Road Trip Pt. 2 - White Salmon, WA
After a couple days in Leavenworth, we packed up and drove about four hours south down to the second stop of our road trip, White Salmon, WA! This quaint little town (population: 2,100) runs along the Columbia River and is only a short bridge ride away from Hood River and Mount Hood. While I had never heard of the town White Salmon prior to planning this trip, I was initially drawn to our Airbnb and its modern infrastructure / decor - when we arrived, it really didn’t disappoint! We were pleasantly surprised by the spacious and open layout, as well as the cozy and unique bedrooms. Here is the listing for the Airbnb we stayed at! Note: there is a $50 pet fee for up to two dogs.
Since we were pretty tired from the long drive, we took it easy the first day, chilled around the Airbnb and cooked a homemade dinner. I loved the open layout of their kitchen with matte black hardware and cabinets, and a commercial-grade stovetop. Definitely using it as future kitchen inspo when I have a house of my own!
Our second day, we decided to take the dogs out and drove about 15 minutes over to Hood River, where we went to a sandy area along the river called The Spit - it’s a dog-friendly off leash area that has a very beachy vibe and many people along the shore windsurfing. There were actually not very many people there (probably because we went around 4 PM on a Wednesday), and we easily found a quiet little area where we played some fetch and let the pups run around. I think the photo below speaks for itself, but they had a blast and were very soaked when we left… I also discovered that Koda must have been a dolphin in a past life because instead of just running in the water, he insists on leaping about a foot into the air with every stride haha.
Afterwards, we made a stop at a recommended cider shop, Crush Cider Cafe - they had a cute outdoor seating area surrounded by little crab apple trees and all the picnic tables were spread out wide enough that I felt very safe eating out in the midst of Covid. I ordered a flight of six different ciders and I absolutely loved the variety!! I usually prefer the drier and funkier Basque or French-style ciders, but they had flavor called Jamaica that was made from dried hibiscus blossoms, cane sugar, and fresh lime juice - SO GOOD AND REFRESHING. Also, their quesadilla was bomb. Apparently they make everything in-house including their tortillas, and it was amazing. And of course dogs were welcome on their patio, and we saw a few other furry cuties as well while we were there.
The next day we decided to switch it up a bit, and drove down to Mount Hood to do a waterfall hike. We chose Tamawanas Falls, as we had heard it was a really great mid-week hike that was also beautiful, and I’m so glad we did! We kept the dogs on-leash the entire hike per trail rules, which was also good because the trail became very narrow with some steep drop offs in some places. The trail itself was beautiful every step of the way, with numerous “baby waterfalls” and different views all the way to the end. After about two miles, we arrived at the falls and WOW it did not disappoint. Definitely some of my favorite photos that I’ve taken recently.
We had originally decided that we had to stop by at least ONE winery before we left White Salmon as we drove past soooo many on our way in. We chose to visit The Grateful Vineyard after our hike as it was on our way back and we knew it had ample outdoor seating and was dog-friendly, PLUS they took online reservations ahead of time. Hands down, this might have been the highlight of our stay here. The food was great (their cheesy bread was EXACTLY what I wanted), their wine flight was solid, and we had the most beautiful view of Mount Hood AND a sunflower field from our table.
And with that, our time in White Salmon came to a close. The next morning we packed up and headed off to our next stop: Bend, OR!
