Chelan County (pop. 72,453), Washington’s third-largest county in square miles, is across the Columbia River from Douglas County. Chelan is pronounced “shuh-LAN.”

Lake Chelan, 50 miles long and about one mile wide, is Washington’s largest natural lake. It has a maximum depth of 1,486 feet – the third-deepest lake in the U.S. (after Crater and Tahoe).

Fed by waters of the Cascades

Bonanza Peak, at 9,516 feet, is Washington’s tallest non-volcanic mountain.

In the Glacier Peak Wilderness

The county seat of Chelan County is the city of Wenatchee (pop. 31,925), located at the confluence of the Columbia and Wenatchee rivers.

Wenatchee hosts the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival every spring.

Amtrak’s “Empire Builder” train, which runs from Chicago to Seattle, stops at Wenatchee’s Columbia Station.

There’s also a station in Leavenworth.

Downtown Wenatchee has a statue of Guppo the Clown. Guppo has been played, for many years, by Paul K. Pugh, founder of the Wenatchee Youth Circus.

Outside the YMCA

The city of Leavenworth (pop. 1,965), northwest of Wenatchee, was redesigned as a Bavarian village in the 1960s.

The Leavenworth Ski Hill is nearby.

The Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum – a museum about nutcrackers – opened in 1995.

More than 6,000 nutcrackers

The city of Chelan (pop. 3,890) is at the southeastern tip of Lake Chelan. Lake Chelan Boat Company provides service from Chelan to the community of Stehekin, at the far end of the lake.

The Lady of the Lake

The Ruby Theatre in Chelan opened in 1913, and it’s still showing movies.

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