I am writing this from the Helen room in the Sunnyside Inn in Sunnyside, Wa. We are out to get some grapes this weekend. We have arranged to pick up 100 pounds of Syrah grapes from our contact Patricia in Prosser. Prosser is just down the road from Sunnyside which is just down the road from Yakima, which is just down the road from Ellensburg, which is just down the road from Seattle, which is nowhere near where we live.
We have had a wonderful day of driving and wine tasting. Susan is resting prior to our night on the town of going for pizza and beers and then returning to our room to crash, watch movies and soak in the giant bathtub in our room...the Helen room.
We have been to several wineries. Let's see if I can recount them in order. First we stopped at this Spanish looking hacienda place off the highway on the way to Prosser called Chandler Reach. We spent $10 there on a glass and wine tasting fees. We also watched some grape crushing.
We continued on to Prosser but first stopped at Bern's Tavern for beer and some lunch. We needed to have food in our bellies in order to survive the coming onslaught of vinery juice.
After Bern's, our first stop was the Yakima River Winery. This place is a quiet little Mom and Pop winery owned by Mom and Pop Winemaker. Mom served us several glasses of great tasting wine and charged us no fee. We therefore felt compelled to buy a bottle of Syrah which we will lay down for three years.
Next we hit the Desert Wind Winery. We paid a $5.00 fee for tasting and bought nothing. We liked lots of their samples though.
From there we ventured to Kestrell Winery. This is a place we like a lot because of their cheese selection. However, today they did not have the Horseradish cheese we have purchased in the past. We did buy a wine tasting passport which waves all the tasting fees at a lot of wineries. It cost $35.00 so we have to hit six more wineries to break even.
Next was Mercer, a nice little winery with many nice wines that they didn't charge us to taste. So why did we buy the passport?!
From Snoqualmie we drove to a little family owned winery called Davenlore. We went there mainly because we bought a refillable bottle there last year. It was $25.00 to buy the bottle and the wine last year but only $15.00 this year. Plus, they served us lots of wine and did not charge a fee.
Our next stop was to the Yellow Rose Garden Center to try and buy a Halloween prop we saw there several years ago. Alas, (who ever says "Alas" anymore) it was not for sale. So we trudged across the street to Willow Springs winery. We'll probably go back because the have a wonderfully cheap alternative to Bailey's Irish Cream.
Finally, we finished our tasting day at the Airfield. Airfield Winery is a nice place that was very busy. They had people stomping grapes in the back room and lots of wine to sample out front.
By this time, we (but especially Susan) were getting pretty souced and it was time to head to Sunnyside to check in to our room...the Helen Room.
As we drove the ten miles from Prosser to Sunnyside, we began to notice a change in the overall smell of things. Sunnyside stunk! It smelled like the abandoned outhouse at a stockyards. Fortunately, the smell had not inundated the Sunnyside Inn. Our room smelled fine.
After a brief nap, we headed out to dinner and noticed the smell had moved on. We went to the Snipes Mountain Brewery for a little beer and pizza. Wood fired pizza ovens seem to be very popular in this part of the state.
Now we are up to date and it is time to relax in our room and watch a movie. We selected "Walk the Line" from the library here at the Inn. We also need to soberize ourselves. We still have to get through tomorrow.
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