A Long Weekend in Leavenworth, Worth it?
Disclaimer:
Everything below is a mix of what I observed and heard during the event. The goal isn’t to pinpoint "who exactly said what," but to share (usually) an outsider's view and overall perspective on these industries. I’m not here to act as a definitive firsthand source—readers should do their own research. I hope this inspires you to attend events, explore new industries, and hear what leaders are presenting. These notes combine my observations with thoughts on how things could run smoother and how ideas connect (IMO). I’m not an expert, you know? Just hanging out in the room with them. Enjoy!Topics Covered: Travel, Holiday, Trains, Busses, Walking, Strollers, Packing, Entertaining Toddlers, Snow Activities, Logistics, Budget Travel
Make your own adventures, right? My daughter and I headed to the nearby iconic town of Leavenworth to see what it’s all about. We traveled entirely on foot, just with a stroller and myself. So, let’s see what this trusty team was able to pull off over 4 nights in the Bavarian Wonderland.
Initial Overview (Why Attend?): Well, we haven’t really had any snow here and I’m also a huge fan of skiing. I think that sometimes you forget what is near you, and then don’t even do cool stuff nearby… so I wanted to challenge myself to take my daughter somewhere that was a bit “snow/winter-y” and also maybe somewhere we could go tubing. Spoiler alert: we didn’t go tubing, or much adventure at all, yet it was a really nice time. Read more… but, this blog is mostly just “wholesome” and good for someone who is a mom hahah. Or wants to travel on-foot to Leavenworth… or, just enjoys my writing!!! hahaha. Thank youuuu.
Overall Event Ratings: Venue: 4/5, Food: 3/5, Networking: 4/5, Content: 4/5, Likeliness to Return: 5/5
PHOTOS + Reflections
THE TIME SPENT (Short Notes)
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We headed right from daycare, to the bus, to the literail, to the train!! Then upon arrival we took a shuttle to our hotel, settled in- and slept!
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We headed out to the grocery store to get food for the remainder of our time there. Also played in the snow and explored a bit of the downtown.
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It was super snowy today. We had so much fun playing at the house, taking easy, and eventually heading back to the grocery store to get a few more supplies + hang out downtown again. We played in the snow by the hotel, too and built many snowmen hahaha.
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My foot injury was unignorable so we headed to the hospital and got that taken care of. After, we played a while at the arcade I’d noticed the day before, had food downtown (sat with strangers hahah but they turned into friends. They were from a nearby city and they were pregnant!! We had plenty to talk about). Then we eventually went home and played a bit more in the snow, though I started to get a HUGEEE stomach ache.
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We checked out on time and walked over an hour to meet some reindeer. It was TOO awesome times one hundred. A great experience and great venue/time. I would go again for sure. Then, the bus back was really fun and a great way to travel with a toddler!!!
NOTES ON THE DETAILS -
THE TRAIN: epic.
Initially, I had no clue that you could get to Leavenworth by train. First, my thinking was I’d rent a car - but then I saw the drive was SO LONG!! Like over 3 hours. Then, I was like, “well how do people get there?” cause Google Maps was showing over 4.5 hours with public transit. That’s not okay with my daughter!! Finally, I saw that there is a TRAIN there!! So I booked the trip there. It was sold out for the way back, so we found a bus for the way back.
I love the train so much. The last time I took it was heading to Portland!! That was for an amazing conference.
Their marketing worked, too (the train’s) cause they emailed me so many times asking if I wanted to “bid up” on a fancier room. For $70 more you could get two meals and your own private room. They had another room that was like $200 more, but this one was a mini-room.
I started having flash backs of being on the plane, even busses or subways sometimes with my daughter when she’s in a tough mood. This trip, our plan was to leave from daycare and head to the train… if she didn’t get a good nap at daycare, etc. omg. I was in for it!! Then traveling, arriving late at night, then getting to the hotel… yeah, no way.
So I decided to get the $70 upgrade and get the mini-room for our ~3 hour train ride. It included dinner, so I thought that’d be worth it too - BOY OH BOY!! IT was fantastic.
The room was amazing, it had two seats that folded into a bed and then a bed up top. There was plenty of space and we hung out in both areas for a while.
Dinner was a four course meal and we were asked to sit with strangers. That ended up being fun and my daughter randomly had the best time ever. She loved meeting the new people, eating cake, and hanging out. She said she made new friends, and called it “party time” which was fun!!
