I woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise over the
vineyards, the orchards and the Columbia River.
I could really get use to views like this after a day of wine (just like
in BC). The sunrise had some haze from
the fires in Idaho, and the sun was a
bright orange glow as it came up in the morning.
Maryhill did not open for tasting till 10, so I just stayed
in the parking lot till they opened enjoying the views. I went back to do a proper, unrushed tasting
this time, and enjoyed a number of their wines.
I purchased their Barbera which is an incredible wine (it’s sister grape
is sangiovese). Their white and red
blends are very nice (got a bottle of each) and I picked up one of their
ports. Jess was very helpful and told me a number of places and wineries
to stop for the day. I’m going to have to be careful, or my truck is going to be loaded down with
wine before I even get to California...
The first place I stopped for a hike was “Horsethief Butte,
and Lake” This was a nice hike in
desert like terrain up to the top of the butte.
(There even was signs to watch out for rattlesnakes... but didn’t see
any). View from bottom and top are
attached(the one from the top, look for
my camper, real tiny in the distance).
It mentioned there were pictographs,
but I searched and could not find any (fun looking for them anyway!)
Then it was on towards the wineries south of Hood River,
OR. I stopped and enjoyed wines at
Wy’East (the patio picture is from here), Mt Hood Winery and The Gorge White
house (including Viento). All had good
wines. It was also Pear festival
time, and the fresh, ripe pears were
incredible, they just melted in your mouth.
It was too bad for all the fires in Idaho. Even though it was a clear day, I could not see Mount Hood, and I should have had incredible views at
each of these wineries. Ainsworth State park was the campsite for the night.
At Ainsworth State park, I experienced something at this
park that I have not done the entire trip,
not even once since the start of trip back in May. I actually hooked up to the utilities! There was only one price for the campsites
and it included electric, water and dump facilities at the campsite… So I
thought why not? I am actually proud of
the fact that I have not had to (or wanted to…)hook utilities up. (It’s kind hard to do when your camped in a
parking lot). I have a solar panel that
charges the battery, and this has been
plenty of power for what I need at night (lights, charge/run computer, charge
phone, fans, heater fan, etc.). I have
propane for the refrigerator, hot water heater, heater, and grill. I carry my own 35 gallons of water; and have
grey and black tanks for storage. I can
actually stay off grid for about a week without having to get water (or dump
tanks). It was really weird to have
unlimited utilities again! The first
thing I did was turn on all the lights,
just to see what it was like…way too bright! And really didn’t need them. Then I thought about what need charged, so I plugged in the toothbrush, razor, phone,
computer, and changed the fridge over to
electric (why burn propane if I don’t have too!) I really could not think of anything else. I could have even plugged in a hair dryer or
curling iron (but don’t have those…). I
could have also run the air conditioner (but didn’t need that either and
haven’t the whole trip, part of the
point of getting out of Texas summers….)
I had unlimited water and sewage,
but the only difference there is that I took longer and used more water
to do the dishes, and in the morning I took a very long shower (I didn’t have to worry about draining my
water tank, or filling up the grey
tank). It was kind of nice, but also
kind of wasteful, and not something I
really missed or needed. Who knows
when/if I will hook up utilities again…
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