Foothills Magazine May-June 2013 Back to Basics

Wenatchee u LeavenwortH u ChelaN u and all of North Central Washington

oothills May-June 2013

Back to Basics

Reclaiming Grandma’s Values

Wild Wonder

Salmon with Zing

Enchanted Garden

Eva Renn Creates Fairy Land

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Wine & Dine

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Visconti’s Award-Winning List

Editor’s Letter

It’s OK to ask for help A s parents of soon-to-be 4- and 7-year-old daughters, my wife and I deal on occasion with situations that amp up the frustration level of our girls. Whether it’s the younger daughter trying to figure out a tricky zipper on her windbreaker or the older one trying to reach the Valentina hot sauce bottle on the top shelf — note to self, move the bottle to a spot she can easily reach — frustration can sneak up on them in a hurry.

We’re teaching them that there’s no shame in asking for help. If you can’t figure something out, we tell them, go ahead and ask for help. More specifically, we add, ask nicely.

It’s advice that applies to all sorts of situations, whether you’re 4 or 43.

The main story in this issue by writer M.K. Resk focuses on some of the back-to-basics things people are doing around their homes to better connect with the practices and values exercised by their parents and grandparents. We’re talking about raising chickens, growing a big garden, canning and other do-it-yourself skills that contribute to a more self-reliant lifestyle.

But if you’re like me, you probably weren’t always listening when your parents and grandparents were trying to hand down useful information and skills. Silly us for not listening, but let’s not let that stop us from trying some of those things.

Say, for example, that you want to grow a bigger garden this year and can some of the extra bounty. Ask the help of the neighbor you know who maintains a pantry full of home-canned spaghetti sauces, peaches, salsas, etc. Another option is to seek help from the local WSU Extension offices that routinely offer classes on canning and other practical skills.

If you’re new to growing tomatoes this year and you can’t solve the bottom-rot issue, drop by the WSU Master Gardener booth at the Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market and start asking questions.

Help is all around us, folks. All you have to do is ask. Nicely, of course.

Marco Martinez, editor

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oothills A bi-monthly lifestyle magazine about North Central Washington

Publisher Rufus Woods rwoods@wenatcheeworld.com Managing editor Cal FitzSimmons (509) 665-1176 fitzsimmons@wenatcheeworld.com

The birds are chirping, the bunnies are hopping, and the miners are just buzzing with excitement!

Editor Marco Martinez (509) 664-7149 martinez@wenatcheeworld.com Advertising sales manager Wendy DalPez (509) 661-5221 dalpez@wenatcheeworld.com Design Jared Johnson Staff writers Mike Irwin Dee Riggs Rick Steigmeyer Staff photographers Mike Bonnicksen Don Seabrook

Lake Chelan, www.hardrow.com

Conservation Makes Cents

Contributing editor Russ Hemphill

Foothills Magazine is published bi-monthly

by World Publishing, 14 N. Mission St., Wenatchee, WA, 98801.

Subscriptions: $21 annually Send check or money order to: Foothills, Subscriptions 14 N. Mission St., Wenatchee, WA, 98801 or email foothills@wenatcheeworld.com Copyright 2013 with all rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without written permission.

On the cover: Sharon and Harvey Ventrello of Wenatchee took out their lawn and grew a garden in the front yard. Harvey is seen here last summer holding a bunch of carrots straight out of the couple’s garden.

Photo by Kathryn Stevens

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Contributors Sharon Altaras is an amateur sociologist, wannabe motorhead and fashionista.

She enjoys walking the neighborhoods of Wenatchee. As a journalist, she’s covered courts, businesses and has helped launch an eco-conscious fashion magazine.

Mike Bonnicksen has been a Wenatchee World photographer since 1984. When not behind a camera working, Mike can often be found enjoying the region’s beauty and the world in general in the form of hiking, biking, motorcycling and scuba diving.

Frank Cone is a freelance photographer based out of Wenatchee. His work mainly focuses on the outdoors but he enjoys new subjects and likes to explore different photographic techniques. Frank is married and has two children, Evan and Erin.

Steve Maher, a former editor and reporter at The Wenatchee World, is an avid long-distance runner, cyclist, hiker and skier. He also enjoys keeping tabs on the local art and music scene.

M.K. Resk cannot sit idle for long.

Consequently, she is a Wenatchee-based writer, teacher, performer, volunteer, athlete and traveler.

Writing about unique homes is a joy for Bremerton native Dee Riggs. She likes exploring the thought process that goes into building or remodeling a home. The University of Washington graduate has worked at The Wenatchee World since 1977.

Rick Steigmeyer is an amateur vintner who enjoys writing about wine, food and local entertainment on his Winemaker’s Journal blog at wenatcheeworld.com. He’s been a World reporter since 1989.

Kathryn Stevens, owner of Atlas & Elia Photography, merges her years of professional experience in photojournalism with her love for natural-light portraiture to specialize in fine-art wedding and family photography. See her latest thoughts at blog.atlasandelia.com.

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Contents

Give Mike Irwin a reason to go and he’s gone.

The Wenatchee World reporter and blogger loves to wander the area’s towns and back roads in search of the odd and interesting.

6 Fast 5 8 Vroom, Vroom 10 Spring Snaps

Mike Irwin is Grant County-centric

Summer Special

3 Months for

Spinning ® TRX Ellipticals Treadmills Circuit Training Free Weights Personal Training Group Exercise Classes

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Wheels of Wonder rides again!

♥s his new camera

Mike Bonnicksen

12 Wild X 2 14 Fairy Land 18 Map to the Past 26 Texting ... Mark Miller 28 Natural Talents 38 Winning Wines

212 Fifth St., Suite #6 Fifth Street Plaza Wenatchee

509-888-9870 alt12fitness.com

Wild Huckleberry’s wild salmon recipe

Wenatchee garden is a child’s treasure

History lessons found in old map

Arena GM is aiming Strait

Raise chickens, grow a garden

... And Food

Visconti’s earns state honor

44 Sagebrush Mecca 48 Vine Views 50 Round and Round

White Heron Cellars draws loyal crowd

Barb Robertson drinks and tells.

Pics from Apple City Roller Derby match

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Fast five

Fire & Flood Edition

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Trickle-down attraction

You want superlatives? Dry Falls gushes superlatives. The longest, the tallest, the fastest and now — about 15,000 years after its last dribble — the driest.

The 400-foot-high, 3.5-mile-long basalt precipice just south of Coulee City is the former lip of what’s touted as the world’s biggest known waterfall. (Ten times the size of wimpy Niagara.) When glacial dams crumbled to release massive Ice Age floods through the Columbia Basin, deep rivers of water coursed 65 mph over Dry Falls’ scalloped edge and raced south to carve the Channeled Scablands. Today’s visitors can inch to the end of a short but thrilling overlook and visit the interpretive center to learn about cataclysmic flooding and oozing magma. Which reminds us: Restrooms are available.

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May / June 2013

Tickled by The Feathers

You don’t have to be a rock-climber to experience vertigo from The Feathers. Just stand at the base of this spread of six-storyhigh basalt columns and look up. (Whoa … can we get some crampons here?) Notice the tiny helmeted figures clinging for their lives by finger- and toe-tips. The rumor is they’re having fun. The Feathers, one of the state’s most popular rock-climbing sites, stands just west of George near the rim of Frenchman Coulee — a wide, highwalled gouge scoured clean by ancient floods. This breathtaking combination —

columns thrusting skyward, basalt cliffs zigzagging into deep canyon — has to be one of Eastern Washington’s grandest sights.

