Sweet Suprise
Each February, on Presidents’ Day weekend, wineries of the Yakima Valley invite you to “Red Wine and Chocolates”, a delectable pairing of tastes. The hills of the Valley are drizzled with snow, like icing on cakes. Daylight hours are perceptibly lengthening, the sun shines brighter and warmer. Pruners sculpt orchards, shaping trees to coax the maximum bounty of fruit from them.
When did it happen? When did the Valley begin its seduction of my attention and affections? Three years ago this month, I saw a scrubby desert, ugly brown hills, no trees, too much sunshine! Yes, too much sunshine, not enough rain. We were
twenty-year veterans of the Puget Sound mist, lush vegetation, soaring evergreens. We hail from cities in maritime climates, on the North Sea, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. But we followed our dream of a B&B business, which brought us to Yakima.
What’s in Yakima? What will you do there? How can “city people” leave the city? We answered, “If we don’t like it, we’ll just move on.” But we’re still here, enjoying the “sweet surprise” of Yakima and the Valley. Many residents have lived here forever, with roots through several generations, creating a strong community and stability of place. Some left, then returned. They know what a “good thing’ they have here.
What did we find in the Yakima Valley? No traffic, friendly people, Broadway shows, Town Hall lectures, symphony, jazz, opera, folk, rock, salsa music, artists, art galleries, theatre, museums, fishing, cycling, hiking, walking, marathons, no traffic, four seasons, fertile soil, fresh fruit and produce, Sun Kings basketball, Bears baseball (even a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball club), a State Fair, nearby mountains, skiing, shopping, winter elk feeding, petroglyphs, new friends, no traffic, barely 8” of rain per year (still miss some rain), a downtown renaissance, microbrews, hop fields, wineries galore, vineyards, entrepreneurs, independent thinkers, poetry, dancing, and did I mention no traffic?
Well, maybe three years is still the “honeymoon of sweet surprise”, but we haven’t, for a moment, regretted moving to the “exurbs” (farther from the city than the suburbs). When we want a “big city break”, the drive is no longer (and easier) than many a Puget Sound commute. Come to see what excites us about the Yakima Valley. The energy is palpable!
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