Tri-Cities, WA
Dad and I drive southwest past rolling hills in heavy winds to the Tri-Cities area of eastern Washington. We stop at the homey Country Mercantile for lunch, then visit the REACH Museum along the Columbia River. We finish with some wine tasting at Fidélitas in the Red Mountain area west of the three cities.
Country Mercantile
When my dad and his wife are driving through Pasco, Washington, they stop at Country Mercantile for sandwiches. The family-owned gourmet food store began as a produce stand in 1996 and now occupies a huge warehouse building. In addition to its popular deli, the store also offers homemade ice cream, salsa, chips, tamales, and enchiladas.But we barely had the opportunity to learn all of this and enjoy our delicious sandwiches, because the high desert winds that regularly beset Pasco nearly prevented me from opening my car door. The locals did not name their Minor League team the Tri-City Dust Devils on a whim.
REACH Museum
We continued south to the center of the Tri-Cities region along the Columbia River. The three Washington cities referred to in the "Tri-Cities" monicker are Pasco, Richland, and Kennewick, all of which line the river as it begins its horseshoe turn towards the Columbia River Gorge.We stopped at the REACH Museum, which covers the history, culture, and natural world of the Mid-Columbia River region.
Much of eastern Washington was literally shaped by the Missoula floods, a period of cataclysmic glacial flooding at the end of the last Ice Age that swept across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge.
The museum’s first few galleries describe the local flora and fauna that sprung from these origins in excellent detail — before things take a jarring turn.
The next section of the museum is devoted to the Hanford Nuclear Site, the successful all-out effort during World War II to produce the world’s first atomic bomb. The museum showed a short film detailing the plan, its workers, and the critical level of secrecy surrounding the project. Another part of the museum went into more detail, including Hanford’s ultimate impact in ending the war with Japan.
We stepped outside to admire the museum’s handsome exterior before we left. The wind had not subsided. I walked toward the river, where ridiculous wind gusts did unspeakable things to my remaining hair. When you come to the Tri-Cities, bring a sturdy comb, or perhaps just play it safe and wear a stylish helmet with a chin strap everywhere you go.
Columbia River
We left the museum and cruised along the Columbia River, stopping briefly to admire one of the nation's most impressive waterways and some members of the local waterfowl population.Fidélitas
There are more than 200 wineries within a 50-mile radius of the Tri-Cities area. I was particularly interested in a small region about 20 minutes west of Pasco called Red Mountain. There, about a dozen wineries produce bold but elegant Bordeaux-style wines plus Syrah. This is my wine wheelhouse.Dad and I drove a twisting path through Red Mountain toward the highly rated Fidélitas Wines. The grapevines were heavy with verdant leaves, and appeared to be planted on every available inch within this precious zone.
Fidélitas makes about a dozen red wines and one white -- again, my kind of place. Everything was excellent -- increasingly so as I worked my way toward the more intense reds that paired so well with my convivial buzz.