Whew. Make that dizzying sights.

By mike Irwin

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Man cave

Squat inside one of the Lake Lenore Caves, grunt like a caveman and pretend to gnaw some baby-back mammoth ribs — feels kinda like home, huh? Scientists who know this stuff say prehistoric man (and a few of his girlfriends) did indeed use the caves, located north of Soap Lake above Highway 17, as a home base from which to roam Central Washington’s vast volcanic landscape. No iTunes or Netflix, so what else you gonna do? The caves formed when Ice Age floods, racing down from Dry Falls, plucked basalt chunks out of the cliffs to carve out a little piece of heaven with crossvalley views. Visitors still camp at the site, as proven by a fire ring, empty beer cans and discarded chicken buckets. Yep, just like home.

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In a lather

It’s sudsy and tastes awful but, if you can trust the hype, adding Soap Lake’s mineralrich water to your bath and diet will cure what ails ya. And if that doesn’t work, you can wallow like one happy hog in its therapeutic (if stinky) mud — touted for centuries as a cure-all by Native Americans and today by immigrant Ukrainians who claim the tar-like stuff eases arthritis and psoriasis. These healing properties harken back to Soap Lake’s heyday as a well-known resort and health spa in the early 1900s. What’s known for sure is that this meromictic (multi-layered) soda lake contains large quantities of 23 dissolved minerals — i.e., sodium, potassium, magnesium — and, hey, you float like a cork. A stinky cork.

Majestic with mochas

Outdoorsy folks exploring Ancient Lakes love the contrast of the area’s basalt cliffs and deep blue fishing lakes.

Snow can be scarce here, so winter’s often short and the recreation season long. Lakes fill with melting ice runoff and seeping irrigation water. Very primal, the timeworn trails lead hikers and horsemen back through the ages, through millennia of geologic and archeologic history, through a majestic tableau of volcanic buttes, ice-carved waterways and sun-seared skies. And — get this — it’s only 17 minutes (10.2 miles) to the McDonald’s in Quincy, where you can gargle away antediluvian dust with a swig of McCafé Iced Caramel Mocha. Ain’t geology grand? F

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Darrel Slabaugh restored his 1971 Chevrolet pickup over the span of one year.

Restored Life After a year in the remaking, ’71 Chevy hits the road again

Slabaugh went with houndstooth interior upholstery for his restoration.

Wheels of wonder

P

ractice makes perfect for Wenatchee resident Darrel Slabaugh, who restored a 1971 Chevrolet pickup in one year, building from experience he’s gained owning three similar vehicles.

The clock started ticking on the frame-up overhaul March 9, 2012, when he met the seller in Kennewick and handed over a dozen $100 bills.

Slabaugh found the truck through a Craigslist ad from Ontario, Ore., and its story went something like this: Youngish man inherits his late grandfather’s farm truck with 50,000 original miles. He plans to keep it, before realizing he’s in over his head.

Enter Slabaugh. He’d been searching months for a pickup of that vintage and offered cash as long as a key in

the ignition started the vehicle.

“I was kind of buying a pig-in-apoke, in a way,” Slabaugh admits.

“It was faded, a pretty nice truck. It had its lumps from being on the farm.”

As luck would have it, a tune-up and degreasing was all it took and the truck “ran beautifully,” once he got it home.

One year later, “It’s brand new, fresh — it’s beautiful,” Slabaugh says.

He’s owned three similar trucks during his life: a dark-green and white 1972 Chevrolet K10 Super Cheyenne, a white 1970 Chevrolet K20 custom, and a green 1969 Chevrolet C-10. He bought the first in the 1970s and kept it four years. “It was perfect, so I just drove and enjoyed it,” Slabaugh says.

The second, acquired in 1984,

Story By Sharon Altaras photos By mike Bonnicksen

received a new paint job, lifted suspension and beefier tires and wheels. He built a performance 355 engine for it and kept it seven years.

In the early ’90s, he fixed up the third with his college-age son as a summer project, and sold it in the fall when school started.

Slabaugh is now in his 10th year of retirement, but formerly worked in construction and for Boeing Co.’s safety and compliance group.

He and his wife, Fernie, moved from the Black Diamond area to Wenatchee “as soon as it was feasible.” He built her space for a garden and himself a garage.

“There’s been something in me for the last 40 or 50 years that’s wanted to be here,” he says, adding that he’d visit the area on weekends and for work trips, and enjoyed leaving the clammier Seattle-area weather behind. “We came over here and never looked back.”

“I’m an old junkyard dog. I really love the hunt and finding stuff,” says Slabaugh.

So, although he’d planned to simply

“clean it up and drive it,” Slabaugh says, “I’ve gone quite a ways with this one.”

It started with an aggressive detail and degreasing. “Next thing I knew, it was stripped down to its frame. I just went through and sandblasted, changed seals, put back together trim pieces … I blew this thing completely apart,” he says.

His goal was to keep the ’71 as close to original as possible, while allowing for “personal-touch upgrades” and safety improvements It was and still is equipped with a 350 cubic-inch V-8 engine, four-speed truck transmission, 3.73 rear-end gears and front disc brakes.

Slabaugh had the truck repainted a stock deep blue with a silver top, and reupholstered in off-white vinyl and houndstooth fabric. He added power steering and brakes and an aluminum radiator. In the future, he’s considering a stock replacement for the original air conditioning system, a 700r4 automatic overdrive

Slabaugh works to remove the starter from the pickup. He spent countless hours detailing every nook and cranny on the truck. transmission, posi-traction in the rear-end and aftermarket fuelinjection components.

“My favorite attribute is the design of this truck. The styling and lines just fit and are very appealing,” Slabaugh says.

He has no plans to sell his fourth Chevrolet pickup, but says as of March 9, 2013, he’s calling it good on the cosmetic restoration.

“You’ve got to draw a certain line as to when you’re going to stop — where does the bleeding end.” F

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On the trail

Colorful basalt cliffs in the Tarpiscan area. At right, a feather on a plant in the Columbia Basin Wildlife Area near Ancient Lakes.

Spring Shooting 10

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M

y early spring hiking this year has included trips into the Colockum and Ancient Lakes areas, my annual favorites.

I love hiking in North Central Washington, but it’s also nice to do some exploring and see different landscapes. The last couple of years, I’ve also supplemented my spring hiking with some hikes in the desert Southwest. Last year, those trips included the Grand Canyon, Tucson and Joshua Tree National Park. This year, the trip was to Death Valley.

For any photographers who read Foothills regularly, you’ll notice a

photos By mike bonnicksen

From top, Geyer’s biscuitroot in bloom in the Tarpiscan; lichen on basalt overlooking Ancient Lakes; some of the first buttercups of spring sprout in the Tarpiscan. different feel to my hiking pictures with this edition. I recently upgraded my hiking camera to an Olympus Micro Four Thirds sensor system. It allows me to get better quality photos than a point-and-shoot, but with a camera that’s about half the size of a traditional single-lens reflex camera.

I’m very happy with the system. It has great optics, and, with two lenses, I can have a range of focal lengths between 24mm and 300mm. With my previous camera, I only had a range of 24mm to 120mm. The added focal length should allow me to do more wildlife photography. F

Spring draba blooms in the Tarpiscan area.

