The Fruit Loop

Monday we headed out with Jim, Ellie, Mark & Dortha to explore the Fruit Loop and check out some wineries in the area.  The fruit loop is a driving tour of the orchards in the area that have fruit stands.  We weren’t really looking for fruit but Dortha wanted some peaches to freeze.  Most of the fruit stands were apples and pears but she did manage to find some peaches.  We just went along for the ride and for the wineries.  Our first stop was the Gorge White house.  It was a little too early for wine tasting so off we went to the next one.

The Gorge White House

We came upon the Packer Orchard and Bakery and boy did it smell good!  We loaded up on LOTS of cookies and a fried pie for each of us.  They actually weren’t fried though, they were baked.  This was where Dortha found her peaches too.

 

Another winery we visited was the Pheasant Valley Winery.  This one was off the main highway and up a dirt road.  I think Rod and Ellie did wine tasting at just about every winery we visited.  The rest of us just watched them.  Mark & Dortha tried but it just wasn’t their thing.

Next was lunch in downtown Hood River where we found the Big Horse Brew Pub.  We were looking for the Full Sail brewery but found this one first.  Lunch was  yummy and they really were making beer there.

Big Horse Brew Pub

 

Tubs of hops for the beer

After lunch it was on to more wineries.  Rod really liked this one.

Nobody was hungry for dinner so we just went home and we all ate our cookies and pies for dinner.  We originally thought we were going to leave on Tuesday and head for the Oregon coast.  Instead we decided to take care of some errands on Tuesday and leave on Wednesday with Mark & Dortha.