworth playing at an accordion festival.

We stayed in the Cascade room at the All Seasons River Inn that overlooks the Wenatchee river. [Three days is too long for a single blog entry, so we'll break it into two.]

The Cascade room has a special feature that we like so much that we request the same room each year. The jacuzzi tub is in a bumpout that makes us feel as if we're suspended over the river, which is white with the waves of melting snowcaps. The three sides of the bumpout are half-silvered mirrors. We can look out, but no one can look in. Several candles complete the scene.

Staying at a bed and breakfast means a tasty meal and a breakfast conversation with other couples who are usually celebrating their relationship. These conversations can be a bit awkward for us. "How long have you been married?" ["To which wife?"] We decided to test the water first. "So what do you do for a living?" "I'm a writer." "How interesting! What do you write about?" "Emerging technology and polygamy."

Everyone maintains a polite blank look, so we decide to leave it at that. Susan and Dale, the new owners, are well aware of our situation -- we commiserated with them last year about the difficulties of finding a bed and breakfast that can accomodate us. [When the three of us travel together, we stay at a hotel.]

Karen stayed home to keep the fire burning. Lisa wants the Leavenworth accordion festival to be her exclusive territory, and she and I have developed several rituals around it. Karen took a separate vacation the week before with her son [my stepson] white water rafting down the same river. [We'll blog about this when the photos come back.]

Lisa insists that Karen and I create an exclusive parallel vacation. So Karen and I plan to visit Las Vegas together later this year, just the two of us. Perhaps Las Vegas will become Karen's territory.