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Santa Fe Maple Roasted Salmon with Cilantro Pesto from the Wild Huckleberry Restaurant in Leavenworth. At right, chef Brent Nielsen.

Savory W Salmon

ith the wild salmon season in full swing, we turned to Brent Nielsen, the chef at the Wild Huckleberry Restaurant at the Leavenworth Golf Course, for a recipe to remember. Nielsen won the 2010 Salmon Cook Off that was part of the 20th annual Wenatchee River Salmon Festival in Leavenworth. His recipe is one to tear out and tuck away for repeated use.

kitchen creations

photos By frank cone

Santa Fe Maple Roasted Salmon with Cilantro Pesto

Wild Huckleberry Restaurant, Leavenworth

Recipe by Chef Brent Nielsen, Wild Huckleberry (Leavenworth)

Owners: Eric and Angie Decker Location: 9101 Icicle Road, Leavenworth Golf Course Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday Phone: 548-7468 Note: The Deckers own and operate a second Wild Huckleberry Restaurant at 302 S. Mission St., Wenatchee. The Wenatchee location is open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends.

Restaurant description: Nestled above the green on the second hole, The Wild Huckleberry at the Leavenworth Golf Course prides itself in the quality service and welcoming menu that customers have come to enjoy. Amid such beautiful scenery, this space naturally serves as a wonderful banquet facility for groups and events of all sizes. Whether you’re finishing a round of golf with friends or enjoying dinner with the family, the Leavenworth location caters to it all.

Website: wildhuck.com F

4 8-ounce salmon portions Santa Fe seasoning 1 tablespoon butter 2 tablespoons maple syrup ¼ cup white wine Olive oil 4 lemon wedges Santa Fe Seasoning

2 tablespoons chili powder 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon ground coriander 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon onion powder ¼ teaspoon cayenne 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon black pepper Mix ingredients well in a small to medium-sized bowl.

Note: If you don’t want to buy all the ingredients, an easy substitution is taco seasoning.

Cilantro Pesto

1 bunch cilantro rinsed 1 small jalapeño roasted (peeled and seeded) 1 large shallot roasted 1 teaspoon garlic 2 tablespoons sliced almonds

Cilantro adds some zest to the pesto.

1 tablespoon shredded Parmesan cheese Pinch of salt and pepper 2 tablespoons olive oil Mix ingredients in a food processor to make pesto.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drizzle a large nonstick sauté pan with olive oil and preheat on medium-high. Dust the salmon on both sides with Santa Fe Seasoning.

When pan is hot, place salmon in pan (make sure pan does not get too hot or it will burn the seasoning); after about 2 minutes, flip salmon, place butter and white wine in pan and drizzle salmon with the maple syrup.

Move salmon to baking dish and bake in oven for about 15-20 minutes depending on how well done you like your salmon.

The butter, syrup and wine will reduce and make a glaze. After the salmon comes out of the oven, spoon some of the glaze over the salmon.

Finish the salmon with some pesto and a lemon wedge.

Yield: 4 servings

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outside home

A Children’s Garden 14

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May / June 2013

Story By dee Riggs photos By Mike Bonnicksen

Eva Renn’s grandchildren often put out cookies for the fairies in her garden. With the help of her son, John, she has created tiny areas in her garden on South Hills Drive in Wenatchee for her grandkids to explore. At left, Birgitta and Alexandra Renn play in the garden.

Wenatchee grandmother works with designer to make fun spaces

E

va Renn’s twin granddaughters love visiting her garden.

And it’s no wonder. She has created nooks, crannies and hidey-holes throughout the garden that are tough for adults to get to but just the right size for 8-year-olds.

High on the list of fun places is a fairy garden, complete with a fairy water fountain and a fairy castle.

“The girls put out cookies in the evening and, in the morning, there’s a little surprise for them,” Eva said.

Eva’s garden is off South Hills Drive in Wenatchee, surrounding a house that she and her husband, Joe, bought in 1978.

“The yard was in mud because it was a brand new house,” she said. “There were only some cherry trees in the back.”

Since the yard was on a slope, a landscaper suggested the Renns put in grass and lots of junipers. Eva was never happy with the junipers and she began

A tiered fleur-de-lis fountain. At left, rainbow sorbet roses.

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An apple tree marks the entrance to the fairy garden in Eva Renn’s garden.

She created the garden with the help of landscaper Susan Cusick.

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collecting pictures of gardens that she liked and putting them in a scrapbook.

About 10 years ago, she contacted local landscape designer Susan Cusick.

“I handed the scrapbook over to Susan and she just performed magic,” Renn said.

Over a span of about two years, Cusick helped the Renns build rock walls and add flowers, shrubs and trees that would blend as a colorful whole.

Eva’s son, John, helped her create the nooks and crannies that delight his nieces, Alexandra and Birgitta Renn, who live in Seattle. In addition to the fairy garden, there’s a gazebo in the backyard that, Eva says, is perfect for tea parties and for summer reading.

Also in the back yard is a large flower garden with a rock wall and a fountain in the center.

There’s a Japanese garden that uses previously dead space under the front deck. There’s a rose garden in the front yard, which is bordered on one side by a woodland path with a tiny wooden bench hidden under some bushes.

John, who also installed lighting throughout the garden, says he is thinking of adding a cactus garden in a dry area in the backyard, but, other than that, the garden is finished. “I’m ecstatic with the garden,” Eva says. “There is nothing I would change.” F

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NCW recreation

Hiking Chelan

Sleeping Lady Resort near Leavenworth now occupies the area where Brown’s Resort shows on the 1940s-era Metsker’s Map.

Story By steve Maher photos By frank cone

County’s Past Old map leads to history lesson

1940s-era Metsker’s map of Chelan County. An unfolded view is on the following page.

A

s a kid growing up in Portland, I loved poring over maps, particularly ones that showed parks along the Oregon Coast, and lakes high in the Cascades. In my mind, I would place myself in those locales, pack on my back, tent and fishing pole in tow.

That curiosity remains today, though it’s often in front of a computer that I find my map.

But not always, and that is where this story is going. About a year ago, picking through a box at a Wenatchee garage sale, I spotted what looked to be a yellowing, crumbling stack of paper.

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The Metsker’s map from circa 1940 shows some communities that no longer exist, including Blewett, an old mining community now marked by a simple sign.

Picking it up gingerly so it wouldn’t fall apart, I quickly realized it was an old Metsker’s Map, circa 1940, and, better yet, a map of Chelan County.

I paid a couple of quarters for the map and off I went, eager to unfold the thing and step back into the past.

The more I looked, the more I was stumped.

Ingalls Creek Forest Camp? Horse Lake Lookout? White River Game Refuge?

For this Northwest boy who has spent thousands of hours in the backcountry and on backroads, many of them since moving to Wenatchee in 1989, studying the deteriorating sheet of paper was like gazing at a drawing of Lake Michigan.

Tamarack Corral? First Creek Winter Sports Area? Highway 15?

I sought to find out more, even if it meant retracing past dusty steps and brushing off history books at home.

Little did I know at the time that this simple find would lead to a deeper appreciation for what shaped Chelan County into the recreational mecca it is today.

Maps tell you where to go, what to find, what to explore.

This one, rightly so, provided a history lesson, too.

L

ast summer, Wenatchee photographer Frank Cone and I met to pick away at the story angle and to give the map another glance. We agreed our mission was simple: Find out what on this county

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survey of the 1940s was still in existence and what was gone.

