Destination Hood River: Checking out the sights

Last Monday morning, we set out to go to Hood River for a Road Trip! It was a great experience as a new reporter to pick the brains of the pros with Emily Kirk and our photojournalist, Steve Kauffman.

We set out around 9 a.m. and arrived a couple hours later at Cooper Spur Mountain Resort.

The resort is a quaint place with tons of history. There is a tree in the middle of the wooden cabins on this resort that is completely crooked. It has become a landmark of this area, where people come to take pictures by the tree and kids can play on.

The story behind why this tree is so crooked is an old Indian tale. The story explains the trees are crooked in order for the Indians to find their way back home.

In other places on the property, there are more crooked trees you can see on trails if you go hiking.

In the wintertime, this resort is used mainly for its ski slopes, and in the summer is popular for weddings and hiking. If you want a quiet, quaint place to spend the night outside of Hood River, this is the place for a quick stay. For more information, go to their website and get your hiking boots ready! http://cooperspur.com/

Next, we wanted to take an adventure, so we went down to the river! Of course, Hood River is known for its extreme sports that are popular such as kite boarding and wind surfing.

If you want a sport that isn’t as extreme, then check out this new, popular sport of downwind paddle boarding. It is very similar to stand up paddle boarding, but the biggest difference is the wind factor. The wind hits you at your back and will make the paddling go a lot faster.

Big Winds is a shop in town where you can buy your wet suits, boards and paddles. The store also offers downwind paddle board guided tours.

The tour guides take you down to the river, where they give you a safety lesson and then you go down the river for a beautiful ride for an hour and half to three hours depending on the wind speed. If you want to try something adventurous head to http://www.bigwinds.com/standup-paddling .

We took a quick trip in town, where we had delicious wood fire-made pizza. The restaurant offers an array of cocktails and local beers. They had a few unusual pizza ingredients that make your mouth water. There were pizzas with pears, cherries and butternut squash. It’s a family-friendly restaurant where there is something for everyone. Check out the menu at http://solsticewoodfirecafe.com/food/ .

We finished off our tour at this cute, family-run business a couple miles from downtown. The Gorge White House has a big garden in the back where they sell their flowers. There is also a food truck where the food complements the ciders.

The ciders aren’t what you would typically think of when it comes to cider. Of course there are apple ciders, but they also provide pear ciders, blueberry, mixed berry, and lemon pear flavors.

The White House even has a pear orchard on its properties for certain ciders. It’s the perfect way to end a day by kicking your feet up and drinking some cider, with delicious food.

Head to http://thegorgewhitehouse.com/wines-hard-ciders/ for more information.

For more on what the Hood River area has to offer, check out Emily’s “Road Trip: Destination Hood River” special report tonight on NewsChannel 21 at Six!