Archive | December, 2011

5 free activities to brighten any winter day in Hood River

28 Dec

Is your budget busted from the holidays? Hood River has tons of free stuff to make your winter merry and bright. Here’s a quickie tour, all easily accessible from the front door of the Hood River Hotel.

  1. Art. Our two favorite destinations are the Columbia Arts Gallery, and The Pines 1852 Tasting Room, curated by John Roz.
  2. Frisbee Golf. OK, disc golf. We’ve got a great 9-hole course through the trees at the northwest corner of Wasco and 20th streets. Bring your own disc.
  3. Get wet. Hood River’s covered swimming pool features water much warmer than that of the Columbia River. Swim some laps, or just bob around. It’s free for kids 2 and under. Adults pay as little as $2.50. We know: That’s not FREE. But try swimming in a cup of coffee, which costs as much.
  4. Walk to Mosier and back. Park at the Hatfield Twin Tunnels trailhead and start walking along the car-free Historic Columbia River Highway road surface. Great views. Waterfall. Tunnels. Turn around when you’re half as tired as you want to be at the end of your walk.
  5. Read magazines, local and national newspapers or your favorite Hood River Hotel blog posts at the Hood River Library. The reading room features comfortable chairs and a great view of the Columbia River. Library cards cost nothing. Grab exchange books and magazines for free from the pile downstairs.

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Begin countdown to Rose Bowl repast: Ducks (we hope) munch Badgers

27 Dec

Ours is an historic hotel.

Some of us are  historic people.

Some of us historic people remember when there were, like, five bowl games, all on New Year’s Day. Cotton, Sugar, Orange, Rose and … well, maybe it was only four. Our memories are historic, remember.

It’s kind of nutty what has happened since the late 1950s. The last week of 2011 and the first few days of 2012 look like the opening weekend of college football season. Just a bunch of inter-league games, involving units with losing records, all wrapped up in ridiculous sponsorship bowls in third-tier cities. The Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl, anyone?

Ugh. For a laugh, take a tour of the lineup at ESPN.com.  From our perspective (residing in Oregon), the only one that matters is at 2 p.m. Jan 2, when the University of Oregon returns to the Rose Bowl in search of its first victory there since 1917. The University of Wisconsin Badgers bring the opposition.

If you’re looking to join a party, join us in our mezzanine where we’ve got a big screen TV, which will be tuned to the game. Our crew will be glad to bring you great snacks — Hoisin Chicken BBQ Drums? Yu-UM! – and cold brews.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Santaland at Hood River Hotel helps raise funds for dog adoption efforts

20 Dec

Forget the malls.

Forget the shopping list.

Forget the stress and the family feuds and the expanding waistline.

Boil the Christmas season right down to its essence, and you have the Christian celebration of Christ’s birth, and the latter-day personification of goodness incarnate, Santa Claus.

Throw in some kids and dogs and you’ve got the essence of innocence — and the scene on recent holiday Saturdays in the lobby of the Hood River Hotel.

It is all part of Santaland, a holiday partnership between the Hotel and the local Adopt A Dog program.

To raise funds for the care of animals at the Hukari Animal Shelter south of Hood River, volunteers with Adopt A Dog enlisted volunteer Santas to have their picture taken with kids — and adopt-able dogs.

Parents get keepsake photo. Adopt A Dog gets (hopefully) a $5 donation. Killer combo, and (we’re glad to say),  it’s working.

The group had raised well over $1,000 as of Dec. 17, and will have Santa and puppies on hand for the last time from  11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Christmas Eve, Saturday, Dec. 24.

No reservations needed. But it’s probably a good idea to have some kids. Of course, adults can sit on Santa’s lap, too, although …

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Santa and kids and doggies, oh, my

15 Dec

What’s better than kids and Santa? Kids and DOGS and Santa. Duh.

As Christmas rapidly approaches, all you parental types out there will want to tap every possible opportunity to link the young’uns with old graybeard hisself.

The Hood River Hotel, working with the Hukari Animal Shelter and the Adopt a Dog program, is again hosting Santa for photos with kids and dogs. It’s a fund-raiser for the folks who work so hard to link lovely pets with loving homes. That means a $5 donation will be gladly accepted.

No reservations necessary. Just show up in the lobby of the Hood River Hotel between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, and (last-minute change), Dec. 24.

 

 

 

Tags: , , , ,

Welcome new year with menu from Hood River author’s new Italian cookbook

14 Dec

Drawing on her Italian heritage, Hood River resident Lucia Von Flotow has recently finished “Calabria,” a cookbook full of tasty treats.

And now, in partnership with the Hood River Hotel and Cornerstone Cuisine Chef Mark Whitehead, Lucia is bringing her recipes to our plates.

It’s all part of  New Year’s Eve (Saturday, Dec. 31) prix fixe menu offered only in a single seating.

It starts at 6 p.m. with a Fireside Fondue Dip and Sip in our lobby. Lucia will talk about her new book while guests dip into a classic cheese fondue and sip Prosecco.

