I swore we wouldn’t do it. After going on a cruise and visiting Disney World during the spring, I said there was no way my family would even think about leaving Spokane this summer. I was adamant that we would enjoy a relaxing time staying put in our local community.

Well, we made a slight addendum to that plan.

We ended up taking Beau and Sloan on a short trip to Leavenworth.

In June, Sid and I made the decision to take a very brief end-of-summer “getaway” to Leavenworth. Feeling like it might be nice to treat the kids to a few days outside Spokane borders, we decided to return to the place we visited for the first time a year ago.

This was our view from our hotel room balcony at the Enzian Inn. We spent a lot of time in that pool.

It just seemed right. When we vacationed to Leavenworth last August, we fell in love with the wholesome and quirky Bavarian-themed community. Luckily for us, considerations like the cost, the distance, and the offerings worked for the vacation-depleted budget we were working with.

Returning to Leavenworth was something we could swing.

To be honest, our second trip to Leavenworth was pretty much a rinse and repeat of our inaugural voyage last year…which was a good thing.

Although most of what we did in Leavenworth this time around was a rinse and repeat from last year, Sloan and Beau did try a new treat on our most recent trip. In this photo they are eating a Frostbite Freeze from Der Snow Cave. This treat is a slush drink infused with Dippin’ Dots.

Since our trip mirrored what we did last year, there isn’t a need to basically duplicate the post I wrote in 2024. If you remember, I pinpointed 10 themes from the vacation. Guess what? They were all pretty much prevalent again in 2025. Instead, I thought I would just highlight five of my favorite photos from last week…

Read on (and look on) for my five favorite photos from Leavenworth.

⛰️ This photo is my favorite from the trip because, it is, well…our family 😂?  We took the exact same photo last year, too. I don’t think we will go to Leavenworth for a third straight year in 2026 but if we do, you can imagine that we will pose once again on Main St. with the mountains behind us…

This photo of my family epitomizes Leavenworth. We took a photo of us all at the exact same place last year and if we return again we will make sure to take another one,

🐐 Look closely, do you see something besides Sloan and Beau? Ah yes, the goats! These cute guys have a habitat that hugs the putting golf course that is one of the amenities of our hotel, the Enzian Inn. They definitely add a spark of personality to the beautiful course…

Can you spot the two goats behind Beau and Sloan? They loved the goats so much that they each got a stuffed goat from the front desk at the Enzian Inn.

❄️ Brrrr it was freezing in Der Snow Cave, a unique cold treat spot on Main St. that combines shaved ice with Dippin Dots. You can see the treats that Sloan and Beau ordered earlier in this blog post but the photo that truly reminds me of this unique business is below. Sloan posed with the giant Yeti inside Der Snow Cave and I happen to really love it…

I love this photo of Sloan hanging with the Yeti inside Der Snow Cave.

🎶 I have a favorite photo of Beau, too! Every morning during breakfast at the Enzian Inn, they would play the alpine horn. Beau’s concentration on the musician, the colors, and the background make this an image that I will develop a hard copy of…

Everything about this photo of Beau watching the alpine horn performance makes me smile.

🍨 We got dessert every single night we were in Leavenworth (because why not?). But nothing beat the ice cream we got from Whistlepunk Ice Cream Co. the last night we were in town. Read my Google Review if you need more details but it was phenomenal. This photo shows Sid and the kids with their Whistlepunk treats and I just couldn’t leave it out…

Sid and the kids pose with their WhistlePunk ice cream the last night we were in Leavenworth.

Thanks to Sid and the kids for accompanying me on such a fun vacation. Like I mentioned above, I don’t think we will return for a third straight summer but as my wife always points out, I have a habit of making traditions out of things we do twice. Don’t Blink.