road trip – day three (bend to seattle metro)

i was surprised to see that Bend does not lack in amenities, including mercedes and bmw dealerships. supposedly the outdoor activities and restaurants there are fantastic, but there was no time for exploration since i had to be in seattle to pick don up at the airport the next day. definitely a place to come back to one day.

my original plan had been to drive to the Columbia River Gorge through Portland, but the weather wasn’t that good and there wouldn’t be time to do the hikes i’d want to, so i decided to continue going north through central Oregon.

the drive north of Bend on hwy 97 is beautiful, with small towns few and far between. once i got closer to Washington there were a lot of what i think were wheat fields. it was nice at first, but the scene never changed– long straight road ahead, flat land with wheat fields to either side and big puffy clouds in the sky that didn’t move… became a bit disorienting. i must say i was somewhat relieved to reach the OR/WA border.

Central Washington east of the Cascades is so much different than the lush green i’m used to seeing when visiting the seattle area. it’s filled with dry hills and shrubs– called shrub-steppe technically. at least it’s interesting to drive through. occasionally i’d pass through a nice farming town and the lush green of the town stood out in sharp contrast to the rest of the area.

made it up to yakima valley to do a bit of wine tasting. yakima valley isn’t like napa valley where the wineries are all lined up at the side of the major roads. you really have to wind your way through the vineyards, driving along gravel roads, and i kept thinking i must have gone too far! first stop was hyatt vineyards, which i knew about since they sold a good inexpensive wine at Trader Joes before. the people there were really friendly, and they had a lush green lawn with a beautiful garden. i asked if there was any place for the dogs to play, expecting them to give me a stern look and point to the alfalfa field, but they laughed and said “hey this isn’t seattle” and encouraged me to let them play on the beautiful grass right in front of the winery, off-leash! it was really nice.

here’s a picture of this part of yakima valley from one of the gravel roads.

the next stop was a small winery called Portteus Vineyards. it is a small family-run operation with a 1/4 mile gravel driveway that winds through their vineyard. there i discovered their fantastic 2002 cabernet sauvignon (which incidentally went very well with steak dinner a couple nights later). i wish i had purchased more of that wine. highly recommended!

i couldn’t stay in yakima valley that night and still be able to drive leisurely to Sea-Tac airport the next day, so we continued on. The next gorgeous area was in Kittitas county near the town of Ellensburg. I wish I had taken photos on the drive from hwy 97 where it overlooks that area.

stayed in Snoqualmie Pass that night, and it was the start of Memorial Day weekend. it was coooold, raining non-stop, with no place for the dogs to run or potty. not the best night of the trip!