This weekend we needed to get away. Even though the weather was looking good for Seattle we felt like we needed an escape for the city. After many changes in plans due to our friends and indecisiveness on Friday night at dinner we made up our mind finally on Saturday morning to pack for a wine and dine kind of weekend in the wine country of Washington State, even though I was already slightly over dining out as of late.
After a nice night in Seattle on Friday, getting food and drinks at next door Laredo’s and then getting Broken City on RedBox we awoke to a sunny Saturday morning to pack and hit the road. Our 3.5 hour drive to the tri-cities was sunny and simple. We stopped for Frappecinos and teriyaki as road food in North Bend and made it to my friend Andrew’s apartment in Richland (one of the tri-cities) around 3pm.
Our first destination was Andrew’s favorite local winery, Terra Blanca. I have had their wines before and liked and ended up loving our afternoon there. We were the only ones sitting out on their sunny patio overlooking their lush grounds and pond, listening to fabulous tunes on their outdoor sound system, deep in conversation, and sharing a white wine flight and a red wine flight. All wines were surprisingly delicious. We toured around the Columbia River valley before going and sticking our feet in the Columbia River before heading to dinner.
For dinner we set out for Tagaris Winery. The huge cathedral door opened up into a dark dining room and then later sprawled out into a huge enclosed outdoor patio, complete with fire pit, music stage with a big band playing, many diners, and another wine bar in the back. We ordered a bottle of their House Malbec which was delicious throughout our meal. I chose the seasonal flatbread and their seasonal vegetables for dinner. Although delicious everything was quite expensive. However, the atmosphere and the music and company kept us there for several hours.
Sunday morning we woke up and set out for Magill’s Restaurant in neighboring Kinnewick, WA. It was busy but we were seated fairly quickly. We all ordered omelets. I went with the Farmers Market Lite omelette with home fries over hashbrowns and some fruit. Our wait was again very generous but the service was friendly and refilled my coffee and our waters often. When the breakfast came we were dying because of the huge size of the plates. However, other than some of the home fries that I took home with me, we all cleaned our plates. The fuel was assumed to later be taken for a long hike after we said our goodbyes to Andrew and set out east towards Mt. Rainier National Park.
After a long, sunny drive we entered the National Park to light showers and an approaching thunder cloud. Because of the length of our drive we tried to set out on our hike anyways to reach Panorama Point to get right up close to Mt. Rainier but after climbing about 500 ft on wet snow we decided it was not smart or fun and headed back down and back into the car. At this point I was down with riding in the car and ready to get back to Seattle and Bryan was not able to stop apologizing for the bad hike selection.
Once back to Seattle we headed straight to Capitol Hill to find dinner. We instantly decided on the Nepalese restaurant Annapurna on Broadway and we both are so, so glad that we did. This has most definitely become our new favorite Indian restaurant in Seattle. We split the chicken mango massa and the mixed tandoori platter with basmati and brown rice and a side of regular naan. There was absolutely no food or sauce left on any of the dishes. Even though we had only been eating and drinking throughout the weekend we were eating like barbarians with hands and all and left in complete food comas and very grateful for our selection of eateries in Seattle. The ambiance of the restaurant was also completely unique, hidden in the basement of a building with candlelit tables and pictures of the Himalayas all around us.
Although none of the weekend happened as we might have expected (change of destination, change in travelers, change in restaurants open, change in hike, change in weather) it was still quite a journey and we both had forgotten about work by Monday morning.
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 