Studying the document inch by inch, it wasn’t long before we centered on names that weren’t familiar. Places like Silver Creek Forest Camp, Tronsen G.S. (short for guard station), and Mission Peak L.O. (short for fire lookout) stood out. So did dots on the map indicating the location of “communities” bearing names like Maple Creek, Dover and Dardanelles. The lookouts and guard stations we knew of, but the overall number — and the location of some — came as a surprise.

I

t then came time to start exploring, and that we did, focusing initially on the area between Dryden and Blewett Pass. The old Blewett Pass Highway shown on the map is largely abandoned. But we did run across patches of roadway, old bridge abutments and intricate rock work.

We also met up with a character or two.

Stumbling around in search of the Ingalls Creek Forest Camp off Highway 97 south of Dryden, we spotted a man sitting on his porch and walked up for a chat. Dean Dewees was, well, a virtual gold mine.

Not only did he know the location of the forest camp — now the Ingalls Creek Enrichment Center — but he’d stayed there as a kid with his family while they were on vacation.

“That old government campground used to be full of big old rattlesnakes,” said Dewees, who has lived just down the road from the site since 1973. “I don’t know if travelers had to pay to stay there.

I know we never paid to stay there.”

Dewees also recalled visiting a fire lookout located on the ridge to the east as a kid, right where the old map said there would be one. “I was about 12 at the time,” he said. “They had a man and woman living up there. She had rocks lined up on the ground and flowers growing behind them. It was a nice place to live.”

Our next stop was Sleeping Lady Resort near Leavenworth, where the map showed “Brown’s Resort” was 22

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A guard station built by the CCC in the 1930s now serves as the U.S. Forest Service ranger station at Ardenvoir. once located. Sleeping Lady’s own literature has no reference to the place, and sales and marketing director Lori Vandenbrink said it didn’t ring a bell.

Could it have been mismarked on the

map? We inquired but never arrived at an answer.

Interestingly, Sleeping Lady was the site of Camp Icicle, home to a Civilian Conservation Corps outpost of some

Rock work on the old Blewett Highway done by the CCC was labor intensive.

At left, the Sugarloaf Peak Lookout northwest of Entiat is one of only a few CCC-built lookouts still remaining.

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200 men from 1934-42. Some of the original buildings have been rebuilt and are still in use.

And so it went as we hit Tumwater Canyon, the Lake Wenatchee area, the Entiat Valley and the Lake Chelan area.

Some of the places we were seeking — such as the Leavenworth Ranger Station, the community of Merritt, the Sugarloaf Peak Lookout — remain. But of the 43 lookouts I counted on the old map, only a few are still in place.

As for the “communities” on the map that we had never heard of, most of them turned out to be railroad stops.

And the corrals that were sprinkled throughout the county, but particularly between Burch Mountain and the Entiat Valley? At one time, tens of thousands of sheep ruled the county’s national forest lands. Indeed, when the Wenatchee National Forest was created in 1908, its primary purpose was for grazing animals.

A

s Frank and I returned to Wenatchee after each adventure — rechecking the map, crossing off “must-see” spots on our lists, doing research over the Web and at the library — it became clear that much of what we discovered “missing” were things built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) back in the 1930s.

I knew President Franklin Roosevelt’s famed worker program was responsible for some trails and roads and perhaps a handful of fire lookouts. But as Frank and I dug up more information and asked questions, we were surprised at the CCC’s reach in Chelan County. The sheer volume was staggering: Hundreds of camps, trails, ranger stations, guard stations, lookouts, bridges, roads in all — and spread out all over.

We also learned not all has been lost.

Many of the forest camps still exist as standard campgrounds — but with no fanfare pointing to their illustrious past — as some were “modernized” in the 1960s. Some of the buildings have different uses today — the Leavenworth Ski Hill Lodge, for one.

“We wouldn’t be who we are

today (in the Wenatchee National Forest) without the CCC,” OkanoganWenatchee National Forest anthropologist Powys Gadd told me. “They really built the whole infrastructure we have. They were key.”

As Frank and I pondered this history, the irony of our quest soon became apparent. Here we had been, coming up empty in locating some of the places on the old map, only to ultimately discover they likely had more of an impact in shaping Chelan County’s recreational bent than other facilities that remain or have popped up since.

A different way to look at this is to ponder what the county would be like if the CCC had never pitched tents in the county and created this vast network of structures and byways.

Would the outdoors ethos have become so ingrained in local culture if folks 40, 50, 60 years ago had faced difficulty in reaching backcountry jewels or front country waysides? Would the residents who followed had been so inclined to relocate if those opportunities were not available? Would Chelan County enjoy the shining image it does today if Roosevelt hadn’t pushed the Great Depression program through?

For a comparison, consider Lewis County, a locale I am familiar with.

With its eastern half squarely in the high Cascades, the county nonetheless has never been built out recreationally and has a limited number of outdoor attractions. It also is a county where the presence of the CCC was limited.

For want of a better phrase, Lewis County remains a place waiting to happen.

Chelan County, on the other hand, is moving into its next recreational phase as the Wenatchee Foothills Trail System takes root, Leavenworth and Chelan-Manson embrace more outdoor activities, and the community as a whole recognizes the economic value of its hills and valleys.

None of that would be happening if not for the weight of what has been preserved in print on that old Metsker’s Map. F

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25

offbeat

M

Texting ...

Mark Miller

ark Miller has been general manager of the Town Toyota Center since October 2009. He arrived from Texas as the arena was in the midst of a financial crisis over the construction bonds used to build the facility. That crisis was resolved last year when voters

approved a sales tax increase to pay off the debt. But his focus all along has been on running the facility and booking events and acts to keep its operations financially viable.

The interview was done entirely by text message. Words in parentheses were not part of the original texts.

e Town about th g in r would lk a t one lems? O b ro p l ia Are we d anc on that? nter’s fin to focus e w C ie a t v r o Toy le inte f Prop 1 the who ssage o a p you like t u b ne, l issues. cts are fi financia n All subje io t c tru he cons ended t could ay, if you w y n A . m ls cts? Hm financia be and the All subje t c uld you a l o a w ic s w u o h m s e ig book on , what b worked w o h e m so cing? announ

f return o 5. Plus, a n o ro a dM Strait an George . n rkso f Kelly Cla evine) o Adam (L t es on. is h s t in lo I’d me c o s t u p 5 t?

Maroon usical ac t non-m u o b a ia in How vs. Virgin te a t S n to ey Harris Washing elan’s Jo h C r fo all basketb ear. senior y is and h

Hey, that would be sweet.

Speaking of Clarkson, were there a lot of high-fives when you booked her?

More of high tens. We took our shoes off and slapped feet also.

Tell me about a big act you almost had but got away.

Kiss. They wanted $300,000. We nearly had them for one third of that, with Kiss keeping all monies over the $100,000, plus expenses.

At the last second a venue offered the $300,000. Nearly the same scenario with Carrie Underwood.

By cal fitzsimmons

I thought she had true colors. Ugh. Anyway, are you over the Dallas Cowboys yet? I have a seat on the Seahawks’ bandwagon.

I’ve become a Seahawks and Russell Wilson fan but y’all still need to fess up for greasing the ball on (Tony) Romo’s snafu on the dropped (field goal) several years ago!

Kiss has a big makeup budget. What was the biggest adjustment for you moving here from Texas?

