Bring me to Paradise

For our sixth wedding anniversary, we decided to try and get away from our new town and living and do some exploring. With the pandemic still going full swing, we knew we would still be limited to what we would be able to do, but I had been wanting to travel to Leavenworth for awhile now. I had heard and seen many nice reviews of it and was curious as to what all the fuss was about. Leavenworth is a city that is all about its Bavarian history. The whole town looks and feels of the culture. We ended up deciding to take a long weekend and go stay in the town to try and get a full experience. The weekend we ended up going was supposed to be the weekend they were going to celebrate Oktoberfest. Lucky for us, they had cancelled it, so then we were able to reserve a room.

The first night

Before the sun was fully down, we were able to see a little bit of our beautiful drive through the Cascade Loop. We decided we were going to be very excited about getting the full effect on our way home. The hotel we ended up staying at was called the Blue Elk. It was close to the edge of town, but it actually worked out perfectly. It was far enough from the hustle and bustle but close enough that we were still able to walk down to the main street the following morning. When we got in, we drove down to the main street for some supper. With the restrictions on capacity at the restaurants, there was quite a wait no matter where we ended up going. We ended up eating at the Bavarian Bistro. Since we were in a Bavarian based city, we decided to try the local food. We started off with the Stuffed Pretzel Knots and finished off with splitting the Curry Stew (their special that weekend) and the Bavarian Sausage Platter. If you are able to go here, we would highly recommend this restaurant. The food was delicious, and we were able to have a nice view of the outside with an open window! We walked around a little bit but ended up going back to the hotel after a long day of work and driving. We wanted to make sure we were well rested for the next day of exploring and hiking.

From left to right: Stuffed Pretzel Knots; Bavarian Sausage platter; Curry Stew.

The next morning, we woke up, got ready and walked downtown for some breakfast. We found a cute little place called Parsley’s Pantry. We got the Super Bowl and the Avocado Toast with an egg. I also added in a cold brew. Had to get my caffeine kick!

From left to right: Super Bowl; Avocado Toast with egg.

These were very tasty and we were able to find a nice seat to enjoy it outside. After we got done eating, we explored the downtown a little bit. We looked at some of the shops and walked by the water. We stopped at a shop called the Taffy Shop that lived up to its name. It had so many different flavors of taffy as well as other candy. Of course, we had to get some for our trip home the next day! We also stopped at a bakery called The Danish Bakery. Being there made me miss one of my favorite bakeries back home in Pella. We grabbed some delicious pastries for breakfast the next morning as well. One or two may have not made it that long! After a while, we decided to go explore even more with a hike! We found a trail on our AllTrails app called Icicle Ridge Trail. It was a 5.5-mile roundtrip rated as moderate. What was really neat about this trail was that at the top you were able to get a 360 view of all of Leavenworth. It was so neat to see how the whole town is just surrounded by the mountain range. I will admit, I wanted to give up a few times, but I am so glad that we finished this!

Views from our hike at Icicle Ridge Trail

Feeling accomplished, we got back to the hotel, cleaned up and headed back downtown for supper. We figured we were going to have to get down there early to put our names on the lists early since no one took reservations. After waiting three hours, we decided to try and find some where that had no wait. We were lucky when we came across a place called Stein. It ended up being a bar underneath the restaurant we had eaten at the night before. We had the Turkey Schnitzel Burger and the Chicken Sandwich. They were perfect for the day that we had just finished! We did not stay out too late this night since we had such a long day. We ended up going back to the hotel for one last night of sleep before heading home.

From left to right: Chicken Sandwich; Turkey Schnitzel Burger.

The next morning, we woke up and headed out for our drive home. We decided to take our time on the way home and made quite a few stops. It was a perfect day to just stop and take in the beautiful scenery. This was such a fun weekend getaway! We would recommend travelling to Leavenworth to everyone if you get a chance. We hope to go back ourselves soon!

For a closer look at our visit, check out our video on YouTube!

Pictures from the way back home.

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