In Oregon, Hood River Valley offers a fruitful tour
-
A view of Hood River Valley and Mt. Hood from a panoramic lookout on East Side Road just south of Hood River off Highway 35.
Share with others:
HOOD RIVER, Ore. -- Attempting to see Oregon's Mount Hood from a distance is a little like playing hide-and-seek with a particularly quiet, determined 5-year-old: Sometimes you'll search for hours as the mountain's peak hides, shrouded in clouds.
But on a recent, spectacular fall day, the dormant volcano wasn't playing games. Its shoulders dominated the view as we traversed Hood River Valley, known for its collection of orchards and wineries less than two hours east of downtown Portland.
"We don't get a lot of fog up here but when it's raining or snowing, you cannot see it," said Ruthie McAlexander of Mountain View Orchards, which is about 30 miles northeast of Mount Hood. "I think the best time to see it is in summer and fall."
Mountain View Orchards sits on 50 acres at an almost 2,000-foot elevation and has been in Mrs. McAlexander's family for 36 years. The orchard boasts about 50 different kinds of apples, including some "mystery apples" no one can consistently identify.
Hood River, Ore.
- WHERE: By car, Hood River is a 90-minute drive east of Downtown Portland through the Columbia River Gorge on Interstate 84.
- INFORMATION: For a map of the area, including farm stands and wineries, visit hoodriverfruitloop.com. For a more extensive map of wineries, visit www.ColumbiaGorgeWine.com. For information of B&Bs with available space, call 1-541-386-6767.
"For years my dad gave us trees and we would get very unusual kinds," said Mrs. McAlexander, 65. "Supposedly there are more than 7,000 kinds of apples in the world and more than 5,000 kinds of pears. So my dad would give us these unusual trees and after 25 years, we just lost track of what they are. Most of them, amazingly, have good flavor. They're wonderful apples, a lot of them are heritage apples, I think."
The challenge comes when returning customers want to get the same "mystery apple" they bought a year earlier.
"We have a hard time with that," she acknowledged. "I try to ask what colors the apples were and figure it out."
She advises would-be apple pie bakers to go with Gravenstein apples early in apple season, which she considers tops for flavor, while acknowledging that most people prefer whatever variety of apple they grew up eating.
First Published October 31, 2010 12:00 am