The train was just so fun and affordable for traveling. Yes, the $70 upgrade was a splurge, but it lead to an extremely peaceful and comfortable trip + an extravagant dinner. I had salmon!! And she ate really well too. She ate so many veggies, salmon, etc—- I was thrilled. (I’m always happy when she has a healthy meal, I try so hard every single meal) hahah and this meal she ate even more than usual of all the veggies. Okay, sure, it’s train food - but it was super good food!! hahaha. So I was really happy.
When the train arrived at the station, we got onto the shuttle. It was $11/person and you were supposed to reserve it ahead of time. We had done that, not everyone did - and I ended up even covering a couple’s fare cause they didn’t have cash. But they paid me back on Venmo, etc. Just was kinda funny cause they just showed up and didn’t even make a reservation, or have cash… i’m like, omg how are these people going to get around without me/this van? Haha. The lyft/uber here is NOT popular at all and takes 20/30 minutes to arrive.
THE HOTEL:
Okay. I was extremely disappointed with this hotel. More than I ever have been lately. It was just extremely horrible customer service, in the sense it just stood out as extremely low quality outsourced help. So, its like, you’re there in reality trying to talk to people, but you’re stuck texting a team overseas that doesn’t even know what’s going on or keep up with anything.
Basically, I had two things happen:
1. the day before I left, I stepped on “something?” idk what. But it got stuck in my foot and I thought it’d magically go away but instead it got worse so I had to go to the hospital a few days into this trip - we’ll talk about that later
2. The second day I was there, I tried to close the microwave and got my finger cut in it and sliced it open and it was so bloody crazy and I was crying. Then I got the first aid kid and it only had one gauze in it, so I used that + some duct tape I had, and I asked them for new supplies of a fresh first aid kit. Then basically for 2.5 days they told me they’d bring it, but never did - and then I realized they often didn’t even know what I was talking about cause they didn’t take good notes and each time I talked to them it was someone different. They kept asking me to send pictures, though I’d already sent pics and they kept saying someone would come help but they didn’t.
THEN my foot was hurting so much, my finger was cut open… I tried to just put on a movie for me and my daughter on TV but the TV didn’t work, so I asked them for help, they said to turn on the cable box—- but there was NO cable box, etc. Like, the advice they gave me just didn’t apply to reality nonstop - the customer service, so it just felt like a huge scam. Like an impersonal scam and outsourced terrible customer service that can’t just be direct.
Besides their stupid customer service….
I liked the room/place alright. It had a decent property it was on with some fun amenities for kids, though it was near an amusement park so you could hear peopel screaming nonstop from the roller coaster hahah. Even when you’re inside with the doors closed, so expect that.
I do love staying in vacation rentals with my daughter. But usually I have to sleep on a couch cause she kicks me so much (but I don’t want to pay for a 2 bedroom hahah). I slept totally fine on this trip… though the couch was advertised as a pull out… and it wasn’t hahaha. OMG. So much wrong with this place.
Though they did have some board games, which my daughter ended up LOVING. She loved playing with the different pieces and having everything match together. In the end, we even left behind some toys. I just thought it was so sweet and useful to have those there and probably other families in the future would like what we contributed, too.
This was about a 1 mile walk from the downtown, too, but it’s all on one road - so the time flies extremely fast as you’re walking, plus the scenery is gorgeous.
DOWNTOWN LEAVENWORTH:
This is such a great city that is fun to visit throughout the year cause each season has so much to offer. The buildings are so charming and the mood is so fun. I love how it’s got so many areas that are car-free too. Just walking and enjoying the town.
However… you don’t realize how much is stair-based until you have a stroller. Half that city is down/up stairs hahah. All the stores and restaurants. But, it’s such a great place to visit with a family. They have so many restaurants, little shops, amazing sights, small attractions. It’s not really a place you could spend more than a week and find new things to do (maybe I’m wrong, but… it’s a very small town). It’s filled with fun character and charm, though. Four days wasn’t enough - and we hardly saw anything.
The downtown is full of painted buildings with cute scenes, animals, happy people, decorations. It’s fantastic.
It has this fun holiday/community feel, too. You sit with random people at restaurants (hahah!) you share sleds down the hill, kids come up to you and just start chatting. It’s holiday “holiday vibes” in this city.
THE LOCAL GROCERY STORE:
I love to cook almost every single meal when I take my daughter out on a trip. Even more than “at home”, I just think at her age… with what I’m trying to do (and the fact you’re already spending money on the trip… and restaurants are so often really over rated) just enjoy cooking and enjoy the grocery store. I’m a person who loves going to the grocery store, especially a local one. I love to browse and brainstorm.
