Today’s adventure took us south into the Williamette Valley to visit several wineries. I played with Jasmine outside in the landscaped grounds while the dynamic trio sampled Oregon’s fermented grapes.
It was enjoyable trip with beautiful scenery. The bag of kettle corn made a nice car snack. We also got to see an artichoke plant which was wasn’t what I was expecting.
After a rather busy Saturday we decided to take it easy today. We ate breakfast together at their hotel – which serves an awesome 8 grain bread – or was that 7 grain – hmm maybe it was 9 – anyway it was yummy.
The ladies did lots of shopping and the guys headed to the movies. We then hung out at our place.
I think my parents new favorite store is Fred Meyer. They said ‘its like an upscale super walmart’. It seemed they found an excuse to go their everyday for the remainder of the week.
I made roasted chicken and mash potatoes for dinner. We also had the shelled peas from the farmer’s market.
It was getting late, so we didn’t have energy to do the Bonneville Damn tour. But I did wrangle them for a quick stop at the hatchery. Seeing the giant 10 foot sturgeon is a sight not to be missed. It certainly impressed my parents – along with seeing the various life stages of the rainbow trout in the fishery. And they of course hit the gift shop.
So on our way out of Hood River, we see this bridge, and Rachel asks to cross it. So she and Lynn can say they visited Washington state. And so we did.
On the Washington side, we drove thru a nice town and went out to a boating area. Rachel and Jasmine got out and walked down to the dock to visit some fisherman. The boat crew seemed a little stunned to see these two ladies talking to them, but they adapted and showed them their catch – sturgeon.
Which happened to be a nice segue for my next planned excursion…
Our tummies were rumbling, so we drove up to Hood River and drove around to scope a possible lunch venue. Rachel made the final pick and she choose well. The pub restaurant was build up a hill with a scenic waterfall feature at street level. The view from our table spanned the river valley.
Here dad and I began our week long taste testing of draft rootbeer and clam chowder.
