Leavenworth

Leavenworth Washington

Leavenworth is a Bavarian getaway town that lies in the heart of Washington State.  Leavenworth sits at the base of the 8,000 foot high Cascade Mountains.  Christmas time each year is a magical season in this little town.  As the snow flies and the lights are lit all around town it becomes a magical place.

The holidays were kicked off this weekend with the Kristkindlmarkt, a German Christmas Market.  We headed to town for the festivities.  We first walked around the Christmas Market seeing all of the crafts and trinkets that the women from the surrounding community makes and sell.  There are all sorts of amazing products like homemade soaps, hats, scarves, blankets, sweaters, jewelry, framed photographs, purses and tons of other items to delight everyone. There we also flavored nuts and homemade jams and preserves.

After walking through the market we headed to the shops of town.  We of course hit some of our favorites.  “A Book For All Seasons”, a local bookseller that has a wonderful assortment of books, including local authors.  We then went to the “Hat Shop”.  If you want a crazy shop you must visit here.  There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of the craziest hats in the world.  I love going to this shop and trying on all the hats.  Whenever you walk into this small shop that is always filled to the brim with people be sure to get your camera out because you will want your picture with all the crazy hats.

We visited quite a few other shops along the way but the next shop of note is “Siegert’s Papier Shop”, a shop for papers, writing instruments, stickers and all sorts of other great items.  I had a great time picking out a feather quill and nib writing pen with nibs and ink.  I am going to use it for all of my book signings the next few weeks.  The woman working at this store was a pleasure to talk to.

Last and not least we had to visit “Kris Kringl” the year round Christmas store.  I make it a point to go to this shop at least once a year.  This is an amazing store that has Christmas decorations, ornaments and festive items year round.  My favorite item to see is the upside down Christmas tree and to see how they decorate it each year.  The tree was decorated in white and teal this year and the ornaments hung down away from the tree in a magical way.  My two kids were in awe at it saying, Mama Mama, that tree is so funny, it is upside down.  When we came home they asked if we could turn our tree upside down.

We of course ate at Pavz, our favorite cafe-bistro that features an open kitchen.  Pavz serves the most amazing crepes that you could ever imagine eating.  You can get them with anything your heart desires on them.

We are going to head back to Leavenworth next weekend because starting the first weekend in December is the world famous Christmas Lighting Festival.  Above I inserted a video from the town of Leavenworth that shows over 100 shops and restaurants all lit up and ready to fulfill your shopping needs.  This is accurate too, there are really this many people on the streets during the festival.  We go up every year, but I put a dog leash on my kids belts and hook them to my arm so that I do not accidentally lose them in the mob of people.

Santa walks around, there are singers at the gazebo, people dance in the street, everyone sings and meets new people.  It is truly an experience you will remember forever.

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