The local grocery store (and only place to buy non-restaurant food) was a bit of a walk past the downtown. It took about 30 minutes to get there each way, I think. But, after I did the first time, the second time I walked the full way there I felt like it took no time at all. And then, again, I walked by it a third time and it wasn’t bad… so, even if you’re like me - staying almost as far from teh downtown as possible (but still in walking distance) isn’t not too far… and I was pushing a stroller in the snow with a shotty food - okay? You can do it, too!! hahah.
The grocery was well stocked - AND - they had a fresh bakery and deli in the back. I got salmon, chicken, salad, soup, blah blah blah - all the essentials. We had amazing meals and I spent $100 on all but two of our meals. I’m not really the best at bulk cooking, I’ll be honest… so, probably I could have done a good job spending even less, but still - that’s like 10/12 meals we ate at ‘home’ off $100. Pretty good. Then we did have lunch out one day, but it literally got me so sick that I was sick the entire night with a stomach ache. That was like, really, $50 and not even that good of food (but the company was fun) - and then the last day we ate at the Reindeer Farm… yeah, they had reindeer brautworst…. which that meal cost like $25. So, overall, food was easy to manage here, but no restaurants stole my heart or dollars too much.
THE HOSPITAL:
The more I walked, the worse it was getting, and I had to get my daughter home the next day, traveling another few miles entire on foot. So, I decided to have our event of the day be… “going to the hospital” at a minimum. It’s not fun AT ALL!!! But, it is like one of the only things to do downtown, you can’t miss it - hahaha. So, I said, okay, let’s figure out what is in my foot.
They wanted to order me an X-Ray!! I said, no… that’s too expensive and crazy, I think it’s just like, as big as a piece of sand and right here. Well…… they got it out - but BOYYY that was so painful. My daughter and I both, afterwards said, oof!! That was CRAZY!! It was totally totally crazy and painful, but instantly my foot felt 100 times better. I still was limping (though I have some shoes that were like dangerously soft, in the sense, they let me walk on that foot longer than I should have while that thing was still in there) - but yeah, that was crazy.
I did think it would be good/intersting for my daughter to go, though, and see what it’s like for ME to experience a time at the doctor. Usually it’s only her going, and I’m there to watch. So, I had no choice to take her - and realized it was a good opportunity for her to see what it’s like to have someone else be the patient. How you have to stay strong and be brave.
Yeah, it was so painful, but necessary and then completely better after.
The plan was to go to a petting zoo after that, but the doctor said I shoudl just go home. True. We did try to go home and watch a movie and take it easy but the TV didn’t work. But instead we just played and hung out. It was super fun to just use our imaginations, draw hahaha. Do whatever.
They were also really sweet at the hospital, I don’t want to forget, cause they had a bubble machine that they let my daughter play with/interact with twice!! It was just sweet how they did those little gestures for me/her to feel happy. It was like a fun experience mixed with crazy.
THE REINDEER FARM:
Okay, so at the lunch where we sat with random peopel downtown, they told us that the reindeer farm was in walking distance from downtown. They did it the day before. So, I saw that it was not TOO far past he grocery store, and decided to walk there, too!! The walk said it’d take 45 minutes… somehow with my cranky foot, ALL of my stuff in hand, the snow (legit, ALL of our stuff on me) - the walk took me an hour and a half!! Can you believe it? haha. OMG. But we did take our time walking. Just surprising that I walked an hour and a half to get to the reindeer farm hahaha. What a trooper woman, huh?
Then we got there and the signs, ALL OVER THE PLACE, said “sold out”. :)
So, I lied a bit. Well, I told a story from the last time I’d come to Leavenworth. The last time I came to Leavenworth I had to leave, cause the hotel was oversold and I thought I’d bought the room, but instead I just “ALMOST” bought the room but never clicked “pay” - then we drove all the way there (this was years ago) and got to the hotel and they’re like, no, you don’t have a room here.. then we realized why.
So, given that I just walked legit an hour and a half, I decided to tell that story. First I walked up, super cheerful, told her I walked over an hour, said my name and the time… and she couldn’t find us. I said, oh crap!! it’s on the “buy” screen, I didnt’ buy it.
THen… she told me to wait at least 15 minutes and maybe they can let me in. So, we went and waited by the camels. My daughter and I had a lot of fun with that, and actually, I realized it was more than enough to see these camels. We could figure out a plan B and go, not weasel our way into this place like liars!!! haha.
