An Adventure from Oregon to Washington

August 18, 2016

Overall Mission: Two cousins heading to Seattle from Ohio by car, stopping at many National Parks along the way.

Miles Driven: 500 miles
Hours Driven: 9 hours
Goal of the Day: Visit a couple of wineries in Richland, Washington, witness the beauty of the Columbia River near The Gorge Amphitheater, while making our way to Seattle.
Journey: We drove from Ontario, Oregon, to Richland and Quincy, Washington, to end this leg of our westward journey in Seattle.

Day 6: From Ontario, Oregon, to Richland and Quincy, Washington, then Seattle

Animals Spotted: One hawk, horses, sheep, birds, and cows.

Lines from Songs Applicable to the Day: What song is this? Check it out!

• Take me out tonight. Take me anywhere, I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care…

Notable Sighting and Events:

• Going from the Mountain to Pacific time zone

• Fields of grapes and apple trees

• We realized that until we nearly hit Seattle, we had not seen one Ohio license place since Indiana.

The Beauty of Oregon:

• Northeastern Oregon is comprised of brown, bumpy, rolling hills that turn into mountainous hills with green trees and reddish tan plants.

Beautiful Oregon

Beautiful Oregon

Beautiful Oregon

Beautiful Oregon

The Beauty of Washington:

• Just into Washington, we stopped in Richland to sample wine and eat lunch. First stop: Barnard Griffin had an absolutely gorgeous tasting room, superb service, and fabulous wines. We did a tour of the winery and fell in love with the Syrah Port. Second stop: J. Bookwalter for lunch and another wine tasting. Both the food and wines were “literally” fantastic. We wanted to stay all afternoon.

J. Bookwalter Winery Wine Tasting

• Stopping at Wild Horse Monument offered a completely breathtaking view of the Columbia River and gorge area.

Wild Horse Monument at the Columbia River, Washington

The Columbia River and Gorge in Washington

The Columbia River and Gorge in Washington

The Columbia River and Gorge in Washington

The Columbia River and Gorge in Washington

• We made one more winery stop at Cave B Estate Winery in Quincy to taste some delicious wines and admire the spectacular views of the river and gorge. Cool note: The Gorge Amphitheater is next door to the winery. If you’ve never been, you absolutely must see a concert here. (In prior years, I’ve camped out to see the Dave Matthews Band six times, as well as Linkin Park, Thirty Seconds to Mars, and AFI.)

Cave B Winery at the Columbia River and Gorge in Washington

Cave B Winery at the Columbia River and Gorge in Washington

Beautiful Rose of the Cave B Winery at the Columbia River and Gorge in Washington

Grapes of the Cave B Winery at the Columbia River and Gorge in Washington

• We made the final leg of this part of the journey to Seattle through the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, where two years earlier I had the vision to create Adventure Music Life!!

Driving through the the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest to Seattle