Expediccionado: Leavenworth

Sometimes I forget that travel into my own backyard can be just as visually interesting and culturally diverse as hopping a flight to another continent. My friend Vera, a fellow resident of the greater Seattle area, suggested that we take a day trip out to Leavenworth, WA, a tiny Bavarian-style village nestled among some mountainous terrain along the Wenatchee River. It lies pretty much due east of Seattle and only takes about two hours by car to get there.

Fall had just begun, along with its inevitable rains, but we lucked out by choosing to go on the last clear, crisp day before everything turned to gray.

View from the car

River reflections

The geographic features surrounding the town, coupled with the Central European facades on the buildings reminded me of the places I had visited in the Swiss and French Alps.

Picturesque Front St.

Leavenworth is so tiny that you can walk from one side to the other in a matter of minutes. And being so small, the activities available on an average day are pretty limited. Basically, you can stay at an adorable inn, eat German food, and buy trinkets. It certainly did have a wide variety of shops, including antiques, art, jewelry, candy, and even a music box store.

Small chapel-like structure that appears to be connected to the Obertal Inn on Commercial St.

More views

Vera and I were hungry so we popped into Cafe Christa, known for its authentic-ish German food and beer. The internet seems to disagree on whether this cafe is still open, whether it is under new ownership, or whether it is a different entity entirely now.

Cafe Christa

Vera with her schnitzel and me with my sausage, spätzle, and sauerkraut.

Marie is murder

After lunch we decided to visit one of the town's main attractions: The Nutcracker Museum. It held an impressive collection of any kind of nutcracker you could imagine, from the traditional to the outlandish, and the prudish to the bawdy.