Yakima, The Wine and Orchard Region

Yakima is a small suburban town in Yakima valley which is located in south east of Washington State. I did not know it before until I accompanied my husband to a 100 years celebration of Washington State Veterinary Medical Association. Yakima is a good 5 hours scenic drive from Canada (Vancouver) Border. After Easton, the terrain changes from greenery to twisty curvy roads surrounded by barren mountains.

 

 

We reached Yakima at 4 in the afternoon. We felt little tired and after checking in at the hotel we decided to go for nice coffee. To our surprise we could not find any Starbucks in vicinity of the Convention center and all other coffee shops were closed except the wine tasting places and fast food joints. Felt little disappointed, we satisfied our caffeine need with Seven Eleven tea.

The gala function for which we were here started at the convention center around 6pm. During such occasions, I taste new food and try to make new friends. While snacking I tasted a cheese which was spotted with blue green streaks. I wanted to believe but was not sure if it was blue cheese because I heard that it has a distinct smell and taste. But that cheese seemed fine to eat. Dinner was excellent and I was served gluten free. The whole function was entertaining with John Keister, famous Comedian being master of Ceremony. All speakers were awesome. Betty White was chief guest. She looked perfectly in good shape at 89 and humorous as ever. This is me and my husband with her.

 

We started our next day with brunch at Waffles Cafe. A good place to have gluten free  food. When I learnt they also make gf waffles. I ordered one to try with veggie omelet. When the server brought the food to the table I thought I probably ordered for two people. Besides 7″ round waffle with maple syrup, there was 2 slices of soft textured gf bread, hash browns  and 3 eggs veggie omelet. It was a big countryside breakfast. One would need good work out after this. It seemed to be the favorite breakfast place in the city as it was bustling with people at 10:30 AM. I was told that Yakima had gluten free bakeries. Though, when I checked most of them were closed but the one which was in somebody’s house was opened. I couldn’t believe they have such good gluten free bakeries in a remote area.

We wandered around the city and went to farmers market and to see one of the orchards run by same family since 1904. This is the apple season and the trees were loaded with fruits. We were just amazed to see giant peaches at the farm. We bought some peaches and apples to eat on the way as we were not sure if we could bring fruits across the border.

 

 

 

 

 

We had to shorten our stay as our daughter started feeling under the weather and the wine tasting tour that we planned to do was postponed for next visit. It was a short trip but a happy one. The weather was great on both days that made our stay more enjoyable.