Adjusting to the big town for my kids. They were 12 and 10 then and we lived in Forney, 20 miles out of (Dallas). Although I worked in Dallas my kids hung out in 7,000-population Forney.

Driving into Wenatchee they were intimidated by how big it was.

OK, The Eagles? $120. That would be to break even.

Wine Awards

ington

$90. Our max seating for an act like One Direction is 3,700.

Actually yes and I’m not selling you a dry Central well with that comment. Hosting W and growing event crowds is why I stick with this industry. To take the wine awards to 1,000 folks would make my entire week. th Nor

ash

Uh, we get that a lot. I’m going to throw some names at you for quick guesses on how much you’d need to charge per ticket to make it work. First up, One Direction?

I was at that game. He heard me yelling and got distracted. Foothills is partnering with you to hold the NCW Wine Awards event this year. That must be a career highlight for you.

Right? ... Right?

That would be great, as long as I get all the credit. Have you ever had to turn someone away because they were too risqué or controversial?

Not really. Did some surveys with Thunder Down Under but turned out positive. Did put 18 age limit on Ron White at his request.

Yikes. Macklemore?

Now you’re talking. $45.

Do it! Cyndi Lauper?

Ya got me. Honestly, I do not know what agents are asking for Ms. Lauper but whatever it is I certainly would love to read the rider to see how much hair coloring is required.

What is most fun about your job? Most frustrating?

Easy question. I and the Town Toyota (Center) employees get to see the smiles put on the faces of people at Wild games, Jeff Dunham etc.

Most frustrating is competing with population areas such as Seattle and Tri-Cities for events. We are one-third the size of Tri-Cities.

ncw life

Story By M.K. Resk photos By Kathryn Stevens

Modern Homesteadi 10 easy ways to pick up where Grandma left off

E

your own food 1Grow on your city lot

verything old is new again, as people rediscover their grandmothers’ sensible solutions. Old-fashioned activities like quilting, canning and gardening — once considered frumpy — are again in vogue.

Back-to-basics is trendy, as cities change zoning laws to allow backyard chickens, communities offer pickling classes and do-it-yourself craft and home improvement industries are booming.

Collectively, activities like these are called urban homesteading, a term coined by the Dervaes family of Southern California. Jules Dervaes and his children made a statement in downtown Pasadena by transforming their entire front lawn into a vegetable garden in the mid-1980s. Since then, they have converted their average city lot into a fully functioning farm, offering products, advice and inspiration for a national urban farm revolution.

The Dervaes’ model (found at urbanhomestead.org) divides urban homesteading into 10 segments.

Whether you use a windowsill pot, raised beds or your entire lawn, everyone has space to grow some of their own food. Get inventive like Molly Steere of Wenatchee.

Her family’s tiny apartment made it challenging, but Steere fashioned a nutritious vegetable garden out of a wheelbarrow. She calls it an easy, practical solution for life without garden space and has managed to grow peas, greens, broccoli and cabbage in her little cart so far.

2Use alternative energy sources

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Chelan County PUD offers an award-winning SNAP (Sustainable Natural Alternative Power) program.

According to the PUD website, the program “connects customers who want to produce solar and wind power with other local customers who want to support the development

Harvey and Sharon Ventrello of Wenatchee took out their front lawn and grew a garden in its place.

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of new, renewable energy.” Martin Fleming of Manson says he makes enough energy with his home wind turbine to provide for the typical annual power of a couple of average homes. The SNAP participant says, “It’s pretty satisfying knowing that the power you are consuming was generated in ways that are completely sustainable.”

3Use alternative fuels and transportation

As gasoline prices remain high, alternative transportation methods have become more mainstream.

Electric and hybrid cars are great but costly. Buses, carpools, walking and biking are easier on the environment and wallet, too.

Malaga’s Cora Sturzl commutes to and from work by bicycle seven miles each way. She says her commute takes between 25 and 30 minutes, only 10-15 minutes more than driving the same route. In some instances, especially for errands that are 1-2 miles away, Sturzl says riding a bike is often much quicker than driving a car in town.

Sturzl says she bikes mainly because she enjoys it, but she also 30

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Sharon Ventrello shows off freshly picked beets from her garden. appreciates “the knowledge that I am not adding to the congestion of tarmac or atmosphere.” She loves noticing smells like fresh bacon or fresh lilacs along her ride and enjoys “arriving at work with a sense of having participated in my surroundings rather than isolating myself within my smelly metal box.”

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farm animals for 4Keep manure and food Start small with a few chickens, like Ali Lewis-Lorentz and her husband Kaz Lorentz of Wenatchee. “Raising chickens is a great teaching tool for young and older children. I love the sounds of the chickens. We get eggs once in a while. It’s just fun,” LewisLorentz says.

For this anthropologist and filmmaker, keeping chickens also allows an opportunity for backyard observation. “You get an intimate view of survival of the fittest. From the behavioral perspective, it’s fascinating.

They all have different personalities,” she says.

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Above, Jon Gallie dumps food scraps from Farmhouse Table into his backyard compost. At left, Gallie bags up the food scraps to add to the family’s compost, as his daughter, Leah, looks on. The family uses the compost to help grow fruits and vegetables and grains in their backyard. Above opposite, Gallie and his daughter, Vienna, feed the chickens in their Wenatchee backyard. The family keeps chickens for eggs and manure.

5Practice waste reduction

By now, we all know to reduce, reuse and recycle. But when was the last time you re-examined your total consumption of products and food? Trade, sell or give away excess items at places like Finders Keepers, Philadelphia House or online at Freecycle. Make use of your food scraps by building a simple backyard composter with advice from our local WSU Master Gardeners.

Wenatchee’s Jon Gallie collects excess food waste from local businesses and uses it at home. This reduces the businesses’ waste-disposal costs and helps his own garden grow.

“I started it to benefit both parties,” says Gallie. “I’ve always looked to

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help out and get involved. I’ve always enjoyed composting.”

Gallie takes weekly loads of up to 100 pounds of unsellable produce from Farmhouse Table. He also picks up five gallons of coffee grounds from Java Station each week. He even collects yard clippings in his

“Every available space in our yard is used to grow plants.” neighborhood to use as mulch for vegetable gardens.

Jon’s project has turned into a family affair. “Every available space in our yard is used to grow plants.

The kids are always asked to help out — weeding, picking plants, moving chickens,” Gallie says.

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A chain can make collecting rainwater for use in the garden an easier task.

greywater 6Reclaim and collect rainwater

Clever items like rain barrels and chains make collecting rainwater an easy possibility. Marshall and Hannah Wallace of Wenatchee have gone above and beyond easy by creating a backyard water-harvesting system.

The idea started, Marshall says, after the couple traveled abroad and saw many contaminated underground water wells and sources. Inspired by “how good we have it” in the U.S. and frustrated at paying for city water to use in their yard, the Wallaces researched ways to conserve water and money.

Marshall put gutters on their house, rails on the roof, and developed a pipe system to channel the water into a 300-gallon water tank. He’s now in the process of building a solar panel to connect with the existing system.

Besides supplementing their water usage through the harvesting system, the Wallaces have continued to conserve water by planting droughtresistant microclover and creating vegetable beds to minimize the size of their lawn.

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Amy Hendershot and her boyfriend Phil Linden can everything from veggies and fruits to salmon.

7Live simply in the

manner of past eras

Ally Neher cans because it’s tradition.

“It’s what we do. My mom and my grandmother both canned. The selfsatisfaction is a huge part of it. You get to sit back and look at everything you’re going to eat for the rest of the year.”

