Last week, some friends and I decided that what we needed was to take a day off and head out of town. So we called out of our respective work situations for today, and headed out last night for Leavenworth.

Leavenworth is about a two-hour drive north eastish of Seattle. It was originally a logging town, but after the local industry died the city decided to remake itself into a Bavarian village, figuring that what tourists love most is an Alpine village in the Pacific Northwest. They appear to have been right, as the town is thriving and usually filled with busloads of visitors.

We decided to stay at the Obertal Inn, and after our continental breakfast this morning I asked the lady at the desk just what one did on a Tuesday in Leavenworth.
She laughed at me.

A man joined her at the desk, and between the two of them they suggested that we go home and sleep, take a trip to the movies, or go down to the river and look at the salmon. They advised against hiking unless we brought bright clothes, because it is hunting season.

In the end, our day in Leavenworth involved a lot of walking around through remarkably lovely trees, stopping into quaint shops, and looking for salmon. It’s a very cute little town, and I imagine it tends to be much more active when there’s actually an event going on. If you’re looking to take a day trip out there, the events that are left for the year are:

November 12: “A Taste of Leavenworth”
November 25-27 “Christkindlmarkt” [Nov]
The whole month of December [Dec]

Leavenworth is close enough that the drive is worth the visit, but just far enough that it feels like you’ve gotten out of town. I imagine it’s probably pretty crowded on the weekends, so if it’s possible I recommend heading out there on a weekday if you’re just going to look around.