I had never seen a real, alive turkey until I stayed at the Alpine Lodge. Guess what?! It's turkey mating season in early Spring in the hills just outside Leavenworth near the Alpine Lodge. On one fine, cool morning I stood in the driveway and a big turkey wandered by at the private road just 80 feet away. He turned, looked at me, puffed himself up and then turned back and went on his way after ascertaining that I was no threat....nor was I a turkey. Had Isaac been outside with me, surely this majestic gobbler would have recognized Isaac as one of his own. Seeing this turkey made me realize that for all the times I'd seen a cartoon turkey, drawn them in elementary school, or spent countless hours perfecting the perfect golden bird for my holiday table. I'd never actually seen a live one in person. I was smitten. On another evening while outside on the balcony I could hear a dog barking in the distance and in response a flock of turkeys would chatter back with their gobbles. It went on forever and we got quite a laugh out of it. The dog was surely frustrated with all the back talk he was getting. It wasn't until some weeks later that I put two and two together and realized if the turkeys would talk to a dog then they'd probably talk to me. Right away, I decided I needed to go back out to the Alpine Lodge to check on something that needed checking on, otherwise knows as, testing my theory that I could talk to the turkeys. It worked! I sat in the hot tub and spent hours chatting with the turkeys. I made a video and it's up on the Instagram page @alpinelodgeleavenworth Think about booking a visit in the Spring to chat with the gobblers. I don't always see them but I can surely hear them!