Then, at 7 p.m., everyone grabs a seat in the Cornerstone Cuisine dining room, and tucks in to a five-course dinner, based on recipes from the book and prepared by Whitehead and his kitchen staff.

Cost is $50 per person (gratuity not included). A wine bar will be available at separate charge.

To reserve space, call the Hotel at 541-386-1900. Now, the menu …

Antipasti Appetizer

  • Arancini (stuffed rice balls)
  • Involtini di melanzane con patati (eggplant rolls stuff with potato)
  • Bruschetta con sarde (sardine bruschetta)

Zuppa (Soup)

Zuppa di fagioli con cavoli patati e porro (Roma bean soup with kale, leeks and potatoes)

Fruita di Mare (Seafood)

Salmon con fica balsamico (roasted salmon with fig balsamic)

Carne (Meat)

  • Maiale ripieno (stuffed pork loin)
  • Arrostiti cavoletti di brutelles (roasted brussel sprouts)

Dolci (Dessert)

Crostata di Prugna (Italian plum tart)

Tags: , , , , , ,

When not running from table to table, Hood River Hotel servers hit the streets

14 Dec

Hood River Hotel servers Whitney Munoz, Mike Ellingson, and Ashley Heck get festive before taking part in the recent Holiday 5K in Portland.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Looking for a … cool … Christmas gift idea

14 Dec

Around the Hood River Hotel, we’re nothing if not fixated on the local beer scene. So, if you’re looking for a great Christmas gift idea, and know someone who loves beer, we might suggest you check out the insulated six-pack holder from Full Sail. Pretty … cool.

Tags: , , , ,

Instead of a photo, not quite 1,000 words

13 Dec

We’re waiting for that app that lets you snap a photo with the blink of an eyelid. Until then, we’ll have to live with memories when time keeps us from grabbing that perfect photo (feel free to share in words what “photo” you wished you had taken, but is indelibly etched in your memory).

So, we’re walking down the sidewalk toward the Hood River Hotel this morning, and look up just as an Hispanic couple approaches going the other way. They’re both a little chunky, the sense of which is magnified because they’re bundled in bulky jackets against the winter chill. He’s got a dark beard.

And way too late to get our smart phone out, we notice that he is carrying a portly pug — dressed in a Christmas sweater, sitting upright, high on its owner’s chest, as if it were his child.

Which, come to think of it, is precisely the role that little guy fills.

Nice.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Hood River Hotel desk agent thinks she can talk things into existence

9 Dec

Dawn Sisson, one of our desk agents, is feeling a little psychic of late.

First, she’s driving her kids to a nearby town for its Christmas festival, and they see a shooting star disintegrate in the night sky out the windshield. She asks her kids to make a wish. “I want a teddy bear,” Oscar says.

Three days later, he’s playing in his room, falls and hits his head on the headboard. It splits his scalp. In the emergency room, after getting four stitches, he looks over and, voila, sees a bin full of teddy bears for younger patients to choose from.

“Can I get my teddy bear now?” he asks his Mom.

Well, duh. What some kids won’t do for a teddy bear, huh?

Then, on Monday Dec. 5, Dawn is chatting with one of the guys who makes deliveries to the Hood River Hotel. He tells her that his brother and sister-in-law had just hit a deer with their car. Dawn says she’s been lucky to hit nothing larger than a rock, and even then, she hasn’t had a blowout.

The next day, Dawn is driving to work and hits a rock — and blows out the left rear tire on her car.

Ahhh, the power of suggestion.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Newlyweds bring Civil War rivalry to Hood River Hotel

9 Dec

Scott and Barbara Palmer of Pendleton, Ore., relaxing and rooting for their respective teams during the Civil War game Nov. 26 in the mezzanine viewing area of the Hood River Hotel. (Photo courtesy of Hood River News)

Scott and Barbara Palmer were planning a rendezvous with Scott’s son over the weekend of the annual Civil War Game between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University.

They live in Pendleton. Scott’s son lives in Portland. So they decided to meet mid-way (sort of), and catch the Nov. 26 game in Hood River. They wanted to be downtown, so they called the Hood River Hotel.

Our staff told them that, yes, we have a lovely new big-screen TV and a comfy sofa in our mezzanine that would make for a perfect place to whoop it up — and get regular snack service.

Heckuva way to honeymoon. Yep, Scott and Barbara were newlyweds of just one month when they decided to take their football rivalry public. She, a former teacher, went to OSU. Scott, executive director of the St. Anthony Hospital Foundation, is a die-hard Duck.

Uh-oh.

Well, not to worry. We’ve got the same split on our staff. Chef Mark Whitehead? Duck. Servers Ashley Heck and Whitney Munoz? Beavers.

“They were all decked out in Beaver stuff,” Barbara recalls. “We were the only ones in the mezzanine, so we kept ordering stuff, so the staff could come up and watch the game.”

She said the staff did a great job of recommending downtown restaurants for dinner.

“We would do it again and again,” she says.

The thing is, there’s room for more than two on Civil War weekend. Will we see you, too, next year? Reserve now.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 791 other followers

%d bloggers like this: