Recently, we traveled to a small town in Washington called Leavenworth. The history of Leavenworth is very intriguing!
Leavenworth, originally called Icicle Flats, was first settled in about 1885 as a trading post. With the completion of JJ Hill’s Great Northern Railway in 1893, Leavenworth, as Icicle Flats was now known, began to come into its own as a northwest frontier town. The town thrived until The Great Northern Railway pulled out of Leavenworth. The new route, which would be subject to snow closure less often, bypassed the town, causing the timber companies based along Icicle Creek to fail.
The town languished nearly to extinction until the early 1960’s when town leaders came up with a plan to convert the town’s primary source of income to one based in tourism.
Leavenworth used the natural beauty of the North Cascades and the resemblance to the Bavarian Alps region of southern Germany to recreate itself as a Bavarian-style vacation destination.
The town has managed to thrive over the years, basing their tourism around several major festivals.
We arrived at the start of the holiday season, in time to still enjoy the beautiful fall colors, decent weather and Oktoberfest on tap, but also some of the early Christmas lights, a visit to the Reindeer Farm complete with Santa Photos and Gluhwein (mulled wine).
While we liked hopping from winery to winery down Front Street, we couldn’t, in good conscience, stop in this cute little town without checking out the Bloody Mary scene.
We visited Louie’s Café for breakfast.
Spice & Mix: Demitri’s Mix, plus local vodka and a salted rim. We asked for it spicy, but we didn’t really feel too much of the heat.
Fixin’s: Bacon, Olive, Sweet Pepper, Celery, Asparagus, Cocktail Onion, Cheese, Lemon,
Chaser: None offered.
Price: $12.50
This was a nice hearty Bloody Mary and we enjoyed the plethora of fixin’s in this small town so far outside of the Midwest. It had a nice full flavor (we like Demitri’s!) and paired nicely with our delicious breakfast.
We highly recommend both Louie’s AND Leavenworth in general if you ever find yourself in the Northwest. A total hidden gem. We hope to be back!
Out For Bloodies 