Tuesday, October 4, 2011

The Fruit Loop



"Thy bounty shines in autumn unconfined
And spreads a common feast for all that live."

- James Thomson


We just returned from a weekend getaway to the Fruit Loop. The Fruit Loop is a 35 mile scenic drive through orchards, farms and wineries located an hour outside of Portland in Hood River, Oregon. It's a wonderful place to visit. We try to make the 3 hour drive at least once a year. In July, cherries are in season.  It's not uncommon to find cherries for a dollar a pound, I've even purchased Rainier cherries, the yellow ones, for the same low price. Right now, early October, it's time for pears, apples and late peaches too! If you like to make jam and can fruit, this is a great place to visit and stock up on fruit for a very reasonable price.


The Gorge White House, a favorite place of ours to stop. They sell U cut flowers, pears and apples from their orchards and they have a great selection of wines to taste.


This place is such a great place to pick flowers, right now it's dahlias mostly, acres of them.




Rasmussen Farms is a great place for family fun. They sell lots of vegetables, pumpkins, apples, pears, peaches etc. They have lots of stuff to do including a corn maze, a U pick pumpkin patch, pumpkin bowling and more.


Yup. You read that correctly, squash bowling, and yes, we did it!


And there are indeed rules to pumpkin bowling.


Pumpkin Funland is this barn full of pumpkins dressed up like fairy tales and other characters.



Sleeping Beauty, one of the pumpkins dressed up in Pumpkin Funland


Little Mermaid in Pumpkin Funland at Rasmussen Farms



This is Mountain View Orchards, they have 50 acres of pear, apple and Asian pear trees as well as peaches and cherries. They also grow pumpkins and offer a hay ride that takes you on a tour of their farm.


Hood River is the nations largest pear growing region. I took home about 10 pounds of pears for 50 cents a pound and a bunch of very tasty Asian pears.



On the hay ride at Mountain View, we saw their animal farm that included this Longhorn bull.






PO Box 168
Odell, OR 97044
541-386-7697

Fruit Loop Map
 
Send email to info@hoodriverfruitloop.com. 
 
 
 
The Gorge White House
2265 Hwy 35

PO Box 798
Hood River, OR 97031
541-386-2828


 
Mountain View Orchards

6670 Trout Creek Ridge Road
Mt Hood Parkdale, Oregon 97041
541-352-6554 or 800-529-6554


Rasmussen Farms

3020 Thomsen Road
Hood River, Oregon 97031
(541) 386-4622
(800) 548-2243

4 comments:

Mary P. said...

Wow, that looks like a great place to visit, especially this time of year. Great pictures too.

Anonymous said...

Looks like you guys had a good time. Now the work begins doing something with all the fruit you purchased. Nice pics Mis!

Anonymous said...

This looks like so much fun! I wish Oregon wasn't so far for me (about 8 hrs). I'm in Vancouver, BC and Oregon still hasn't got crossed off my list.

The Alchemist said...

lyndszy- I adore Vancouver, I will be there in December for my birthday to visit my favorite restaurant of all time, Le Crocodile.