So, I went to tell the girl, don’t worry - we can come back another time… but instead she said, “We defitneily have room, not enough people showed up, wanna go in?” I said, “sure!!” and it was instantly awesome.
I thought just camels would be enough for my daughter - and she was happy with them, too - had no clue really about all she’d be missing, so it was no loss… bututttttttthttutuutut Then, instead, finding out we could go in - I was like YEAHHH! WOOO HOOOO.
Then we just had the greatest time ever at the reindeer farm. I don’t want to say much, cause it was awesome and I just suggest you go. So many features of it were great (though, they oversold the deliciousness of their food- though can’t blame them. Well done).
Go see it for yourself and love it!!
THE SAFEWAY / TRANSIT CENTER:
Now, this worked out TOO well. Cause I actually got confused. I thought the “park and ride” we’d be going to was going to back-track us, back towards Leavenworth city center… no!!! It was even FURTHER than the local grocery store. So, actually, the reindeer 1.5 hour walk totally benefitted us. It was totally by mistake too. About an hour or so into the time with the reindeers, I wanted to double check the plan. Then I realized the “park and ride” was not teh one I’d seen before, not the one I’d already walked by 3 times.
It was a 30 min walk away.
We started the track from Reindeer Land and my daughter fell asleep in her stroller. Then, we walked to the transit center… well, showing up 2 hours early. Luckily, it was by a Safeway, so I legit walked around inside the Safeway slowly for over an hour and a half. I just walked the lanes peacefully, like a meditative monk.
Then I went to use the bathroom and some grandma told me that she wanted to see my baby, I was in such a random great mood so I tried to show off my daughter, and then that ended up waking her up!!! haha. Oh no… it was like, I almost went to show off how cute she wasn’t, then I realized I didn’t want to cause it’d wake her up, so I stopped myself and just went to show the grandma a pic of her with the reindeer instead, but somehow my “thought” of interrupting her sleep to show her off was too much hahaha. And it woke her up.
But we got into a good mood soon enough. I got her some snacks, then decided to get us A BUNCH of snacks for now/the bus (plus they had buy 2- get one free) for these fresh snack packs with like fruits and veggies and dips and meats and stuff, so I grabbed 3.
Then we had some food at the table inside the grocery store for about 20 minutes, then headed over to the bus pickup spot.
THE BUS BACK: fun/wholesome/crazy/100xsBetterThanAnAirplane (I’m so sick of planes!!!!)
This was my daughter’s first greyhound (and my 2nd or third). I loved it. Everyone was friendly and in this great mood. I sat next to a guy who’d already been on the bus though for 5 days!! It was supposed to be a 3 days trip. He so sweet, at one point we got stuck in snow for a while and he said he’d wished he’d had brought some food. HELLO!! Food queen over here was able to help!! I gave him a full box of food :) and he was super happy. He was nice.
Also we made friends with another mom/baby duo traveling on their own. Our daughters giggled together for probably an hour. At the grocery store, I’d also grabbed 3 boxes of valentines they had. It was $2.50 each and they had like amazing activities with stickers, tattoos, scratch art… so we shared that with the other baby and they scratched the art, looked at the cute puppies and shared stickers. It was fun for my daughter to spend that time socializing while traveling!! I also loved sharing with others.
The guy sitting behind me even asked if he could buy some water off me (lol I had 3 water bottles!! 2 for my daughter - they were mini) and a huge one for me. So I just gave him the entire rest of my water bottle and the leftovers of our fruit - lol, we really had so much food - on purpose though!! I like to be over prepared with my daughter when we travel + it’s always fine to share.
I like how the bus is so communal and just a lot easier than a plane. I am really so sick of airports. I’ll be going to an airport again next month… but I’m not sure I wanna go again anytime soon after that. I want a break. Just let me hang out in all other modes of travel, okay? hahha. I’m so sick of planes. Even if it takes a million times longer, the travel to the plane, check in, security, waiting, getting off - etc. It’s a lot tooO!!!!! With a toddler, these other methods are SO MUCH EASIER :) and peaceful and beautiful .
Until next time, I wish you the motivation and success to search for opportunities around your area. Search and explore: Who is out there giving talks? There are new things happening all of the time
Find relatable or interesting topics you like and check them out! Maybe even something hosted at a cool venue, if there’s no other reason to go. Let’s see what you can learn and discover not too far from home. 😊
