July 7-9, 2011 – Columbia River Gorge continued
Thursday, July 7 th , we took a scenic drive in the Hood River Valley called “The Fruit Loop”. The Fruit Loop is a drive that shows the diversity of the agriculture in the Hood River Valley. Apples, pears, cherries, berries, nuts and lavender are grown here. There are also vineyards and alpaca farms - with Mt. Hood watching over all. We stopped at several fruit stands but the harvest is about 3 weeks late because of the cool wet weather. They just started picking cherries today so we bought some wonderful fresh cherries and some pears from last falls harvest. Packer Orchards and Bakery uses pears in all their baked goods - we had to try their cookies - Mmm good! We bought some really good pear fruit butter and huckleberry scone mix. We stopped at a couple of wineries but didn’t find any wine we liked. We really enjoyed seeing all the orchards and vineyards and stopping at a variety of fruit stands and stores. Friday, July 8 th ...