Birthday Weekend in Walla Walla

Ann and I decided many weeks ago that a fall trip to Walla Walla wine country was in order, as it is one of the few American wine producing regions that we have not seen. We also thought that it would be a really nice place in which to celebrate Ann's 60th birthday, a milestone for sure. By pure coincidence, it just so happened that a good friend of ours from back in Virginia, Dimitri Galanis, was coming to Walla Walla the same weekend with a group of friends to taste wines. We joined forces with them to visit several wineries over our four-day weekend, in which we got to explore downtown Walla Walla, eat in some of its best restaurants, and taste many great wines.

We Left Bend for Walla Walla on a Spectacular Fall Day

It was a spectacular sunny and crisp fall morning when we left Bend for the drive north and east to Walla Walla. I had just read about a new bagel bakery in Bend that I thought we would visit for breakfast because it was on our way out of town on Highway 97. I had no idea that Mimi's Bagel Deli was in fact a food truck until we pulled into the parking lot and spied it. It's run by a fourth generation baker from Jersey and I've got to say that while they are not quite the bagels that we used to get in Manhattan, born of Hudson River water, they really stand out in Central Oregon. They're certainly the closest thing to a real NY bagel that we have run across out in Oregon. Color me both surprised and happy.

Mimi's Bagel Bakery Bagel with Lox, Red Onion, Capers, and Cream Cheese

Leaving Bend on US 97 for the Columbia River, what appeared to be a bluebird day back at our house on the southside turned into quite the hazy day looking north. Gray Butte and the Ochocos were only faintly visible in the haze as was snowcapped Mt. Jefferson.

Fortunately, the further north we traveled, the clearer the sky became until we once again had blue skies. Near Kent, OR, the landscape to our west was nothing but golden grass and/or wheat fields backed by four clearly visible volcanos against the brilliant blue sky: Jefferson, Hood, Adams, and Rainier, the significantly shorter St. Helens being hidden behind the horizon. It's not every day in my life that I can see the vast and majestic expanse of the Cascades like this. And although I live in Oregon where I see volcanos daily, I can never get enough of them.

Just north of the farming hamlet of Moro starts a huge series of wind turbines that stretch as far as we could see, the farthest running on a bare ridge just across the Columbia River in Washington State. You can see some of the turbines in the photo below. I had never really been close enough to a turbine before to see how curved the blades actually are. They are no doubt an impressive piece of engineering.

Pit Stop at I-84/Columbia River: Birthday Girl Hamming

At I-84 east of The Dalles, where US 97 crosses the Columbia on its way north to Yakima and ultimately the Canadian border, we switched drivers and I pointed us east for an hour and a half along the Columbia. Speaking of feats of engineering, just minutes after joining I-84, we came across the John Day Dam, a hydroelectric generating facility with twin fish ladders and a lock. The lock lifts 110 feet (34 meters) and is the highest lock in the US. Just east of the the dam, the John Day River empties into the Columbia.

Just after I-84 veers southeast towards Ontario and Boise and away from the Columbia, we turned north back towards the river on I-82 exiting onto US 730 in Umatilla. Umatilla is home to a large port on the Columbia and also the site of the McNary dam complex, the next dam complex up the river from John Day. Just after the Port of Umatilla and the Two Rivers penitentiary, the highway comes right back to the bank of the Columbia and the drive becomes quite scenic once again, from the tugboats pushing barges up and down the river to the crazy escarpments of the the gorge on both sides of the river.

As the river bends northward towards its junction with the Snake, we crossed over into Washington State. Just beyond this in a bend in the river sits the Walla Walla Yacht Club. As we climbed up above the river just beyond the marina, Ann snapped this wonderful photo of these awesome basalt pillars, named Twin Sisters Rock.

Twin Sisters Rock

At Wallula Junction, we veered due east on Highway 12 away from the river and straight towards Walla Walla. Back on I-84, we saw the first of many onion trucks carrying loads of both yellow and red onions; along highway 12, they really started to get thick. And about 20 miles out of Walla Walla, we saw the first trailer load of empty MacroBins, headed to a vineyard somewhere to be loaded with fruit, it being heavy harvest season in Walla Walla and pretty much everywhere else in the the PNW, ahead of the rain forecast for Tuesday.

About 2:30, we arrived in Walla Walla, tired and about a half and hour too early to check into our room. So we availed ourselves of the Internet and found the closest brew pub to our room, Big House. When we walked in, we were a bit frightened by the Coors Light and Bud Light taps on the back wall. But fortunately, they do brew their own beers as well. I got an IPA and Ann a hazy before we drove to our room a couple blocks away and unloaded our things.

First and Only Beer of the Trip

The remainder of the trip is covered in a bunch of other posts which contain a lot of pictures. The frames in the following posts have been winnowed from 600-ish frames to about 220.

Friday October 6: Wesley Walla Walla, Dinner at Brasserie Four
Saturday October 7: Breakfast at Bacon and Eggs
Saturday October 7: Saturday Wine Tastings
Saturday October 7: Dinner at Saffron
Sunday October 8: Tasting at Historic Wineries in Lowden
Sunday October 8: Birthday Bash at Kinglet
Monday October 9: A Quiet Monday in Town
Monday October 9: Holocene Wines and Dining In

After our highly successful and enjoyable celebratory weekend, on Tuesday morning, in the spitting rain, we packed our wine and clothes into the car and reversed our path back to Bend. As we travelled back downstream along the Columbia, we saw two large cruise ships making their way upstream. Until just then, I had no idea that cruising the Columbia was a thing or even feasible. Apparently, there are several companies that offer cruises up the Columbia and then up the Snake.

Near Umatilla where we saw one of the ships, we also came up on the back of a semi carrying some kind of reddish produce. Once we were stopped behind it at a traffic light, we saw that it was a load of red bell peppers, a sight that I have never seen before. I've seen truckloads of a lot of different kinds of fruits, vegetables, hops, and nuts, but never red bells before.

In the highly intermittent weather at one point headed south along US 97, I found myself in the bizarre position of driving through the rain with the wipers going and my sunglasses on against the sun! That did make for some beautiful rainbows along the highway, such as the one in the photo below. 

Rainbow Over Oregon

Soon enough, we left the bare hills of Washington State behind and returned to the more familiar scrub of Central Oregon. Though the climates are similar in Walla Walla and Bend, the landscapes are very different. After a long weekend away, it was great to arrive back to our familiar Western Junipers and Ponderosa Pines. We had a great celebration of Ann's birthday and great stay in Walla Walla.

I feel like we might make more frequent trips to Walla Walla in the future, for short getaways from Bend. It seems like a really nice place to visit, reminding me of our time in McMinnville, another regional wine capital. Still, Walla Walla seems older and more prosperous than McMinnville, based on the number of amazing old and expensive houses.

Another plus in favor of revisiting Walla Walla: I have yet to answer the question, "If the majority of the world's great wine regions (Bordeaux and Châteauneuf-du-Pape excepted) are in hilly locations, how in the world did we discover that the flat wheat fields of Walla Walla are a great place to grow wine grapes?"