Central & Eastern Washington - Washington, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest - page 377

Apple Line ( www.appleline.us ) runs handy once-a-day services to destinations like
Chelan Falls ($16) and south Ellensburg ($20).
You can get to the nearby towns of Leavenworth via Cashmere (bus 22, $2.50, 50
minutes) and Chelan via Entiat (bus 21, $2.50, one hour) on frequent Link Transit buses
( www.linktransit.com ) . Buses are equipped with bike racks.
TRAIN
The Amtrak ( www.amtrak.com ) Empire Builder stops daily in Wenatchee on its way
between Seattle and Chicago.
ROADSIDE FRUIT STANDS
Let Washington's mouthwatering fruit stands reignite your diet with something
crisp, colorful and healthy. Apples are the most ubiquitous crop, but you can also
find apricots, pears and countless others when the season's in full swing. One of
the best tracts of road to 'shop' is the stretch of Hwy 2/97 going north between
Wenatchee and Chelan on the east side of the Columbia River. Look out in particu-
lar for Lone Pine Fruit & Espresso (23041 Hwy 97) , housed in a century-old apple-
packing shed near Orondo, and B&B Fruit Stand, which has been in operation since
the early 1960s, 2.5 miles north of the Odabashion Bridge.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Yakima Valley
With its scorched hills interspersed with geometrically laid-out vine plantations and
apple orchards, the Yakima River Valley glimmers like a verdant oasis in an otherwise
dry and barren desert. Arising from the snowy slopes of Snoqualmie Pass and flowing
deceptively southeast (and away from the Pacific) until it joins courses with the mighty
Columbia, the fast-flowing Yakima River supports a lucrative agricultural industry that
churns out copious amounts of cherries, vegetables and peaches, along with three-quar-
ters of the US hop output, luscious wine grapes and the world's largest yield of apples.
Markedly drier and hotter than Washington's wet west coast, much of the valley sur-
vives on as little as 8in of rain a year (Seattle gets 37in) and temperatures can rise to over
100°F (38°C) in the summer.
A huge demand for agricultural labor to work in the fields and orchards during the
fruit-picking season has brought a large Mexican population to the valley and, with 40%
of Yakima county's population now registered as Hispanic, you'll hear 'buenos dias' as