Dog Friendly Party at Hawkins Cellars in the Columbia Gorge

I’ve been a bit sad lately because some of my coonhound friends from Urban Coonhounds have passed over the Rainbow Bridge. So my owner decided to treat me to a Sunday drive and a wine tasting party. Dogs were invited. The invitation said “bring your family, hiking friends and furry friends.” We were invited to Hawkins Cellars on the Washington side of the river, just across from Hood River.

So I was really excited when our friend Don showed up and took me to the car. I love lounging in the back seat while he drives. The last time we went wine tasting it rained the whole time so I didn’t get out to explore much. But this day was different. It was sunny and beautiful.

We took off down Hwy 14 along the Mighty Columbia River. We drove about an hour and stopped to see some wind surfers. I thought I might sniff around but the stop was only to take pictures. Drat! Some of the windsurfers had lunches in their vans it that smelled pretty interesting.

Wind Surfing works up an appetite so the windsurfers
had snacks and lunches in their vans. But I didn't get any!

Then it was up the hill to Hawkins Cellars where I was greeted warmly and given a big bowl of water. I lapped that up!  I checked out their new tasting room and thought I might like to relax on the cool floor, but they said I couldn’t stay because they were bringing in the lunch. So I wandered outside and found some children to greet.

I checked out the new Hawkins Cellars tasting room.
It was very nice and, on this hot day, there was a cool floor.
I gave the tasting room my stamp of approval.

The party was on beautiful green grass shaded by large trees. There were fabric sails to shade us too. I settled down and rested in the grass.

Here I am at the party. After the photo op, I went and rested in the shade.

All of a sudden I smelled something… pork, cilantro and tortillas. They were speaking my language… food! I kept trying to head into the tasting room where the food was being served but didn’t get very far. Drat!

My favorite part of the day was when they brought in The Huck Truck lunch.
They are usually at Bingen and I think I might visit them on my next trip.

I did get some tidbits of shredded pork after everyone ate their lunch but I didn’t get any of those house-made tortillas that The Huck Truck brought. I guess I didn’t show them my sad-eye look enough.

The pork was excellent!

The whole time everyone was tasting (and enjoying) the selected Hawkins Wines. I thought they might pour me a taste but noooooo! I did get to walk around the grounds, check out the trees and look at the view. Mt. Hood was beautiful. 

I was tired and started yawning.

All too soon it was time to leave. I guess I was glad because I was getting hot… and sleepy too. I was ready to go home and tell Francesca all about the big party I attended on Underwood Mountain. I was certain she would be jealous!

Love, Cinnamon

When You Go

The Hawkins Cellars

Underwood Tasting Room

10401 Cook Underwood Road

Underwood, WA 98651

503-554-9885

Tasting Room hours change seasonally.

Current Hours:

Thursday to Sunday, 12pm to 6pm

Lacamas Lake Heritage Trail: 6K Volksmarch for Cinnamon

You might have noticed that Francesca is racking up all the kilometers this year. I haven't been on a volksmarch since last year! So today, the Lacamas Lake walk was my first of the year. And, it was a whole six kilometers. I'm rather proud of myself.

Lacamas Lake and the trail are pretty all year long.
But today we saw wildflowers, ducks and lots of people with dogs.

 The walk started out like all others... people gathered, dogs annoyed me and I said hi to everyone. But when that was done. I was excited to get on the trail. Our selected trail of the day was the Lackamas Lake Heritage Trail, a volksmarch put on by the All Weather Walkers.

Here I am at the boat ramp. There were some great smells there.

The first thing I did was check on the boat ramp on the way. There were ducks and fishing boats. I thought I'd stay there awhile but noooo, we had to get on the trail.

Fortunately the trail was shaded and there were plenty of opportunities to wade, drink water and eat grass along the shore of Lacamas Lake. I didn't get tired until about the turnaround point. It was about 3 kilometers at that point.

I was glad that most of the trail was shaded.

We walked along checking out the water and saying hi to the people. As usual, I got annoyed when dogs wanted to come up to me so my owner kept me off the trail when a dog passed. At about the two mile mark, I started to get tired and wondered what I had gotten myself into. But my owner kept urging me on and said it wasn't all that far to the car.

I stopped and checked out the lake a couple of times. But, unlike Francesca, I'm not into swimming so I barely put my paws in. I was more interested in the grass.

Something in the lake made a noise.

Soon, we actually did reach our car. I had a fresh bowl of water when I got in, lapped that up and we were home in no time. Thank you Wednesday Walkers, for letting me go with you on the trail.

I'm Cinnamon, the 9 year old Volkssmarching dog. I'm proud of myself today!

We have Beach Cousins!

Francesca told me to expect special visitors. She can sense these things. Me? I wasn't all that excited. It seemed like most visitors came and went and didn't really visit with us. They wanted to visit our owner.

So we were very surprised to find out that our visitors were coming all the way from Florida and were flying their own plane. Our owner told us she was headed to Pearson Field to pick them up. And, then we found out that they were our "Beach Cousins." Now we have "Country Cousins" who live in the same state as we do. We didn't know that we also had Beach-type cousins and that our beach dog cousin was named Reina. I started to get excited, too!

This is the airport where my Beach Cousins landed.

I wasn't invited to go to the airport to greet them. I was told there wasn't going to be much room in the car. Jeesh. How many were coming?

I waited and waited and then my owner arrived with two girls... and I was told there would be more! Of course we got excited. Both girls greeted us but were hungry for lunch so they started making sandwiches.

After lunch, and after the rest of our Beach Cousins arrived, things started to happen... good things! Mary, the youngest cousin, started playing with us. She knew all sorts of things we would like to do... tug of war, ball throwing, and toy hunting. We played a lot!

Mary played with us every day.

Sometimes they all went sightseeing. But we always looked forward to Mary coming back because, no matter how tired she was, she'd play with us!

Mary knew how to rub my tummy.

We had a great visit but one day they said it was time to leave. They said they wanted to come back because there was so much more to see and do. But I think they wanted to come back and see me and Francesca.

These are my Beach Cousins from Florida
having fun at OMSI

So over my objections they did fly home. I sure miss them. I especially miss Mary who knows how to play with dogs just right!

Life just isn't the same without Mary

Love, Cinnamon