#13-11 Yakima Valley Wineries 7-17-2013

We arrived in Yakima last week and again parked at Nephew, Bernie’s home.  We took one afternoon to go visit some of the wineries here in the Yakima Valley.  The valley is known for it wines. 

Our first winery that we visited was Knight Hill and it was way up on a hill!  We drove up a gravel road through vineyards to a barn like structure that was their tasting room.  The views from the top of the hill was were spectacular.  Frank tasted the Riesling and thought it was too dry.  We didn’t buy any.

Our next stop was the Hyatt Vineyards.  I couldn’t get over the weeping tree in the parking lot, so I took a picture to post.  It looks like a natural arch.  Inside was a beautiful tasting room.The wine was very good and not very expensive. We bought two bottles for us.  And one for our friend back in Palm Desert.

Two Mountain Winery was in a big metal building.  They kept it cool inside and as you can see stored the barrels where you could see them.  They also had a the chalk board with info on “wine math.”  I thought it was interesting to see how they broke it down.  Again we thought the Riesling was too dry.  It was also expensive.

Silver Lake was beautiful.  The landscaping was great and the views over the vineyards seemed to stretch for miles.  They didn’t make a Riesling, so we didn’t buy anything.

Paradisos was the most informative and most interesting.  The tasting room was a room added onto their house.  They are a newer winery and still under construction.  It is a Mom and Pop operation.  I loved the decorations on the wine bar.  Footprints in the color of wine as if they just stepped out of the crushing barrel.  Reminded me of the Lucy Ball episode where her and Ethel stomp grapes.  The owner of the tasting room had been to wine tasting school and I think he gave us a 2 hour lesson in wine tasting and what to look for.  His wife was outside building a fence out of used wine bottles.  There is no recycling for those bottles and she stacks them laying down in cement and makes a arched fence.  Pretty cool looking, I should have taken a picture!  We did buy a bottle of Riesling here.  Very good. 
By the time we left it was too late to visit the last winery on our list, but we had finished buying anyway.  We met our friends for dinner at the Eagles Lodge in Toppenish.  A perfect ending of a great day!
We will spend the next two weeks just visiting friends and hanging out in Yakima until we go on our Alaskan cruise.
The first weekend in Aug, Dixie was invited to go up the mountain to Packwood to spend “a girls weekend camping.”  So Frank and the dog, Gidget had to fend for themselves while Dixie was in the mountains.  The weather was just beautiful.  We played games, ate, and talked.  On Saturday the ladies had a golf time set.  Everyone golfed except me.  I just walked around.  Good exercise and wonderful ladies.
 

Some of the players.                           The hazards, Elk droppings!

The 19th hole                                         Checking the scores

In the evening around the campfire we played some dice games and gifts were exchanged.  Barb wore her bow and the golfers received trophies.
I think we all had a great time and I got to meet new friends!

#12-14 Toppenish, Goldendale and Marysville, WA 9-14,15,16-2012

Toppenish,  WA.  Saying good by to friends, Herb, Alice, and Barb with Frank at Earl and Barbs home.

Walter and Frank having a drink on the infamous patio where just a year earlier we were having steak dinner and Frank fell and broke his hip.  This year he stayed in the chair!

		Marysville the vineyards, and the Columbia River VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We stopped in the little town store on our way to the Winery and looked at huckleberry pies.  These are the small 8” pies.  Check out the prices!  To think that when we were on the Oregon coast camp hosting at Cape Blanco I made 9” pies with huckleberries I picked for free.  Boy, did we eat good that year!  If you wanted to buy a gallon of already picked huckleberries to make your own pies, or whatever, it would cost $50.00.  We didn’t buy any!!!!

Above is the amphitheater at the Marysville Winery.  They hold concerts and programs here during the summer.  We were fortunate enough to be there when a truckload of grapes arrived.  Here they are putting them in the separator where the stems are separated from the grapes.  It was really interesting to watch.

#11-26 Goldendale and Yakima, WA July 6, 2011 until ??

We left Keizer, OR about 11 am and headed north and east towards Goldendale, WA. The drive along the Columbia River was beautiful, the weather couldn’t have been better. We arrived at Brooks State Park about 10 miles northeast of Goldendale. Frank’s HS buddy, Walt and his wife, Donna had invited us to their home in Goldendale for a B-B-Q steak dinner, so we hopped in the car and drove back to their home.

While Walt, was cooking the steaks, Frank decided he was going to get out of his chair and walk around. Well, his foot stuck to the carpet on the patio and over he went, right onto his right hip. He could not get up by himself, so I helped him back into the chair, we ate dinner—wonderful steaks from Belted Galloway steers. (Oreo Cookie Cows) Frank was semi comfortable as long as he didn’t move. He enjoyed the steak dinner and then realized there was no way he could get up. So we called an ambulance to take him to the local ER. They did x-rays and found that his had broken his hip and would need surgery. The little town of Goldendale does not have an orthopedic surgeon, so we decided to send him to Yakima for surgery. Back into the ambulance and he went to Yakima, and I went back to the RV.

The next day, with the help of another of Frank’s HS friends, Earl and wife Barb, we moved the RV to the Sportsman State Park near Yakima. They only had space available for two days, but I took it anyway. By the time we got set up and headed to the hospital, Frank’s surgery was over and he was in the recovery room. When we arrived at the waiting room, Frank’s god-nephew, Paul was there from Seattle, another friend, Stan and wife, Alice, from Toppenish were there and then Earl, Barb and I came in. So he had six of us waiting to see how he did. By the time he got to his room it was late afternoon. He was very groggy from the surgery and of course, he was hurting. We got to give him a hug and then left so he could get some sleep.

Believe it or not, the next day they had Frank get out of bed and he walked with a walker around his room. That tired him out and it was all that he wanted to do. I took pictures with my phone and kept all the kids informed via texting with photos. Impressive what modern technology can do.

Three days after surgery the hospital released him to a rehab center, where he will learn to walk again with his new titanium alloy ball. The first 3-4 weeks he can only put about 50 lbs of weight on that leg. All the ligaments were cut and stitched back together, the muscles were spread apart and moved around, so he has to retrain them. He is a real trooper and the PT people say he is one of their favorites because he doesn’t complain, does his exercises and then does “homework” exercise in his room.

Frank has had visitors every day. Nieces, nephews, HS friends, former in-laws and me! His attitude is amazing and I see improvement every day. He said the food is good, the staff is helpful and he has a nice room—overlooking an alley and the side of a building with no windows. But, he can go outside to the patio areas, and he made friends with a number of other men, so has someone to share mealtime with.

After the two days at the Sportsman state park were over, Frank’s nephew, Bernie, came and helped me move the RV to his home. He has a full hook-up RV space right outside his home. So I am now a semi-permanent guest. His home Is about 10 minutes from the rehab center, so I’m close enough to visit every day and sometimes twice a day.

He is now using the walker and can go from his room to the dining room as long as someone is walking with him. There are two long hallways he has to negotiate and that is part of his therapy.

You go Frank, next you will be running!