TP Thursday: Washington’s “Old West”

We live 'out West’in that part of America made famous by mid-20th Century television Westerns. 
Watching Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Gunsmoke’s Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty, and, of course, Bonanza's  Hoss, Little Joe, Adam and Ben Cartwright as kids we learned of those early days in our part of the country:  tumble weeds tumbling through vast open spaces, sparcely populated by 'Cowboys and Indians' and always with mountains in the distance. . .

So it shouldn't be surprising that one of our favorite stays in Central Washington was at a place that put us right in the 'Old West'; a step back in time, and less than a three-hour drive from Seattle.
 


We stayed in this 'room'  at Cherry Wood Bed and Breakfast, in the heart of Yakima Valley wine country.



The bed and breakfast is a working ranch in the midst of an agricultural area, so the rates include a hearty ranch breakfast. Had we had the time, for an additional price, we could have saddled up and taken a trail ride tour of local wineries.  I must admit that our taste of the 'old West' was nothing at all like those black and white television shows where they pulled a thin bed roll off the back of the saddle and hunkered up on the hard pack by the campfire for warmth.

Our stay was for an article I was writing about ‘glamping’. . . , that cushie-kissed means of 'camping in comfort'. 

We did have our own old wooden "outhouse" to use when nature called. However, hidden behind these wood walls was a fresh-scented, plastic 'Port-a-Potty' which was pumped and cleaned regularly.





  We brushed our teeth and washed up under the watchful eye of the self-appointed morning hygiene supervisor.












When we stepped inside the ‘door’ – an opening in our canvas walled tee-pee -- we found ourselves surrounded by luxury:








 
We offered a toast to the 'Old West" as we sat on the wooden swing, near the campfire pit watching the sun set over the far-distant Cascade Mountains, sipping our glasses of Yakima Valley wine.



It is TP Thursday so click this link to  Budget Travelers Sandbox and take a quick trip around the world through the lenses of my fellow travel bloggers.  And watch for the return of Washington Wednesdays, WAWednesdays, next week on Travelnwrite. This year's tales will begin at Iron Springs Resort at Copalis Beach.

Washington Wednesday: Yakima’s Fruit Loops

We’ve spent a good deal of time in my hometown in recent weeks because I had a number of reunions to attend this summer.  And they couldn’t have been held at a better time. It meant we were in Yakima, during harvest season – the absolute best time of the year to visit.

August’s 90-degree days allow us to open the car windows, and breathe the heady scents of tree-ripened produce when driving on one of what I call my favorite ‘Fruit Loops’. They are those winding two-lane roads that lead through orchards heavy with peaches and apricots, and past sprawling truck gardens where vegetables are grown and then sold at mom-and-pop stands along the roadway. 


Saturday morning we drove a ‘Fruit Loop’ northwest of town through the orchards in the West Valley area, into Peck’s Canyon and toward Tieton, another small agricultural town a stone’s throw from Yakima. 



 Sunday morning we headed south from Yakima on Highway 97 to Lateral A in the Lower Yakima Valley.  We followed it to Kyles Korner, where produce and fruit stands can be found on nearly every corner.  Temptations were great – how much can one load into a car?  Well, we weren’t as bad as the photo implies, but we did stock up on fruits and vegetables.



If You Go:  The Yakima Valley Visitor’s Center has a map of the valley’s agricultural areas and can tell you what crops are in season.  Just click the word Yakima in the post to get to their website.  Or drop us an email, and we’ll tell you where we shopped.

Oh, in case you’re wondering about that helicopter. The pilot was spraying crops and swept so low over us that I thought he was going to crash into the car.

Washington Wednesday: Yakima’s Ale Trail

  This week's focus is on the Yakima Valley, where I grew up, because  nearly 80% of the United State’s hop crop is grown there.

And for those of you who don’t drink brewskies (aka beer and/or ale) hops, well, specifically, the hop flowers that grow on the vines are one of the four key ingredients used in the liquid gold.



I wrote an article about Yakima’s hops that appears in today’s Seattle Times, so I won’t tell you any more than to click on the link to the paper.  Even if you don’t read what I wrote, be sure to check out the photos as the paper’s photographer did a spectacular job and they created a great map that you could use should you find yourself ‘hop-ing’ through the Valley as I did.

Yakima: Fruitbowl of the Nation

                    Hop Vines Yakima Valley

The rich farmlands of the Yakima Valley are blanketed with truck gardens, fruit trees, vineyards and hop vines.  I grew up in this agricultural area in the center of Washington State. And, as a child, I loved those colorful painted signs along the roadway that proudly proclaimed the area to be the:  "Fruitbowl of the Nation". 

Now tourist signs with a single sophisticated looking wineglass herald the pleasures to be found at wineries and vineyards that proliferate the valley. Don't get me wrong; we love those wineries, but there's a lot more to the valley than wine grapes.

We traveled earlier this week through small towns named Toppenish and White Swan and through a portion of the Yakama Indian Reservation. Often we had the backroads to ourselves; only passing a tractor lumbering along with a spray rig in tow. Cultivated fields gave way to sage-brush covered open lands bordered with barbed wire fences. Then, unexpectedly, another irrigated stretch of land would appear.

Imperial's Garden, Wapato WA

We make this August trip annually from our western Washington home primarily to visit a favorite produce 'stand' called Imperial's Garden, (Lateral A, Wapato, WA.).   This year we found the 'stand' in much larger digs. Semi-trucks were being filled with just-out-of-the field produce boxes while people like us loaded our cars at the front of the building - also by the box loads.

Shopping options abound as painted wood signs direct those traveling along Lateral A, the best road to follow through this agricultural area, to other smaller, family-owned seasonal markets, some offering fruit, some produce and some a mixture of both. We visited many . . .tucking just a few more peaches and nectarines into the car.

          Just-picked canning tomatoes

We've traveled to some fabulous places in the world. But when driving through the Yakima Valley with the car windows open, savoring the intoxicating scents from the mint fields or fresh mown hay. . . or tasting that just-picked peach or tomato  -- I can't think of any other place I'd rather be during harvest season than back home in the "Fruitbowl of the Nation."