Neher cautions that beginners need to learn carefully. “There’s a lot of food safety involved,” she says. “I always

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recommend the standard books like ‘Putting Food By’ (by Janet Green) and ‘The Ball Canning Book.’ ” She suggests starting with tomatoes or freezer jam and says the best method is to learn from an experienced canner.

In today’s fast-paced world, most folks hardly know their neighbors.

Host a block party or get involved in a community organization. Such events instill goodwill and elicit teamwork and cooperation.

Groups called time banks have popped up recently around the world, including locally in Leavenworth, Cashmere and Chelan.

They offer a new type of community,

8Do the work yourself

Expand your skills, save in labor costs and work toward self-sufficiency by learning basic carpentry, sewing and other fix-it skills.

The time-honored handicrafts of quilting, sewing and knitting can be both enjoyable and practical, according to Kathy Jo Evans of Wenatchee. “My day job is analytical and procedural.

With quilting and knitting, I enjoy a creative outlet and enjoy pushing myself on that side of the brain. It forces you to use math and to think through and be organized. Quilting especially emphasizes the basic mathematical skills that are so important life long,” says Evans.

With this skill set, crafters can repair clothing, darn socks, put buttons on and even think up creative solutions like inserting a buttonhole in a towel so it will fit on a towel hook better, Evans says.

9Work at home

Telecommuting has become increasingly popular in recent years.

Katelyn Mingo used to work a regular retail job. She started making jewelry in her living room in her spare time and selling it at the Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market. After two years, she turned to making jewelry full time. She now owns Gypsy Lotus jewelry and works out of a home studio.

Mingo says she loves working from home and sees many advantages. “Since I live in Entiat, I don’t have to drive into Wenatchee every day. I don’t even have to get dressed every day,” Mingo jokes.

She keeps her costs down by saving on gas and eating at home. An added bonus is stress management. “If I am stressing out, I can put in a long day and it makes it easy not having to drive anywhere afterwards,” says Mingo.

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Sunflowers bloom in the Gallie family’s yard.

finding resources to share talents, skills, products and ideas.

According to its Facebook page, Lake Chelan Time Bank provides “a social network that honors and records the volunteer hours spent within our community caring for itself individually and collectively in order that all good works can be reciprocated at the value of one time dollar per hour.” F

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good stuff

Inseparable How Visconti’s combined its fine food and wine into an award-winning masterpiece

F

ine wine has led the way to success at Visconti’s two restaurants and other enterprises in Wenatchee and Leavenworth.

There’s no better proof of that than the crystal vase that sits in Visconti’s newly remodeled bar in Wenatchee.

Visconti’s Italian Restaurant at 1737 N. Wenatchee Ave. was awarded Restaurant of the Year in January during the Washington State Wine Awards at McCaw Hall in Seattle.

It is the top award presented by the Washington Wine Commission.

“It’s the Holy Grail,” said Dan Carr, Visconti’s co-owner with partner Candy Mecham, of the gleaming trophy. The restaurants have won many awards over the years for its food, service and impressive wine list featuring Washington and Italian wines.

Visconti’s has received Wine Spectator 38

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Story By rick Steigmeyer photos By kathryn Stevens

Inspiration Visconti’s is a popular spot for lunch and dinner. Above, Sandy Thompson pours some Ryan Patrick Reserve Chardonnay at the restaurant’s new bar. North Central Washington wines are well-represented on the restaurant’s award-winning wine list.

Candy Mecham opened Visconti’s in Wenatchee in 1985. She and partner Dan Carr opened their Leavenworth location in 1999.

May / June 2013

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magazine’s Award of Excellence 12 years running. It won the Washington Winemakers’ Choice Award in 2009 and 2010. It’s won the Wine Commission’s Grand Wine Award on a number of occasions, but never the Restaurant of the Year, awarded to just one restaurant in the state, usually in an urban area. Carr has served as a wine judge at the last two North Central Washington Wine Awards, organized

by Foothills magazine.

The new award is a crowning achievement, and one well earned, Carr adds, after years of passionate research to develop one of the state’s best restaurant wine lists. Visconti’s current 10-page wine list features more than 120 Washington wines, many of them from North Central Washington wineries.

A few years ago, Carr decided to pare down the restaurants’ intimidating 600label wine list to make it easier for his wait staff to be more knowledgeable about fewer wines. The list includes about 250 wines now, about half from Washington. Most of the others are from Italy, with a few from Germany and France. Prices range from $26 to more than $200 a bottle.

Washington wines include a healthy

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Winner of 4 World’s Bests Open sampling of old guard Walla Walla wines: L’Ecole, Woodward Canyon, Col Solare, Columbia Crest and Leonetti.

Also included are North Central Washington’s best offerings: Boudreaux Cellars, Fielding Hills, Jones of Washington, St. Laurent, Ryan Patrick, Crayelle, Stemilt Creek and others.

Wines were picked that go well with food, said Carr, with a preference for wineries that grow their own grapes or control the vineyard-specific vines from which the grapes were sourced.

“I don’t want a big, fat oaky Chardonnay. I’m not looking for some big, old fruit bomb unless it goes with some food. Wine should match the food,” he said.

Wine, he added, should be appreciated for what it is. “Don’t try to make it something it’s not. The same thing is true with food pairing. It’s a learning experience,” he said.

Mecham opened the Wenatchee restaurant in 1985. Carr joined Mecham as a partner in business and life in 1993 and immediately wanted to expand the wine list to complement the restaurant’s fine rural-Italian menu.

Washington’s wine industry was still very young in the early 1990s.

Carr added several, but started buying

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more Italian wines. Very good Barolo and Chianti could be found at bargain prices back then. The expanded wine list inspired them to build a brick, apple wood-fired oven to make pizzas and oven-roasted rustic dishes.

“Wine is what really got us discovering new ideas,” he said. The couple opened their second restaurant in Leavenworth in 1999, taking over space in a struggling brewery. The timing was right. Leavenworth may have been a Bavarian theme town, but pasta and wine proved popular with tourists.

Carr and Mecham traveled to Italy in 2000 to attend a wine fair.

There, they tasted hundreds of wines, sampled dozens of foods and immersed themselves in Italian culture. They attended talks about wine and how it is inseparable from Italian food. In Italy, great food and great wine isn’t just for special occasions. They come together daily for the most simple meals and are treated as such.

“We’re both self taught so it was an eye opener. We had never been to Italy. We discovered gelato, cheeses and wine, all served in a way that isn’t done here. Wine is a part of their culture. It’s simple. It’s not a big deal,” he said.

They returned passionate with new ideas for their menus, wine list and expansion. In 2002, they purchased the building that housed their Leavenworth restaurant and opened the town’s first wine shop downstairs.

The restaurants’ wine list expanded with lots of Italian wines, but with an increasing number of young Washington wines that were winning great reviews.

When several new wine tasting rooms and other wine shops slowed business, they began making Italian gelato and converted the wine shop to a gelateria. Dan taught himself how to make sausage and opened “cured” in 2008 to sell a line of smoked and naturally cured meats. By the following year, his staff were making nearly all the meats they sold in the building’s remodeled basement. They 42

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The Braised Coppa with Risotto Milanese pairs well with the Sandrone Nebbiolo d’ Alba Valmaggiore.

Dan Carr’s favorite Visconti pairings Spinach salad frizzled with hot bacon dressing or Spaghetti with prawns

Ryan Patrick Chardonnay Lemon crab linguini

Abbazia Di Novacella Kerner Italian white wine Braised coppa with risotto Milanese

Sandrone Nebbiolo d’ Alba Valmaggiore or Sella Mosca Cannonau Riserva

At right, spaghetti with prawns pairs well with the Ryan Patrick Reserve Chardonnay. This is one of the only original dishes from Visconti’s first menu.

added an outdoor sausage garden next to the Leavenworth restaurant in 2011. They’ll open Pizza dal Forno and Viadolce in the new Pybus Market in May. The two shops will sell pizza, appetizers, crepes, espresso and

gelato. And wine, of course.

“All the steps were planned out as part of a long-range plan, but none of it would have happened without wine,” Carr said. “Wine was the thing that brought it all together.” F

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The Vine

Story By Rick Steigmeyer photos By ron Mason

Vineyard amongst the

Sagebrush H

White Heron Cellars winery sits on a hill overlooking the Trinidad/Crescent Bar/ Columbia stretch of the Columbia River.

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Foothills

May / June 2013

ead east along the Columbia River from the Wenatchee Valley and the land turns increasingly rural, a few scattered homesteads among narrow swaths of agriculture in an otherwise desolate, arid land of rugged and rare geologic beauty.

White Heron Cellars in Trinidad is one of few commercial stops between East Wenatchee and Quincy, and for those craving the experience of an authentic vineyard and winery, one of North Central Washington’s best stops offered.

Overlooking Crescent Bar Resort and a scenic, Grand Canyon-like bend of the Columbia, White Heron’s tasting room and production center is an oasis of colorful merriment surrounded by 14 acres of vineyard, thousands of acres of sagebrush and little else.

The natural setting may be austere, even sober, but it all comes to life when the winery plays host to several annual music events and festivals celebrating local cheeses, meats, breads, heirloom tomatoes and, of course, fine wine.

White Heron Cellars is one of the oldest wineries in North Central Washington.

At right, the heron is the favorite bird of owners Cameron and Phyllis Fries, who decorate the winery accordingly.

There’s even a desert shellfish festival held each fall.

Picnics and outdoor games — chess with giant chess pieces, petanque (a French version of bocci) games — are good reason to linger here while sipping wine and waiting for a spectacular sunset over the Columbia gorge and the lunar-like surface of the Colockum

wildlife area.

There are a few larger — much larger — wineries scattered throughout the new Ancient Lakes American Viticultural Area, but in many ways, White Heron is its heart and soul.

White Heron’s wines are as unique and full of character as the man who makes them: European in style, fullflavored, intensely fruity without the addition of oak, often overused by some winemakers. The wines have the hint of the sagebrush that grows between the vineyard rows.

Owner and winemaker Cameron Fries alternately describes himself as a pioneer, a maverick and a “sagebrush hugger.”

“I’ve always been at the forefront.

That’s not necessarily a good thing,” said Fries, an affable, opinionated and entertaining bear of a man. Many of the things he’s pioneered — popularized with time — were not so successful early on, he said. “Without the help of my spouse, I might not have made it.” His wife, Phyliss, is a school nurse for the Eastmont School District and previously worked for the Ephrata School District.

Fries, 56, was one of North Central Washington’s first commercial winemakers. His White Heron Cellars is one of the region’s oldest wineries, established more than a decade before most others in the area.

With a few others, he initiated the lengthy process of creating the Ancient Lakes AVA, which was approved last year. The appellation promises to bring more tourism to the area and notoriety to its wines. Fries said the region’s sandy, mineral soils and cooler climate offer a unique character to the grapes that results in wines that are more crisp and acidic than wines made from grapes grown in other areas. Many wineries in the other parts of the state, large and small, source their grapes from vineyards in the area, including White Heron’s Mariposa Vineyard.

Fries was the first and still one of few in the region to grow exotic wine grape varieties like Roussanne, Gamay, Pinot Noir, Malbec, Viognier and Petit Verdot.

Tasting room visitors Jeff and Haley Lakey from West Richland share a bottle of White Heron’s Merlot on the winery’s patio.

His is probably the only vineyard with plantings of Swiss grape varieties Arvine and Armigne.

The winery specializes in sturdy reds like Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Bourdeaux-style blends. Nearly all its wines are made from grapes grown on the home vineyard, although Fries sometimes purchases Chardonnay and Riesling from nearby vineyards.

Roussanne, very popular in France’s southern Rhone Valley, is the winery’s signature white.

Fries was one of the first in the state to make a Dry Riesling and an unoaked Chardonnay, both popular wine styles for those grapes today. He was also one of the first to make a red blend, a Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot, while working for Worden Winery of

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Foothills

May / June 2013

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Spokane in 1984.

He trained as a winemaker in Switzerland, where he and Phyliss moved after they both graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma in 1979. He started his Washington winemaking career at Worden in 1984, then took over as winemaker for Champs de Brionne winery in George in 1986. It was the only winery in North Central Washington at the time.

There were only 56 wineries in the entire state. Today, there are about 800 wineries. The old Champs de Brionne vineyards surrounding The Gorge Amphitheatre is now the Cave B Estate Winery, still owned by the Vince and Carol Bryan family.

Fries also began making his own wine in 1986 from Champs de Brionne grapes. He and Phyllis opened a small tasting room in George in 1990. The couple had purchased 20 acres at Trinidad by then, installed a double-wide manufactured home (now architecturally remodeled in a European style) and began planting the

Tasting Room Open Wed-Sat 10am-5pm Just 15 min. from I-90 (Vantage) on Hwy 243 22561 Road T.7 SW, Mattawa, WA

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8634 Road U NW • Quincy • 509-787-5586 www.facebook.com/beaumontcellars beaumontcellars.com May / June 2013

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47

White Heron Cellars owner Cameron Fries prunes Merlot vines in the winery’s Mariposa VIneyard overlooking the Colockum area along the Columbia River.

Upon further review

White Heron Cellars 2010 Roussanne, $16 Cameron Fries started making wine in North Central Washington in 1986.

That makes him a pioneer in this area.

He is notorious for his loyalty to the Roussanne, a white grape from the Rhone Valley of France. His 2010 vintage is scrumptious, with caramelized pineapple, grapefruit, papaya and jasmine. I enjoyed it with teriyaki chicken; if I closed my eyes, I could picture the palm trees and white sand. I love the way wine can take you to a different place for a moment.

The next time you think you want a Chardonnay, go outside the box, treat yourself and give this Roussanne a try.

Mariposa Vineyard, named for a desert wildflower. Fries thinks it’s one of the best vineyard sites in the region, with great southern sun exposure and strong air flow off the Columbia to protect it from spring frost and extreme winter cold.. They built a pole and strawbale construction barn for the present tasting room and wine production and bottling plant in 1999.

Nearly all of White Heron’s 600 cases a year are sold at the winery and that’s the way Fries likes it. It’s taken awhile, he said, but more people find their way to his sagebrush mecca each year. F

a taste of ncw wines with barb robertson

Swakane Winery 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, $26

Hacienda Cellars 2009 Panti Dropper Syrah, $32

Grilling season is nearly upon us and this wine would pair nicely with a New York steak served with a balsamic barbecue sauce to celebrate the warming of the weather.

The dominant fruit is cherry, both dried and fresh. There are notes of cedar and graphite that add interest, and the finish is a cinnamon latte that lingers. Swakane Winery is near Rocky Reach dam and they have a second tasting room in Leavenworth. If you’ve never hiked or explored Swakane Canyon, visiting this winery is a perfect excuse to check out the canyons wildflowers after tasting some lovely wines.

A beautiful ruby red color greets you from the glass as aromas of Boysenberry, leather and pepper waft up. The palate is reminiscent of Northern Rhone Syrah, medium bodied, with bright flavors that are food friendly. The aromas echo in the mouth with blackberry, tart cherry, saddle and black pepper. Lingering on the finish in the background is dark chocolate. Take it on a sunset picnic with charcuterie, cheese and fruit, and then gaze at the stars as you finish up the bottle. Just make sure to keep an eye on those panties.

Barb Robertson City: Wenatchee Credentials: Earned advanced certification through London-based Wine and Spirit Education Trust; currently working toward higher-level diploma through WSET. Earned degree in marketing from

Central Washington University.

Owned The Wine Bin retail shop in Wenatchee for five years. Has worked in the Northwest wine industry more than 10 years, including distribution, sales, production and marketing.

Judged the 2011 and 2012 North Central Washington Wine Awards.

S pin eC l in iC Cen ter at Wen atch ee Vall e y Med ical

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EstherBric ues

Winery

Beaumont Cellers, Quincy, 509.787.5586 Camas Cove Cellars, Moses Lake, 509.765.9532 Cave B at Sagecliffe, Quincy, 888.785.2283

Dry Falls Cellars, Moses Lake, 509.762.5922 Fox Estate Winery, Mattawa, 509.932.5818 Foxy Roxy Winery, Othello, 509.346.2344 Frenchman Hills, Royal City, 509.346.2280

Gard Vintners, Royal City, 509.346.2585 Ginko Forest Winery, Mattawa, 509.932.0082 Jones of Washington, Quincy, 509.787.3537 Kyra Wines, Moses Lake, 509.750.8875 Neppel Cellars, Moses Lake, 509.765.4404 Saint Laurent Winery, Quincy, 509.888.9463 White Heron Cellars, Quincy, 509.797.9463

Wine is bottled poetry.

—Robert Louis Stevenson

Finely Crafted Wines from Washington’s North Okanogan Valley

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The wines of Grant County, Washington

For more information, please contact: Grant County Tourism Commission • P.O. Box 37, Ephrata, WA 98823 509.765.7888 • 800.992.6234

TourGrantCounty.com

May / June 2013

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The scene

photos By Frank Cone

Marzi Mezzanotti and RJ Farr

Carmen Martinez and Sarah Leyrer

Apple City Roller Derby T

he helmets, pads and skates were put to the ultimate test on March 23 for an Apple City Roller Derby doubleheader at the Wenatchee Valley Sportsplex.

Fans lined the rink for the downand-dirty action as the hometown Jawbreakers lost a narrow match to the visiting Hermiston Melon Mashers. Bout 2 pitted the Black Label Barbies against the Hydro Elektras, with the Barbies coming out on top.

Molly Byter You have more chances to catch the roller derby ladies this spring and summer, with action scheduled 50

Foothills

May / June 2013

Christian and Dawn Wood

Kevin McKee

Brittney “Dead Girl Superstar� Loveall for May 18, June 15 and Aug. 10. Check out applecityrollerderby.com for more details.

Madeline Praye Kari Jones

FOOTHILLS CATALOGUE

SHOPPING...PAGE 52 A Book For All Seasons Boswell’s Furniture Nu-Art Gallery Palmer’s Shoes SavMart Swim World The Gilded Lily Home VIM SPORTS

SHOPPING

vIM SPOrtS Sav-Mart Your one shop stop headquarters, Sav-Mart offers a full line of barbeques from top name brands you know and trust, Napoleon and Weber. From low price to high end Sav-Mart has over 350 appliances on display and also offers furniture for every room in your home. Serving the Wenatchee valley for over fifty years.

1729 N. Wenatchee Ave.• 509-663-1671 www.savmart.net

PaLMEr SHOES Introducing the Dansko Sedona Collection.

Vim Sports stands for: First & Foremost - A place where expertise, professionalism and exceptional cycling support come together: Fit First - using a suite of state of the art tools, including dynamic size cycle, laser, & video motion capture software enables us to increase the riders comfort, power and control: First Class - we sell brands that stand for Passion, Performance and Innovation - Cannondale, Cervélo, Look & Volagi.

The new lightweight, flexible collection that offers unbeatable Dansko all-day comfort and support. Stain resistant sueded leather uppers, slip resistant, removable insole. Perfect for folks on the go!

1552 N. Wenatchee Ave. • 509-293-9616 www.vimsports.com

6 S. Wenatchee Ave. • 509-662-8080 • www.palmershoes.com

Find the perfect outfit or gift for your little one. We carry Haute Baby, Le Top, Zutano, Hatley and Bunnies by the Bay, just to name a few. See if you can resist our soft blankets, plush animals and books!

Baby gifts, just a corner of what we do. Voted Downtowns Best for 2013, come in and see why.

NU-art GaLLErY Unique art for everyones taste from wild animals to beautiful landsacpes and abstract art. Featuring local artist Jeff Tift, Kerry Sideirus, Doug Miller and surealistic art by David Vasquez.

Nuart is best known for its custom framing, we have a large selection to choose from and reasonably priced.

Voted Best Gallery in Wenatchee.

Check out Nuart Gallery and shop at Wenatchee Valley Mall. • 884-6034

SWIM WOrLD Outdoor living and entertainment headquarters.

Dream backyards start here with over 12 major brands and largest selection of quality patio furniture: dining, deep seating, chat sets, gas and wood fire pits, outdoor fireplaces and kitchens, patio heaters, umbrellas and more. Featuring bbq’s by Traeger, Green Egg and Green Mountain. Viking and Pacific pools and Jacuzzi spas with complete selection of BioGuard pool and spa chemicals. When weather cools, warm up with a wood, gas, pellet or electric stove or fireplace.

May / June 2013

a BOOK FOr aLL SEaSONS The 2013 NCW Regional Read

Stressless® living - it’s all about comfort One of the most comfortable line of furniture in existence. Stressless® recliners and sofas are innovatively designed, in Norway, from the inside out for unmatched comfort and come in multiple sizes to fit all body types. Come in, sit in one to understand the feeling of total and utter luxury.

2915 Easy St., Wenatchee • 509-663-2548 www.boswellsfurniture.com

703 Hwy 2, Leavenworth • 509-548-1451 www.abookforallseasons.com

BOSWELL’S FUrNItUrE

Foothills

2 N. Wenatchee Ave. • 509-663-1733 www.gildedlilyhome.com

“Into the Beautiful North”

by Luis Urrea.

Read this book between April 1 and June 30, then see the awardwinning author at the Bicultural Fest in July. The book is available in English and Spanish at the bookstore.

1854 N. Wenatchee Ave. • 509-663-8427 146 E. Woodin Ave., Chelan • 509-682-3431 www.swimworldinc.com

52

tHE GILDED LILY HOME

PALMER SHOES 6 South Wenatchee Ave • 509.662.8080

www.palmershoes.com find us at www.Facebook.com/PalmerShoes

parting shot

photo By mike bonnicksen

A spring-time sunset in the Ancient Lakes area southwest of Quincy.

oothills

Wenatchee

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LeavenwortH

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ChelaN

and all of North Central Washington

May / June 2013

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