Andrew woke up extremely early this morning and figured that since he was up, there was no way I was going to be sleeping in. He poked and taped on the window relentlessly until I reluctantly crawled out of bed with anger in my eyes. He was already making coffee however, so I let him off the hook. We ate cereal…again…and hopped in the car to drive into the city center. We arrived at Hood River a few minutes later after a little confusion and a helpful postal worker, found the visitor center. (This trip has made me really appreciate their services by the way!) Once again, we left the building with lots of local magazines, rack cards and trail info. Now we just had to decide what to do. At this point, we’re feeling a little panicked for time and we had not allowed for more than a day here. Therefore, we decided to drive down part of the Fruit Loop; a scenic valley that takes you around Mt. Hood as you tour many local farm stands with a variety of fruits & vegetables. There are over 30 agriculture businesses on the loop including apple & pear farms, vineyards, lavender fields, alpaca farms, cherry & blueberry farms and much more! Andrew and I figured it would be a nice, relaxing afternoon and we’d be able to buy local food and have an experience doing it.
First, we went to the grocery store to stock up on food and wine, then the liquor store for Andrew. We grabbed some lunch and then headed down the Fruit Loop. Our first stop was The Gorge White House. This century old working farm carried wines from over 30 wineries and had local fruit, flowers, wine, beer and art. Andrew sampled an IPA and I tried their pear wine, both were very good. We walked in the flower fields for a bit and admired the pear trees.
From there, we continued on to Smiley’s Fruit Stand. We purchased freshly picked apples and sampled many of their homemade jams, jellies, fruit butters, and salsas. If we had more room in the car, and an unlimited budget, I would have purchased one of each! Next, we stopped at Cody Orchards’ Farm Stand. This family run farm was extremely friendly and down to earth. We bought some delicious Rainer cherries, some small potatoes, garlic, and squash.
On our way to the next farm, we pulled into the Hood River Ranger Station and talked to them about the area and got more papers. (Side note: I’ve accumulated quite the assortment of brochures from this trip and they are taking up a lot of room in this car!)
Afterward, we continued on to Packer Orchards & Bakery. Here, we were able to sample a variety of cookies, baked fresh each morning. Andrew ordered a Cookie Monster Milkshake; vanilla ice cream with his choice of their specialty cookies. It doesn’t look like much, but it was good! I bought a pound of blueberries for $3 and let Andrew pick out a pear butter spread we walked away happy.
After we had a suitable amount of fresh fruits and vegetables, we started towards Portland. We passed the entrance to Timberline Lodge on the way and figured we might as well see it while we were here. The woodwork inside was amazing.
It was late afternoon by the time we left the lodge, so we decided to head towards the campground we had picked out. Yes, tonight we were actually going to stay in a legit campsite; one that had showers, flush toilets, picnic tables and a firepit. With the help of our GPS, we pulled in to Milo McIver State Park and found a camping spot. I pulled out all the items we had purchased today to give them a good cleaning and began cooking dinner.
We decided to have spaghetti with squash, zucchini, garlic and fresh tomatoes in the sauce. After we cleaned our dishes, we took turns enjoying a long, hot shower. Our neighbors were a bunch of kids around our age with a guitar and obviously lots of alcohol. They played and sang for at least two hours before someone complained to the campground host. They quieted down and we were able to fall asleep.
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