Tri Cities and Prosser

Sept 18- We left Kent for the Benton City, WA staying at the Beach RV Park. There is no beach or view of a beach but the park is bordered on one side by the Yakima River. The view of the Horse Heaven Hills and Red Mountain areas and surrounding pastures was quite nice. We had some great sunsets and the weather was warm. It reminded us of a trip we took to Montana and stayed at White Sulphur Springs. We need to go back there. We had lunch at The Palm in Benton City. This is a classic old bar with the usual regulars that were having a pretty good time for it being early in the afternoon. Good hamburgers and some hot wings.
Sept 19- We visited several wineries purchasing a bottle of Tempranillo from Millbrandt Winery which we had not tried before. Pretty good relatively mild red wine. We had a nice night by the fire enjoying the view and sunset. It had been windy but it lessened at sunset.



Sept 20- More wineries, sun, wind and a nice evening by the fire. We went into Kennewick to the Ice Harbor Brewery for different samples and some fries. They had a "fresh hops brew" that was real interesting. Using fresh hops you can really smell and taste the difference between other brews not using them. Don tried fishing in the Yakima River but the only thing he saw caught was by a white heron.

Sept 21- We moved to Prosser to the Wine Country RV Park where we stayed a few years ago. Really nice park. We walked to the Vintner's Plaza where there are 13 wineries to visit. A restaurant, Wine Out, was recommended to us for lunch. What a great tip. We had the best pizza ever. It is a pear and bacon with  sauce and white sharp cheddar cheese. You can pair it with the wines of the restaurant. We each had a flight of three half glasses of red wines that were excellent. We shared the choices we ordered. Then back to the park for the rest of the day. GRAPES....GRAPES....GRAPES

Sept 22- We drove around to more wineries. Our favorite for the day was Desert Wind Winery. They had Gail's favorite, a nice big gift store. We bought a real nice Suds and Seeds Mustard, a refill of a steak rub that we like and sampled some nice wines and purchased a bottle of Sangiovese. Back at the park Don was checking out the store and found some real good deals on wines that we had tasted but at better prices than at the wineries. Later in the evening we were sitting by our fire and and the park manager stopped by and chatted with us. We talked to him about working at the park. He said he would like to have us as workers at his park but he needs a 6 month commitment. We told him we appreciated the offer but we aren't ready to commit to it at this time. Some pics from the park.





Sept 23- We awoke this morning to the Prosser Hot Air Balloon Festival opening lift off. Don saw about 18 in the air at one time. What a nice way to end our week here. Here are a few pics:








We drove home over Chinook Pass all the way in the sun. We ended up with five bottles of wine from our visits.
I think this our last trip for the year so I'll be posting happenings from the local area worthy of posting. Thanks for following along.
Don and Gail.

Tri Cities and Prosser

Sept 18- We left Kent for the Benton City, WA staying at the Beach RV Park. There is no beach or view of a beach but the park is bordered on one side by the Yakima River. The view of the Horse Heaven Hills and Red Mountain areas and surrounding pastures was quite nice. We had some great sunsets and the weather was warm. It reminded us of a trip we took to Montana and stayed at White Sulphur Springs. We need to go back there. We had lunch at The Palm in Benton City. This is a classic old bar with the usual regulars that were having a pretty good time for it being early in the afternoon. Good hamburgers and some hot wings.
Sept 19- We visited several wineries purchasing a bottle of Tempranillo from Millbrandt Winery which we had not tried before. Pretty good relatively mild red wine. We had a nice night by the fire enjoying the view and sunset. It had been windy but it lessened at sunset.



Sept 20- More wineries, sun, wind and a nice evening by the fire. We went into Kennewick to the Ice Harbor Brewery for different samples and some fries. They had a "fresh hops brew" that was real interesting. Using fresh hops you can really smell and taste the difference between other brews not using them. Don tried fishing in the Yakima River but the only thing he saw caught was by a white heron.

Sept 21- We moved to Prosser to the Wine Country RV Park where we stayed a few years ago. Really nice park. We walked to the Vintner's Plaza where there are 13 wineries to visit. A restaurant, Wine Out, was recommended to us for lunch. What a great tip. We had the best pizza ever. It is a pear and bacon with  sauce and white sharp cheddar cheese. You can pair it with the wines of the restaurant. We each had a flight of three half glasses of red wines that were excellent. We shared the choices we ordered. Then back to the park for the rest of the day. GRAPES....GRAPES....GRAPES

Sept 22- We drove around to more wineries. Our favorite for the day was Desert Wind Winery. They had Gail's favorite, a nice big gift store. We bought a real nice Suds and Seeds Mustard, a refill of a steak rub that we like and sampled some nice wines and purchased a bottle of Sangiovese. Back at the park Don was checking out the store and found some real good deals on wines that we had tasted but at better prices than at the wineries. Later in the evening we were sitting by our fire and and the park manager stopped by and chatted with us. We talked to him about working at the park. He said he would like to have us as workers at his park but he needs a 6 month commitment. We told him we appreciated the offer but we aren't ready to commit to it at this time. Some pics from the park.





Sept 23- We awoke this morning to the Prosser Hot Air Balloon Festival opening lift off. Don saw about 18 in the air at one time. What a nice way to end our week here. Here are a few pics:








We drove home over Chinook Pass all the way in the sun. We ended up with five bottles of wine from our visits.
I think this our last trip for the year so I'll be posting happenings from the local area worthy of posting. Thanks for following along.
Don and Gail.