We’d been to Leavenworth before, when Alex was very, very young. Probably the first summer we lived in Seattle (2004). It’s a very small town that in the 1960s voted to undergo revitalization in the form of a Bavarian village. It sounds like a really cute idea, but in reality I found it very cheesy. Basically, “reinventing as a Bavarian village” means that all the buildings look like chalets, all the businesses have names like “Das Gift Shoppe” and “Strudel Haus,” and almost all the restaurants are German-themed. Every shop we peeked into reminded me of the “ticky-tack” shops on the Jersey shore, a lot of “Everything’s $9.98!” Shops were either selling souvenirs (German-themed or basic, like souvenir spoons with Leavenworth attractions engraved on them), cheap and tacky merchandise you’d find in a Jersey shore shop (t-shirts with ‘funny’ slogans, flip-flops), or “fashion.” The fashion shops were the least objectionable.
And the yarn store had apparently gone out of business. Boo!
And I wore my turquoise Guides on a walk through town (about six blocks down and back from the hotel) and discovered they’re too small. Double boo!
Here are the only two photos I took, both from our hotel room window.
The US Picks 