OK, Im sick of going up for visitation and hanging out at Walmart. I thought maybe we could share any good info about the local area. I know a few things. But have more questions athan probably answers. Maybe we could jsut post them all to this thread.

Hotels, Time shares, Church Services, Favorite Antique Shop...WALMART...LOL..Anything. Rental cars from the airport....

I know that I feel so horribly alone when Im not actually sitting in visitation and unfortunately, there are more non-vistation hours during the weekend than I would love to have. I also know that I have to make an effort not to jsut pick up something at the drive-thru and lay in my hotel room and eat. I Also know when I do actually do something, I feel guilty for enjoying it...one of those catch 22s that Im sure affects us all.

Surely, I am not the only one that giggles when I turn onto BLUNTVILLE to get to mailing addy of WAREHOUSE RD. I mean come on, we have to find humor in the little things.

So, besides in the hotel room, how do you spend your non-visitation time?

What a GREAT topic!! I've been kind of busy lately so haven't checked in like I usually do, or would have replied to this sooner! Hmm.. what do we do when we're not visiting? Hmm.. well, once we drove around Leavenworth and looked at all the really old, gorgeous houses! Another time, my daughter and I hunted down garage sales! (got a great tooled leather picture frame for $1) Another time we drove up the driveway to the USP to take pictures of the dome and were ordered to Immediately leave the premises by what seemed no less than God Himself since the voice boomed from nowhere and had no visibly attached body! That was, uh, fun. We have a picnic lunch at the Buffalo Solider Monument when the weather is nice...don't have to go through the search again! And, of course, we've wandered aimlessly through the aisles at Walmart buying "stuff" we really didn't need. There really isn't that much to "do" in Leavenworth......

Best place we've found to eat is downtown and for the life of me, I can't remember the name of it... it has a train theme. Pullman? It's a couple of blocks off the main street. They're open early so you can get a decent breakfast before visitation, have fantastic service and really good coffee (a must in my book!). Applebees is okay (sports TV fix for the junkies). There's a mexican food place that is pretty good. The usual fast food places are okay but I can only take so much of that before I need a good meal! We even take microwaveable stuff to cook in the room.

We've stayed HI Express, Days Inn, Super 8 and so far, the Days Inn is the best bang for the buck. When my 8 y.o. grandson went, we stayed at HI so he could swim. I didn't notice a big difference in the rooms or the service, so can't say it was any better than the others. A bit pricier, that's for sure!

The Fort itself is interesting to explore if you're into history at all.

and Hmmm... it's hard to find a lot to write about (lol). I hope others post so we can keep this going.. other perspectives are always good. Maybe some of you have actually found things to do! I know I'd love to hear about them!

~Lisa.