We had plans fall through at the last minute last week, so we decided to go to Leavenworth again for just Saturday night. We haven’t been for a little while, but it’s one of our favorite places to visit for a weekend. There’s always something fun to do, be it the Accordion Festival like last weekend, or just a *regular* weekend. They have festivals all the time though, so a completely regular weekend is rare.

We had been debating heading out for a couple of days when a friend from college texted me for recommendations of what to do and where to eat in Leavenworth. She lives across the country so I haven’t seen her in a very long time, and I jumped on the chance to see her once I knew she was going to be there as well.

She was pregnant with her daughter the same time I was pregnant with my son, and we actually shared a due date (though she gave birth a couple days before I did). Thanks to that connection, we’ve talked quite a lot over the last five years in particular, but we hadn’t seen each other since I graduated.

We ended up joining her family for dinner and then she and her cousin went and hung out with us at the Leavenworth Cider House afterward. It was great to have the time face to face, and we really lucked out that our plans changed and we got to see each other. It might be another many years until we meet in person again, but it’s wonderful when a friendship can pick up easily when you do finally see one another.

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Friday’s Frugal Five

1. Since we didn’t leave for Leavenworth until Saturday morning, the kiddo wanted to head over to say hi to his neighbor friends after I got home Friday afternoon. Really, they’re his best friends so he tries to go over there every day, and we end up there at least once or twice a week.

My neighbor then asked if we wanted to do dinner together since neither of us had plans for that night. We pooled together ingredients from both our houses plus the garden and made tacos for both our families, plus a couple other friends who ended up stopping by as well.

The kiddo had a late nap that day, so we actually ended up staying up eleven pm that night. Way later than is typical, but they had a ton of fun and then we got to sleep in a bit the next morning. Near the end of the night, another neighbor ended up stopping by as well. She’s pretty new to the neighborhood and not someone I’ve gotten to know yet, so I was thrilled to get to “meet” her and talk in a real way.

2. Since the trip to Leavenworth was really last minute (see: booked Thursday night), the KOA we normally stay at was completely full. By then though, we had decided that we really wanted to go anyway and I wanted to see my college friend in person. Plus we wanted to stay within walking distance of town instead of camping up in the mountains.

While not as cheap as camping at the KOA, I was able to book the new Hampton Inn just a short walk outside of downtown. I remembered to click through Ebates, which had cash back through Hotels.com. Thanks to Ebates, we ended up with $13 cash back simply by going through that portal.

The hotel was definitely a bit of a splurge – fancy, new, and with a luxurious king size bed. My husband’s godfather joined us as well and had a large pull out couch all to himself. The room also had great room darkening shades, which I credit with allowing the kiddo to have a two hour plus nap on Saturday. Which meant we were out until eleven pm a second night in a row. Oops.

The hotel also had a free breakfast, which was buffet style but with lots of high quality options. If we do stay in a hotel, it’s usually the budget variety, so we’re used to cold cereal as the free breakfast option. I’m now realizing that between the Ebates cash back and the free breakfast for the four of us that the pricier hotel maybe wasn’t much more than the KOA after all.

If you haven’t signed up for Ebates yet, here is $10 to get started. As always, know yourself, and sign up for this kind of program if you will be disciplined to use it only when you are making a purchase anyway – not because of the online shopping coupons that encourage you to spend more.

3. Since spring has ended and we are *mostly* out of the rainy season, my husband replaced the windshield wipers on both of our cars. Side note – I forget how much these cost even when you aren’t paying for the labor to install them.

While windshield wipers definitely aren’t the most complicated of the car maintenance items, they’re also one of those things that you easily end up paying for during an oil change because you just haven’t made the time. Instead, the kiddo helped my husband install them on both our cars in just a few minutes. And here’s to hoping he will retain that expectation of doing things himself as he gets older.

4. Speaking of neighbors again, later this week I ended up at the gym after work because my husband picked up the kiddo from preschool. I met them at the grocery store from there though, so I didn’t have time to shower before the got home.

While my husband then started dinner, the kiddo ran back down the street to hang out with his friends, and my neighbor said that he would keep an eye on him so I could go shower. Perhaps this doesn’t seem to be a huge thing, but having a chance to go shower by myself while my husband cooked dinner is a big deal with a young child at home.

5. It’s raspberry season! And really just garden season in general. For two years running, my Father’s Day present to my dad has been to bring him containers full of my freshly picked raspberries. Of course, we have way too many already, so different neighbors stop by to snack on them as well.

We still have plenty of garlic scapes too, and I was able to convince another neighbor to take a bunch home to cook with. He’d never eaten the scapes before, and it’s always fun to teach someone about parts of plants they didn’t realize they could eat.

Exercise Update

Friday was another five minutes on the elliptical squeezed in before I left work for the day. Leavenworth was a ton of walking to and from the hotel and around town. Tuesday I got to the gym to lift and went for a run outside.

Wednesday (sore from the day before) was an early morning 5k distance run with a friend before work.

Where do you usually head for a last minute trip out of town? Have you ever been to Leavenworth?