Experience the Northwest
Time is flying and our days were packed since our flight into Seattle last Tuesday. Besides not having slept all night, our flights from Honolulu to San Francisco - where we had a 4,5 hour layover - and, on to Seattle, went smooth. Seattle was the starting point of our "pre-fam" (a group familiarization tour) called "Experience the Northwest" and, anticipating the outcome, it was one of the finest group tours we have ever had.
It was a VERY mixed group (see pic above) of ten people, all tour operators with the exception of us. They came from Korea, China, Thailand, Hongkong, Saudi Arabia, El Salvador, France and the U.S. and the tour was operated by a regional tour operator, the tall guy on the pic: Guy Glaeser with InquisiTours. For Seattle the Port of Seattle has arranged a whirlwind itinerary for us, including Bill Speidel's Underground Tours (top left) to the Troll (a huge stone sculpture), Pike Place Market (pics below), Chihuly Garden & Glass and the Space Needle, offering great views. We stayed at the historic Mayflower Hotel in the middle of downtown and were spoiled food-wise at Dahlia Lounge. Just a few Seattle pics without much of a description:
We left Seattle on Thursday afternoon towards Leavenworth, a "Bavarian-style" village in the mountains, but first we had a sleigh ride, which was fantastic. The village is rather small, famous for its many festivals and its tree lighting in the winter. The tourism reps are very engaged and very much into the theme and, of course, we had a big Bavarian feast in the evening at Andreas Keller and stayed in the "Bavarian Lodge".
Friday: After a visit in the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum (a huge, unique collection!) we drove on to Yakima - home land of the Yakima Indians -, situated in Washington's Yakima Valley, is an agricultural region noted for apple, wine and hop production. They grow the majority of all hops grown in the United States and therefore our day here was mostly dedicated to beer and breweries. Had instructive tastings at two of them, especially at Bale Breaker Brewery, see pics, where we also got delicious pizza for lunch, a hop demonstration and a tour. We stayed in the Hotel Maison, where they have a historic Masonic Temple on top of the building (pic below left), and, after a visit to the historic Capitol Theater (pic) we had dinner at Cowiche Canyon Kitchen. Boy, these local people did such a great job in hosting the group!
Saturday: Wine Day. Prosser, and the Walter Clore Wine & Culinary Center. We had a perfect wine tasting and pairing there and got interesting facts about the booming wine industry in Washington. Stayed with the topic and first stop in Walla Walla was L'Ecole 41, a winery in an old school house. Lunch and wines were being served before we headed into town and checked out the university campus (pic below) and downtown (with a large number of wine tasting rooms).
We were fortunate and stayed in the Inn at Abeja (pics below), in the winery where we also got a tasting in the evening. It was not a room, but a beautiful apartment. Wish we would have had more time to enjoy. The evening was another highlight, not only the food in the Whitehouse Crawford (Kobe Beef Steak) was terrific, but they also had invited a number of other winemakers and conversation was highly interesting. I was sitting beside a Swiss winemaker from the Geneve area who is working for two wineries in the area for over 15 years. What a treat - and what great wines!
Next morning: snow. We had to cross the beautiful Blue Mountains in our 50-seat-bus and our bus driver, Lesa, did a great job in bringing us over some snow-covered mountain passes, though it was slow moving at the beginning. In Baker City (now we were in Oregon) we were expected in the Carnegie Library/School, greeted by local artists and food producers, e.g. a cheese maker, a destiller and a chocolatier. Lunch consisted of orange-crusted salmon and orzo.
Due to weather conditions we only arrived 5:15 pm in Boise (first reception was at 5:30 pm), but really had a great time on this tour. The group was great (no excentric/high-maintenance/demanding/always-too-late people), our group leader was well-prepared and knowledgeable, the bus was comfortable and organization in total just perfect.
Saturday: Wine Day. Prosser, and the Walter Clore Wine & Culinary Center. We had a perfect wine tasting and pairing there and got interesting facts about the booming wine industry in Washington. Stayed with the topic and first stop in Walla Walla was L'Ecole 41, a winery in an old school house. Lunch and wines were being served before we headed into town and checked out the university campus (pic below) and downtown (with a large number of wine tasting rooms). 
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen