HDRPCA Hood River Happening--October 7-9, 2022

Hood River Happening--October 7-9, 2022

Limit 20 cars

Get happy with your HDR Porsche Club friends on this 3-day, 2-night tour of northern and central Oregon as well as southern Washington for 20 cars.  Hood River sits tucked into the heart of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area in an ecological transition zone that harbors an astonishing array of biodiversity.

The tour begins in Bend Friday morning, passing through Madras and taking 197 north to The Dalles.  We’ll have lunch in The Dalles, visit the Nichols Art Glass gallery for a demonstration, and then drive west to Mosier along the historic Columbia River Highway 30, aka "The King of Roads." This will include driving the Rowena Loops, a route featured in several car commercials, and a stop at Rowena Crest Viewpoint, from which the header photo was taken.

Our lodging for Friday night and Saturday night is at the Best Western Plus Hood River Inn, long a favorite of our club due to its waterfront location, ample reserved parking for our group, and good food.  After a mid-afternoon hotel check-in, there is an optional walk one mile west to the 2022 Hood River Valley Harvest Fest, which is open Friday afternoon from 1pm-6pm.  The first day of the tour closes with a 6 pm no-host happy hour and 7 pm catered dinner at the hotel.

Saturday morning we’ll head to the Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum, where our group will have reserved parking.  WAAAM has been recently enlarged and now features 130 cars.  Our visit is planned to coincide with the monthly event where these cars and airplanes will be cranked up and taken outside.  After lunch at the museum, we cross the Columbia and head north into Washington for a 2½ hour loop drive including fabulous views of Mt. Adams on the way up and of the Klickitat River on the way back. 

Sunday morning after breakfast and checkout from the Best Western, the tour is officially over.  Suggestions for non-PCA individual drives back to Bend include taking US 35 south from Hood River to Parkdale and the famous Fruit Loop area.  Another possibility is heading east from Hood River to just past Biggs Junction to the Maryhill Museum of Art, founded by Sam Hill, who was the driving force behind the construction of the Historic Columbia River Highway that we explored Friday.  The Maryhill Museum opens at 10:00am and is convenient to club favorite lunch location Maryhill Terrace at the Maryhill Winery.