In eastern Washington, there is a small Bavarian town named Leavenworth.  It is a small village with tons of character.  The town serves German beer and authentic German cuisine.  They have a nutcracker museum, my picture may or may not be inside.  My mom is a huge collector!  The reason we love visiting this town in the summer and winter is that it is centrally located in the state and it’s a great stopping point during a drive or close enough to make a fun day trip.  Here are a few of my favorite things to do and visit while in the town.

Another reason to visit during the winter is they have all the Christmas lights up and do tree lighting ceremonies during December.  The town seems to glow from all the lights; it’s an entirely different feeling then if you visit in the summer.  For everyone who lives in Washington, there is a train from the west side to the Leavenworth for the tree lighting.

A small sledding hill in the middle of town that is great for kids or people watching.  Cross-country skiing at the golf course as well as snowshoeing.  There is enough to do in this small Bavarian town to make a whole day of it.  One tip is to visit during the weekdays if you are not going to a tree lighting ceremony this way you avoid the long lines at the restaurants, and it will be easier to find parking.

Our favorite restaurant is the Cured Sausage Garden.  They have a wide variety of sausages.  Ours is the chicken apple, bratwurst, and kielbasa.  What’s cool is they have a full bar of all the fixings to put on top.  Even better is we can bring our dog Kowboy because all the seating is outside, so come prepared, they do have a lot of heaters for the winter and then misters for the summer.  We like to go for an early lunch or early dinner because the line is smaller at those times.

The two bars that we like to taste at are Leavenworth is the Icicle brewing and the Leavenworth Cider House.  Icicle Brewing is a local brewery with indoor and outdoor seating.  The beer here is good with a variety that changes through the seasons.  Inside they have games you can play and outdoor you can bring your dog.  The Cider House was a new find for us this year, and we loved it.  You can do flight tastings, where you get to pick from the 25-30 different flavors of cider.  From dry to sweet they have it easily laid out for you.  If you go try the snow globe cider, it has edible glitter in it, and it tastes delicious.  We also liked the apple crumble for a sweeter cider.