Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
reservation where the first nuclear bomb was developed. Today Hanford is noto-
rious for its many nuclear contamination sites, which luckily are well removed
from any towns or vineyards, so there's no need to worry about glow-in-the-dark
wine.
All the land around Yakima was once the homeland of the Yakama people.
The first white settlers, Catholic missionaries, arrived in 1847 and set up their
mission south of present-day Yakima, and by the 1850s growing hostilities
between settlers and Native Americans had led to the establishment of Fort Sim-
coe, 38 miles west of Yakima. In 1880, when residents of Yakima City refused
to sell land to the Northern Pacific Railroad, the railroad built North Yakima
4 miles away and proceeded to move 50 buildings from Yakima City to the new
town site, which grew into the Yakima of today.
Despite the many wineries up and down the Yakima Valley, the region has never
really caught on as a wine-touring destination and there are very few B&Bs or
memorable restaurants in the region. This is due to several factors. First, the
wineries begin more than 20 miles away from Yakima, and so the city of Yakima
isn't exactly an ideal base for exploring this wine country. Also, the small towns
scattered along the length of the Yakima Valley are basically farm towns and are
certainly not what you would call quaint. In fact Sunnyside has stockyards, the
stench of which permeates the town. Vineyards are just part of the picture here,
and you'll have to drive through a lot of unattractive scenery to reach the winer-
ies. However, despite these caveats, a visit to the Yakima Valley can be worth-
while if you are looking to familiarize yourself with Washington wine.
ESSENTIALS
GETTING THERE
Yakima is on I-82 at the junction with U.S. 12, which
connects to I-5 south of Centralia. You can also get to Yakima on U.S. 97 (from
Ellensburg from the north and just east of The Dalles, Oregon, from the south).
The Yakima Municipal Airport, 2300 W. Washington Ave., on the southern
outskirts of town, is served by Horizon Airlines.
VISITOR INFORMATION
Contact the
Yakima Valley Visitors & Conven-
tion Bureau,
101 N. Fair St., Yakima, WA 98901 (
&
800/221-0751
or 509/575-
3010; www.visityakima.com). For information on Toppenish, contact the
To p -
penish Chamber of Commerce,
5 S. Toppenish Ave. (P.O. Box 28), Toppen-
ish, WA 98948 (
&
509/865-3262
).
FESTIVALS Red Wine and Chocolate,
held each year over the Presidents'
Day weekend, marks the start of the wine-tasting season at Yakima Valley winer-
ies. The annual
Spring Barrel Tasting
on the last weekend in April is Yakima's
biggest wine festival. During this event, the previous year's vintages are often
tasted before being bottled. In late September, there's the
Catch the Crush
event, and then in November, there's
Thanksgiving in Wine Country.
Both of
these are big wine-tasting weekends. Each year over the Fourth of July weekend
the
Toppenish Pow Wow & Rodeo
brings crowds of people to Toppenish to
watch broncobusters and Native American dances. The fourth full weekend in
September sees the skies over Prosser fill with hot-air balloons in the
Great
Prosser Balloon Rally.
WINE-COUNTRY TOURING
Located on the same latitude as France's main wine regions, the
Yakima Valley
is Washington's premier wine region. The valley sees sunshine on about 300 days
of the year, which, combined with the rich volcanic soil, provides near perfect
