A Trip to Hood River with OXO

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Oh my heavens this is sort of a photo dump sort of day! But, with good reason…

A few weeks ago after the conference portion of Indulge was over {remember Indulge? My food blog conference?!}, the lovely folks over at OXO sponsored some amazing tours for my attendees and we got to get out of Portland and check out my old stomping grounds in Hood River.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I LOVE Hood River. It’s the cutest little town with some of the freshest, most delicious fruits and veggies 🙂 If it wasn’t so small and had a spot for my husband to work, we’d be back in a heartbeat!

But in the meantime, we’ll just head up there for fun visits from time to time.

Here are all the fun pics I took from the day. Scroll down to the bottom of my post for all the specific info for the stops we took 🙂

Of course, we started the day with donuts 🙂 Blue Star Donuts are the cream of the crop in Portland. Just eat them all and don’t ask questions.

PS- get the Old Fashioned Buttermilk. It’s my fave <3

Moving on….

On the way to Hood River on Highway 26, you pass several waterfalls; the most famous being Multnomah Falls. So we stopped to ooh and ahh!

You can hike the mile up to the upper falls or just round a few corners to get up to the bridge to get a good view of the lower falls.

Hi ladies!

After the falls, we headed out again to go to Draper Girls County Farm {one of the many stops on the Hood River Fruit Loop.}

All of the fruit I had was phenomenal! Especially the strawberries, cherries, pears, and Honeycrisp apples! You guys, nothing in life gets better than a perfect Honeycrisp apple.

I’m probably going to get some of this pepper jelly next time I’m in Hood River visiting my in-laws. Pepper jelly on cream cheese spread onto crackers? Just YES.

Our second stop was to The Gorge White House for lunch and some tours. I need to come back to try everything else on the menu here. I was so so impressed with everything I ate!

Also, my husband grew up in Hood River and once I got home from this tour, I bugged him about this place being like “you’ve lived here ALL your life and we even lived here for 3 years and you NEVER THOUGHT TO TAKE ME HERE?” 

I basically treated it like a betrayal.

Soooo, next time we’re in town, I’M taking HIM here.

I love these big beautiful flowers!

Pear salad, of course 🙂

Ok, you guys, get ready to live. This was one of the most delicious and unique quesadillas I’ve ever eaten. Can you guess what’s inside?

Now can you guess what’s inside?

Goat cheese, pears, and bacon.

I almost died eating these. OMG so good!! We also had pizzas, but I kind of ignored the pizzas because hello?? BACON PEAR GOAT CHEESE QUESADILLA. #eatallthethings

The last stop of the day was to Sakura Ridge. The settings of all three places we visited were breathtaking with amazing views of Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams.

I need this in my backyard….said the girl with black thumbs…

We had dessert provided to us here and I never thought to add hazelnuts, brown sugar, and butter to my baked brie before, but I’ve since been converted.

Hello gorgeous!! Do you see how amazing? Drool.

They sold a few goodies at Sakura Ridge as well and I thought it ironic that they were selling jam with the word Indulge right on the label 🙂

Anyways, I had such a wonderful time and I know so many others did as well. I’m an Oregonian who has lived in Hood River and I still was super impressed with everything we saw and did {and ate!}

ANYWAYS. OXO took us on this tour to feature all the amazing produce available in Oregon and to also introduce us {and now you!} to their newest product the GreenSaver Produce Keeper. Did you know on average we throw away 25% of the produce we buy? Now with their GreenSaver Produce Keepers, all that produce we buy will last longer 🙂 Sounds good to me!

Here’s how you use it:

On the lid, you’re going to want to move that little slider to the month you start using your GreenSaver. This is to help keep track of when to switch out the carbon filter inside. They last 3 months.

Now you can flip the lid over and remove the white top where the carbon filter is located.

Conveniently, underneath the lid is a foolproof guide to let you know which vent position is appropriate for the different fruits and veggies you have. All to keep them at the optimal humidity level for staying fresh longer.

Underneath the white lid is the actual carbon filter. Unwrap the plastic from this little guy before using it!

So, once you purchase your fruits or veggies, you wash them and dry them as appropriate and then store them in your GreenSaver right in the fridge. The most common item I use my GreenSaver for is lettuce because that is the item I tend to throw out the most. I’ve also used it for berries 🙂

So when you need some lettuce for a salad or for burgers {which is what we had for dinner a few nights ago} you just simply pull out your GreenSaver and enjoy! I just throw the entire thing on the kitchen island and my family takes what they will eat. It’s so simple to use and it really makes my lettuce last longer and stay perfectly fresh! I love it!

Money well spent in my opinion. Now if only I could get more of those Hood River Cherries delivered to my door…..

Anyways, it was an amazing weekend and we couldn’t have done it without the team at OXO and Travel Oregon. {Thank you guys!!}

If you end up traveling to Oregon, I want to know! Use the hashtag #laurenslatest for me to follow along!

Deets on our stops:

Multnomah Falls
Hwy 26

Draper Girls Country Farm-get fresh produce and red pepper jelly!
6200 HWY 35
Mt. Hood Parkdale, OR 97041
(541) 352-6625

The Gorge White House-omg the quesadilla.
2265 OR-35, Hood River, OR 97031
(541) 386-2828

Sakura Ridge-stay the night and convince them to make you their baked brie.
5601 York Hill Dr.
Hood River, OR 97031
541-386-2636