our trip was pretty relaxing and included a nice drive down I84 in the columbia gorge; lunch in cascade locks; sun from hood river on; a nice walk with the dogs @ maryhill museum; more sun and driving up north through goldendale, WA, topponish wa and then to zillah; wine tasting in zillah and then on to yakima.
the gorge - what can I say. the columbia gorge is truly one of the wonders of our region. we're blessed to be so close. by the time we reached hood river and the dalles, the sun was out and we were getting toasty. by the time we were at maryhill, it was 80 degrees.
maryhill: back in the day, a pioneer named Sam Hill came to oregon and built this amazing home for his lady. Maryhill is now a wonderful art museum and grounds where you can picnic or just admire the gorge. there are peacocks too - they eat the snakes!
and the views:
after maryhill, we began our trek north to yakima. the drive is beautiful. there are a couple of passes to go over - one being Satus Pass. after the forest, you come down into a valley that is dry and arrid and mostly rangeland. i love it because it's where we can see herds of deer or hawks or other wildlife. it's also not usually crowded with autos, so the drive is relaxing. after about an hour, we come into topponish. we've never really spent much time here other than food stops. there is a wonderful industrial plant on the outskirts of town that had been abandoned for the longest time. part of the building is the steel structure style with all the small windows. it's pretty beaten up and grafitti-ed, but we thought it would be a great place to raise a family of chihuahuas.
Zillah - on I82 - probably 10 different winerys on the map, yet my buddy @ southpark (a wine guy) had never heard of the place. we'd been here before doing wine tasting and were looking forward to a specific winery because of thier special "10 buck Red." Paradisos Del Sol has become a fav of ours since the last time we were here. Our first visit introduced us to the vinters and thier small yet casual back room of the house where you taste the wines. there are chickens and turkeys running free and the total package makes you feel welcome and wanting to buy wine. they have a great "10 buck Red" - a lemberger blend that when you purchase it by the case (see where i'm going?) it comes out to around $4.75 a bottle. two cases later, we hit the road.
Yakima - yep, Yakivegas, or "The Palm Springs of Washington." we enjoy coming to yakima because my sis has a ranch with doggies and chickens and horses. this weekend though was all about business and family, so the vibe was a little different. we decided to stay in a hotel since they have two kids and we didn't want our little pups waking them in the night. we would rather keep the hotel patrons awake with the incessent barking @ 2am (yup, that did happen.) yakima is a nice place, but it does have it's challenges. the hotel we stayed at was a nice one, but is at the end of "the strip." 1st ave is where all the fun happens in yakima. it's also the place where you can find some cool stuff:
provacative huh?
sunday came and the babtism was great. all of the kids were antsy and squirmy and it was wonderful to see my brother get all flustered just like my dad did when we acted up in church. hee hee. i jus sat there and watched and chuckled. lutherans celebrate communion with wine and wafers. we decided to partake since i had a tinge of hangover and needed the hair of the dog @ 11am. afterwards, i mentioned to a that I thought i had the body of christ stuck in my braces...
drive home was uneventful. we were tired and it was raining. the house and kitties survived being alone fo the weekend. some photos from the trip:
and lastly - your moment of Zen - in Zilla, there's a church that has a "GOD-Zilla"
Yakima - yep, Yakivegas, or "The Palm Springs of Washington." we enjoy coming to yakima because my sis has a ranch with doggies and chickens and horses. this weekend though was all about business and family, so the vibe was a little different. we decided to stay in a hotel since they have two kids and we didn't want our little pups waking them in the night. we would rather keep the hotel patrons awake with the incessent barking @ 2am (yup, that did happen.) yakima is a nice place, but it does have it's challenges. the hotel we stayed at was a nice one, but is at the end of "the strip." 1st ave is where all the fun happens in yakima. it's also the place where you can find some cool stuff:
provacative huh?
sunday came and the babtism was great. all of the kids were antsy and squirmy and it was wonderful to see my brother get all flustered just like my dad did when we acted up in church. hee hee. i jus sat there and watched and chuckled. lutherans celebrate communion with wine and wafers. we decided to partake since i had a tinge of hangover and needed the hair of the dog @ 11am. afterwards, i mentioned to a that I thought i had the body of christ stuck in my braces...
drive home was uneventful. we were tired and it was raining. the house and kitties survived being alone fo the weekend. some photos from the trip:
and lastly - your moment of Zen - in Zilla, there's a church that has a "GOD-Zilla"
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