Hood River

The city of Hood River is the seat of Hood River County, Oregon, United States. It is a port on the Columbia River, and is named for the nearby Hood River. The winds through the Columbia River Gorge provide the perfect conditions for world-class windsurfing and kite surfing, making the city a hotspot for those sports in recent years making it a tourism destination. The surrounding area is ripe with orchards growing cherries, apples, peaches and other sweets.


First stop in Hood River is a visitor friendly favorite Rasmussen Farms. Established in 1945 famous for quality fruit since pioneer times. The fresh fruit and vegetable season starts with strawberries in June, both u-pick and ready picked berries are available. Many other berry varieties and other local fruits and vegetables are available as the season progresses. The farm also features special events all year round from Blossom Festival, Cherry Celebration, Pumpkin Funland. The day we visited was during their "Van Gogh Days" celebrating 60 kinds of sunflowers. It was a great opportunity to snap the blooming sunflowers at its best!



DID YOU KNOW?
Sunflower is an annual plant native to the Americas that possesses a large inflorescence (flowering head). The sunflower got its name from its huge, fiery blooms, whose shape and image is often used to depict the sun. The sunflower has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads of flowers. The heads consist of 1,000-2,000 individual flowers joined together by a receptacle base.


Our last stop was taking a scenic ride on the Mount Hood Railroad, a heritage railway that offers passenger excursions as well as shipping a small amount of freight. The majority of the railroad's revenue is generated from passenger excursions although a few small freight shippers remain that generate several carloads of traffic per week. Check out their website for fare and schedule, runs July thru December. There is an extra $4 for parking next to the train depot.


Today the railroad offers two-hour to O'dell or a four-hour scenic tour to Parkdale through the Hood River Valley and narrated historic excursion train tours, as well as special events. There are views of Mount Hood and Mount Adams along with the surrounding orchards and farmland of the Hood River Valley.