Green Refreshment in Leavenworth, Kansas

I arrived in Leavenworth, Kansas at 9:30 on Thursday morning. My first stop was the Corner Pharmacy Old Fashioned Soda Fountain, where several families enjoyed breakfast as I ordered a cup of coffee. For only $3.19 they could order a daily special anytime until close with 2 eggs, hash browns and toast. Add a cinnamon roll for only $1.09. And a bottomless cup of joe (in house) cost only 79 cents - an amazing deal in this day and age.

First opened in 1871, the soda fountain is decorated with black and white photos from another time, an antique 'Apothecary' sign above the archway between soda fountain and drug store, and soda fountain spigots that await summertime customers. Of course they serve real malts, original shakes, ice cream floats and ice cream sundaes.

There are also old-fashioned favorites such as sarsaparilla, birch beer, root beer and cream soda, as well as phosphates made with strawberry, cherry, or vanilla flavor, citric acid and carbonated water. But there's one beverage at the Corner Pharmacy Old Fashioned Soda Fountain that I'd never seen before, and may never see again - the Green River. It's a combination of lemon-lime syrup, ice, simple syrup and carbonated water. The result is brilliant green, sweet, and thirst quenching from the first sip.

A perfect accompaniment while strolling Leavenworth's historic main street and visiting one of the nation's top quilt stores, a bookstore that's crammed with reading materials throughout every square foot of space, and an antique store that brims with treasures.