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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2009)
O REGON S GAY/LESBIAN/BI/TRANS NEWSMAGAZINE \J AUGUST 7 2009 fleeting urge to shoot into the 1-90 turn lane. evening. But I at least consented to aiming my Before I’d fully grasped the folly o f this car in the correct direction, and by 9 p.m. I’d move, I’d ascended 3,000-foot Snoqualmie arrived at exactly the hostelry I’d originally Pass, my windshield wipers obliterating wet reserved for the night before: the M otel 6 Ya gobs o f heavy snow. There wasn’t much chance kima. It turned out to be everything I’d hoped I’d make it to Portland that night, so I scanned it would be (i.e., cheap and easy). I tested my cell phone’s browser for the cheapest m o out a relatively new restaurant called Second tel in Yakima. I also posted my whereabouts Street Grill for dinner. The food was fine, if on Twitter (yeah, I’m one o f those people). unmemorable - a mix o f traditional American The first sizable town I reached, upon and Paji-Asian pub fare. But the wine list fea descending from the snow and clouds, was tured dozens o f excellent local varietals, which Ellensburg, which I pegged as a good stop for inspired me to plan a short vineyard jaunt the dinner. following day in the adjacent Yakima Valley. Downtown Ellensburg just about shouts The next morning, I ventured downtown “W ild W est,” its vintage redbrick storefronts in search o f caffeine, passing by the lewdly rife with old-school steak houses, boot-repair endearing shops and pioneer-era antiques stores. A huge stand (the staff dress in corsets and fishnet sign advertises the town’s most famous event, garters) and settled on what turned out to be the Ellensburg R odeo (held in early Septem an exceptionally good cafe called North Town ber, it’s Washington’s largest). It’s also the Coffeehouse. I liked that it overlooked both heart o f Washington’s hay-farming industry a wine bar and the county jail (good people M y a fte rn o o n w in e ~ to u rin g d e to u r to o k m e into W a p a to a n d Z illa h , w h e re I p a s s e d no t o n ly c o u n tle s s v in e y a rd s b u t a ls o la v e n d e r fie ld s a n d c h e rry o rc h a rd s in full spring b lo sso m . and home to Central Washington University, well-regarded for its Summer Institute for Theatre Arts. • Just as I opened the door to a promis ing-looking restaurant called the Starlight Lounge (I’ve since learned they make potent martinis), I received a text message from a friend in Seattle who’d seen my Twitter post. She suggested I drive another hour east and spend the night at a swanky inn, Cave B, on the Columbia River. As a point o f disclosure, she handles the inn’s PR. Well, who am I to pass up an enticing excuse to drive even far ther out o f my way? It was dark and pushing 9 p.m. when I ar Brewlesque drive-thru espresso watching!), but moreover, it served Stump- town beans as well as tasty gelato. M y afternoon wine-touring detour took me into Wapato and Zillah, where I passed not only countless vineyards but also lavender fields and cherry orchards in full spring blos som. Sagelands Vineyard caught my attention, and there I sampled several elegant Cabernet Sauvignons and a fine M albec (which I bought a bottle o f —-just $18). Finally, I succumbed reluctantly to the need to get home and turned down U.S. 97 toward Portland, stopping briefly in Toppen- ish, whose downtown is notable for both ex cellent Mexican restaurants (the population is rived at Cave B Inn and Tendrils restaurant, self-contained “Cliffehouses” perched along a the kitsch-Bavarian town o f Leavenworth. 75 percent Hispanic) and more than 70 huge which together anchor a 700-acre mini-resort bluff. A t sunrise I discovered that each unit Poor Mandy— she never wins these standoffs. murals painted on the town’s building facades, and vineyard. I grabbed a seat in the amber- faces a particularly dramatic section o f the I meandered along Hwy. 28, following lit restaurant, soaking up the pleasing busde Columbia Gorge. The Cliffehouses offer the the Columbia River through Wenatchee, a By just after sundown, having enjoyed a o f the exhibition kitchen, and tucked into a cushiest digs, but Cave B also has 15 more prominent apple-farming center, and arrived stunning drive along Hwy. 14 through the meal o f farm-fresh, deftly executed cooking: moderately priced rooms, plus a full-service in Leavenworth around 3 p.m. The town ad Columbia Gorge, I arrived safely back at my golden beets with organic greens, handmade spa and a tasting room at the winery. It’s an opted its gleeful, if slightly surreal, embrace o f condo in Riverplace, happy to have discovered ravioli filled with duck confit, and a selection impressive operation with an enviable setting all things Bavarian as an economic redevel an engaging, if geographically idiotic, alter o f local cheeses served with fresh fruit and beside the stunning Gorge Amphitheatre, opment plan in the early ‘60s, following the nate route to and from Seattle. I posited that mountain wildflower honeycomb. Cave B which presents major concerts (Sasquatch decline o f its railroad and timber industries. next time I sought a reprieve from theJ-5 dol W inery produces first-rate Spanish, French Festival, Dave Matthews) in summer. I found the insistent chalet-style architecture drums, I’d again loop around M t. Rainier, by depicting the region’s history. and Italian varietals, and I sampled several Upon checking out, I had one o f my and panoply o f shops selling everything from way o f Yakima. O r maybe Walla Walla. There’s o f these with dinner, com ing away the most typically spirited discussions with Mandy, the charbroiled bratwurst to toy-soldier nutcrack always Spokane. And where was I just read impressed with a Bordeaux-style blend called woman who lives inside my GPS. She insisted ers both cloying and fabulous. ing about the ice wines in British Columbia’s Cuvee de Soleil. I hop back on 1-5 toward Yakima. I reasoned As the sun began to flame out over my I eventually ambled (stumbled?) down a that I’d already strayed so o ff track, I might as German campfest, I realized that, yet again, graded path to my room, actually one o f 15 well detour still farther out o f the way toward I’d probably not make it home to Portland that Irui ruisinq V i l i I I >1 I t I t RSVP Alaska A u g u s t 2 3 -30 , 2 0 09 . LAST CHANCE! Round-trip from Seattle on Holland Am erica's "W esterdam ." 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