Honeycrisp

This weekend felt like the first few days of fall.  What better way to spend an October weekend than go apple picking?  Zephyr and I headed out to Hood River on Sunday for a celebration of all things fall.  I love Hood River.  It's breathtakingly gorgeous, with a million things to do and amazing restaurants and breweries for a city of it's size (roughly 7,000 people).
We started the day with caffeine at Doppio on Oak Street.  I got a yummy pumpkin latte, and we climbed to the top of the street and sipped our coffee on a park bench while overlooking the beautiful Columbia River Gorge.  Just across the Gorge in Bingen is a pizza joint called Solstice.  Their "country girl cherry" pizza was recently voted the best pizza in Washington.  Naturally, that's where we went and what we ordered for lunch.

Delicious! The cherries put this pizza over the top!

After lunch, we drove back across the river to Oregon and began our apple picking at Kiyokawa Orchards.  The orchards are located in the "fruit loop" around Mt. Hood.

About to rain, boo! Beautiful views nonetheless. 

Yay honeycrisps!

Picture perfect apples.

It started pouring.  Zephyr called this my "old Russian woman" look.

After picking more apples than we know what to do with, we headed to Stevenson, WA to Walking Man Brewery for a pint.  The views from the town were pretty, even if the sun never came out.

Eventually we headed home and cooked up a yummy minestrone full of tons of farmer's market veggies.  Warm soup was the perfect way to end a rainy fall Sunday.

Warms my soul.

I made some pretty good apple cocktails at the end of the day, you've got to try these!

Must be drank with a pumpkin spice candle burning nearby. 

Applejack cocktails (makes one cocktail)
2 oz. Applejack liqueur
1 oz. lemon juice
Grenadine
Hard cider
In a shaker filled with ice, combine Applejack, lemon juice, and a splash of grenadine.  Strain over ice.  Top with hard cider.
Note: I used Strongbow cider, a drink I became slightly obsessed with after spending some time in Edinburgh this year.  It's available at better grocery stores, but Vermont's Woodchuck brand might be easier to find.

Happy fall!




Cafe Dopio
310 Oak Street
Hood River, OR 97031


Solstice Wood Fire Cafe
415 W Steuben Street (Hwy 14)
Bingen, WA 98605


Kiyokawa Orchards
8129 Clear Creek Road
Parkdale, OR 97041


Walking Man Brewing
240 SW First St
Stevenson, WA 98648