Lots of fruit growers live in the Yakima area. Johnson's Orchards on Summitview Avenue, for example, has been in business in Yakima since 1904. It's a living, growing piece of Yakima, a monument to the farming culture of a city known as the fifth largest vegetable and fruit producer in the country.
However, Yakima is so much more besides cherries, apricots, nectarines, peaches, pears, plums, apples, grapes and hops. What a surprise it was to me on a recent visit.
We stayed at the Orchard Inn Motel for our first visit in ten years. (Stayed there ten years ago, and has the area ever changed.) It borders a new Orchard Inn and Suites which was not there on our last visit. The Inn and Suites are on the ten-mile walking path that borders the Yakima River from Union Gap to Selah. You are within walking distance to Sarg Hubbard Park, which is one of the nicest community parks I have been to in a long, long time. It has it's surprises.
Have you heard of the French Gratitude Train that France gave the United States after World War II for their assistance during the war? I had not either, until I visited the park. It is by the Korean and Vietnam Veterans War Memorial and the board bridge and overlook.
The plaque at the train exhibit reads: "The 'forty and eight' boxcar from the French "Merci" train was presented to Washington State in 1949 from the citizens of France as an expression of gratitude for food, fuel and clothing donated to the needy people in war-ravaged France and Italy during WWII."
The surrounding industry is overlooked when you are in the park; it takes you to a quieter place.
Like to put on performances? There's an outdoor ampitheatre there on the water and a one-mile jogging trail with exercise stations along the way. I can imagine my grandchildren putting on a show for us there, as they sing 1940's - 1960's songs they learned in a school musical review.
You can't help but notice the new building you drive by entering the park. It hosts The Fruit Place, operated by the Washington State Fruit Commission. They have a visitor's center and gift shop with complimentary fruit samples and apple juice; look for their annual fruit festival there in June.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Jerri Brooker's Washington State topic, please visit the Discussions page.