Hood River

Hood River
What a great town. I want to live here! It’s like Durango and Moab with spectacular views of a snow covered Mount Hood and the Columbia Gorge with the kite surfers and their colorful kites. The colors are intense. The streets are lined with flowers in full bloom, snap dragons, lavender, columbine, wild roses, sweet peas, coreopsis. And everyone takes good care of them.
Last night we walked downtown for dinner at Brian’s Pourhouse, about .9m from the Sunset motel. Brian’s uses local ingredients and we took advantage of it. I ordered a vanilla, blackberry cream with vodka to start. It was one of the most berry flavored drinks I’ve ordered and I enjoyed every sip of the bright purple concoction. A brie, berry compote and roasted garlic appetizer showcased the intense berries of the region but the toasts were a bit chewy and there were only 7 of tehm. Not nearly enough to scoop up the luscious berry compote. Asha ordered a fresh veg pasta with asparagus, sugar snap peas and spinach (locally grown) and ate every last bite. I took forever to order—so many choices. There was a thai fish dish that sounded great but I often don’t like fish and these smoked salmon pockets (they smoke their own Alaskan salmon) with locally grown mushrooms and the fried calamari looked great (okay, that’s not local!). I decided on the last two. The calamari was too chewy but the batter was light and tasty. The salmon pockets were flavorful and light. Grandma had a salad (like usual). The spinach leaves were the largest I’ve ever seen.
After dinner, we headed further downtown to check out the area. Great downtown; lots of coffee shops and little boutiques with great, crazy clothes and restaurants. We’ll visit there this afternoon to hang ou in the coffee shops. We were going to do the ‘fruit loop” today but decided we just couldn’t do a two to three hour driving tour when we could stay here, but we are going to lunch in the fruit loop area, so we’ll get to see some of that.
Hood River is known for their orchards and a small number of vineyards (I have to say it was not to Brian’s credit that there was not one Oregon wine on their menu). We are also going to a place called The White house which showcases local wines and beers, to do some tasting. Okay, I do the tasting while Mom and Asha eagerly await my tasting comments, hanging on my each and every word. I wouldn’t bother tasting if I didn’t know how much vicarious enjoyment they were getting.
Saturday morning Mary and I took a walk down to the edge of the river- about a mile and a half. There is a nice park down at the waters -edge and regulations for kite sailors and wind surfers. We walked back to the motel and then went back downtown to eat breakfast. After breakfast we walked around window looking in the shops. Many outdoor type stores such as: bike and skateboard and camping, mountain climbing etc. There are so many flowers in bloom everywhere.