Yakima - Sunshine and Wine

As we descended the Cascades and moved into the SUNSHINE of Eastern Washington, we began to see lots of fruit stands advertising "cherries." It is cherry season.  When we arrived in Yakima, we began to see "U-Pick" signs.  The Visitors Center gave us all the information we needed and sent us to the orchard that might be the most fun.

Now, there are 3 kinds of cherries in the orchard - sour, sweet bings, and Rainier (Now I know why they are so named....the mountain!  Duh, Susan!) and all the trees are mixed up. 

 Cherry orchards are really pretty.

 This is how Ed began our picking...tasting is very important and we "tasted" a lot.

 Then he got to picking.  I did too, when I wasn't taking photos.

 Cute, huh?  Ed AND the Rainier cherries.

 We were supposed to separate the kinds, but we didn't.  Having to much fun, I think.

We brought about 5 pounds back to the RV and shared them with some of the neighbors.  Let's see:  These were expensive...$1.50 for the bings and $2.50 for the Rainiers.  Also bought some apricots fresh off the tree.  Apricots that taste the way apricots should - juicy and sweet and not mealy at all.  $1/lb.

Cherry picking - A first for us both. 

There's a little town about 20 miles from Yakima that is the center of the Yakima Indian Nation.   Toppenish - Where the West Still Lives.  The town of 9000 is known for the about 70 historically accurate murals painted on almost every flat wall.  They detail Native American life and culture and Wild West and early American adventures and life.

 We missed the annual Rodeo and Pow Wow by a couple days.

 The Mural on this building wrapped around three sides.

 Wild West

 Life on the prairie

 Entertainment

Toppenish is a significant birding area with a National Wildlife Refuge.

 Keeping the law

 Downtown

 The side of a warehouse

 The door used in the mural

It was also the 4th of July and Toppenish was having their annual parade. 

We'd heard it is a good one.

It is!!

The parade began with the WWII veterans followed by other war veterans and finally the returning military from Afghanistan.  Everyone (and there were LOTS of people there) stood and applauded as they passed by.  I liked that.

 The vets were followed by the Yakima Chief.  He was also applauded.

 Then - the girls drill team from the local school and the fun began.

There were floats carrying various princesses of all shapes and sizes.  They had been coached in waving and all waved the same very unnatural way. 

 Push your hand out, move your elbow, rotate your hand, do it 5 times, then repeat with the other arm... 

 And, my person favorite:  the lady on the tractor pulling the wavers.

Next came the 18 wheelers, the fire trucks with all lights and sirens going, a truck from every local business, farmers driving their shiny clean John Deere farm machinery, the car clubs, the local insurance agent, the couple in town who drive a Mercedes, etc. etc, etc. 

 Then came the big boys behaving badly.  Most were so old I was wondering if they would be able to get out of these mini hot rods.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, in the parade, was throwing candy for the kids.  They had to have thrown more than a ton of candy.  Maybe building up business for the local dentist...

 Miss Yakima Country rode in in this classic 1952 British Allard.  Right in front of us her driver had a little problem with the clutch, jerked forward and she almost fell off the back. 
The whole crowd gasped.

 Finnegan was with us behaving beautifully until he saw these "big dogs."  I was able to "do some training" and he shaped up though he couldn't stop making that high pitched whine that says he wants to approach and play.  I would love to get him nose to nose with a horse - one day I will.

 There were tons of horses.  The caballeros, beautiful costumes, miniature horses...

...all so full of pride.  This is a huge event in Toppenich.

This gorgeous guy pranced all the way down the street. 

 And last, but certainly not least, this elderly gent playing "You're a Grand Old Flag" on the accordion while sitting in the back of a pick-up truck.

 The parade lasted a full hour.  The crowd was courteous and happy to be there.  Many people played with Finn.  One young man came over and asked how much Finn cost (I didn't tell him) and would I make the money back selling puppies.  He must be thinking about a career for himself.

We loved every minute of the parade.  Community values front and center.

We got a beautiful view of the other side of Mt. Rainier as we left Toppenish.

While preparing for bed that night, Ed put his hand on the bed switch - and it was completely dead.  The bed was not coming down.  We checked a few things like fuses and circuit breakers but could not get it to work.  So we hunkered down on the sofa which opens like a futon.  Neither of us could stretch out, but we managed to sleep and dealt with it in the morning.

We made an appt. to have the RV serviced in Spokane and took off for the day.

We had learned enough to know that if the motor was out, it would be a $2000 bill. :-(

A day trip from Yakima through the wine country to Pendleton, OR. where they do the

jacquard weaving of the blankets. 

 This building houses the seconds room where blankets with flaws are sold at less than half of retail. 

 So much to see....

 Blankets were walking out by the dozens.  They gave us a cheat sheet of flaw codes and told us how to find the flaws.  Some are as big as holes, and others as small as a shading of color. 
We bought some barely flawed pieces.

 The store also has a Heritage Collection small museum.

 Blankets were used as trade and Pendleton has collected some amazing items.

 Very interesting room.

We decided to make a winery stop on the way back.  This is the Bonair Winery and Vineyard.

 Just inside the gate is a pond in which a Golden Retriever was having a delicious swim

along with some ducks.  Finn was interested.

 Finn was not allowed in the yellow tasting room but we were told the place is very dog friendly and I could just unleash him on the grounds.  He found the vineyard Aussie to play with as well as 4 other dogs.  He had a pack and he ran and played, and dipped his paws into the pond to catch the ducks who just swam away when they saw him coming.  He had a ball!

 Ed went off and met this young man.  Bill Mechem is the wine maker at Bonair.  No airs about him.  This is a family winery.  They produce less than 10,000 cases a year, have 40 acres of vineyards, and produce red and whites on premises.  Bill does everything that has to do with producing the wine.  He has worked for the owners for 7 years.   He lives just down the driveway from the tasting room.  He invited us to his home for dinner, but we had a bed issue to deal with.

 Bill gave Ed a personal tour of the operation.  These tanks are full of white wine right now being fermented before it moves into the aging barrels. 
Chardonnay is aged for about a year.  The reds are aged from one to two years.

 The lab is where the process of wine making is monitored.  Once they go into the barrels, they are tasted once a month, by Bill, and evaluated. 

Adjustments are made for evaporation and other parameters.

Of course, we bought a bottle.  A light dessert red.

 We had been seeing this V shaped method of growing trees.  We stopped to have a look.

This is an apple orchard.  Each row of trees is separated with alternates growing in different directions forming the V.  It really maximizes the number of trees on the land.  Aaah...Washington apples. 

 Somewhere on a back road we saw a sign:  Bings $1 Rainier $2.  We made a u-turn and met up with Jim Wallace.  His yard is covered with all varieties of fruit trees.  He was full of stories.  His grandson is getting married in the yard in two days.  He has kept the largest and sweetest bings on the tree for the wedding guests to pick and eat.  He let us have a few.  And he invited Finn to run free on his the land.

 We left with 5 lbs of cherries, a couple pounds of juicy apricots, and 2 little baskets of raspberries, one red, and one black.  $7.  Fruitatarian heaven?

When we returned to the park I went off to the laundry room.  Ed came in and put up his hand for a high five.  He had gotten into reading some of our Trek motorhome club items and found out there is a switch inside one of the kitchen cabinets that disables the bed.  I had pushed a glass into it and tripped it.

We crawled in and went to sleep with a new appreciation of our bed. 

We happily cancelled the appt. in Spokane. 

YEA!!!

Leaving for Coeur d'Alene, ID in the morning.  Had a great time in this area.