The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Now that the pandemic is somewhat under control and travel has opened, the travel bug has bitten Daniel. Travel with Daniel can be challenging. Even before the pandemic, canceled flights, staffing shortages, delays, and missing luggage could result in a Daniel meltdown. He is not a “roll with punches” kind of traveler.

This weekend we made a travel trial run. We drove to Portland for a weekend of food and wine. He drove my car, but since he has the patience of a flea, my rules were: we don’t touch the car again until we leave town. In Portland, with traffic, unknown streets, and massive construction, we Uber. A much more peaceful way to travel.

Leaving Waitsburg an hour and a half later than anticipated, we ran into road construction and traffic in the Tri-Cities. After attempts to figure out the valet parking at the hotel, we checked in with approximately fifteen minutes to make our dinner reservation. Usually not much of an issue, but I hadn’t showered after my morning tennis game, and after driving with the top down for four hours, I was a mess.

Luckily, the Uber was late, and I had a luxurious twenty minutes. I jumped into the shower, and without realizing the hose faced up, I blasted the ceiling, floor, and Daniel with water. To add to the delay, I couldn’t figure out the shampoo squeeze bottle and had to reach out of the shower to rummage into my bag to find mine. I dressed and was ready with two minutes to spare before our Uber driver appeared.

We called the restaurant to explain we were running late; they graciously told us, “No problem.” Upon our arrival, we had to show proof of vaccination. I had my card at the ready. Of course, Daniel forgot his. After ten minutes of going through his phone, he finally found it in his health app. The dinner was fabulous, and after two bottles of wine, we were relaxed, sated, and happy.

The following morning, we walked to a lovely French bakery for breakfast and discussed going to the art museum, which somehow morphed into going to a winery first, then later in the day to the museum. As expected, we never made it to the museum. We did make it back to the hotel to regroup and head to another great dinner, followed by a loud and raucous bar, and we tasted some amazing scotches.

Sunday morning, after a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, we again discussed visiting the museum, but somehow BlueStar Donuts won out. Then back to the winery to pick up the wine we bought Saturday.

We hit the road home, but not without another winery stop in Lyle, Washington. (Syncline Wines). This winery is a little over sixty miles outside of Portland. Their gardens are spectacular, and the wines are excellent. Of course, we bought a few bottles to bring home. Coincidentally the gentlemen pouring and explaining the wines to us was from Walla Walla but had worked years in Seattle until recently. We updated him on the new restaurants and wine bar in town. He’ll be heading here soon to check it out.

The rest of the trip home was painless, other than the few times I chided Daniel for tailgating.

Dipping our feet into the travel pool was a good idea. With the success of this trial run, I am cautiously optimistic about future trips. It should be a successful journey if there is good food and wine wherever we travel.