Sadly, I did not get much in the way of vintage finds while I was visiting Washington. I had to make room in my luggage for these:
This is the result of our day of wine-tasting in Prosser and Zillah with Chris' parents and his sister, Sari (and a few bottles from our one-day trip to Hood River, Oregon earlier in the week) . His other sister, Sue, was kind enough to watch the kids while we were out for the day.
There are actually a few bottles missing from that picture. I can't even tell you what kind of wine I bought at the last three wineries we visited. It could have been Boone's Farm with a fancy label for all I knew. I was just too buzzed to care. Toward the end of the day, I remember slurring my words and complaining to one of the winery employees about the annoying liquor laws in Pennsylvania. (We can't buy wine or beer at the grocery store. We go to the "beer distributor" for cases of beer, the "packaged goods" store for a six-pack and the "wine and spirits" store for wine. And we can't even get wine shipped to our state from any winery.) I'm sure I sounded like a valley girl. After we drank some of the wine and gave most of the bottles to friends in Seattle, we ended up bringing five of them home with us.
By far, my favorite winery was one that we visited while Chris and I were allowed to escape for one night (without kids) to Hood River. We stopped at Maryhill Winery, which is a mile down the road from the Maryhill Museum. They are both on the Washington side of the Columbia River. Here's a photo of the museum from the Oregon side:
Talk about the middle of nowhere! You can't imbibe too much at the Maryhill Winery...one wrong move on the way home, and you'll end up in the river. But, boy, all of their wines were just delicious. The stunning view didn't hurt, either. With all of this wine talk, you probably think I'm a wine snob. I'm not by any means! Wine-tasting is one of my favorite parts of visiting my in-laws. It is fun to pretend like I really taste the charcoal, loganberries and chocolate in a tiny sip of pinot noir. And I love listening to my father-in-law, Jim, ask the same question at every winery, "Now, what is the residual sugar in this wine?" Who cares?! Just drink it!
Oh - and I missed Deb by just one day. She was in Prosser on Thursday giving the Hogue Winery tasting room an extreme makeover. We were in Prosser on Friday. It would have been great to meet her!
My mother-in-law, Mary, did bring me to a few antique stores and yard sales in Yakima. I love that they have yard sales on Fridays out there. We rarely have them on Fridays here. Another difference I noticed is that people have no qualms about selling their underwear at yard sales. UNDERWEAR! What the hell? I'm not talking cute Victoria's Secret panties with the tags still on. No...I'm talking big used satiny white granny panties. And a few threadbare boxers thrown in for good measure.
Thankfully, I packed well and did not need to buy used panties for a quarter. Here are the few things that I bought that were small enough to carry home:
Mary was nice enough to buy me the vintage red & white tablecloth at one of the antique stores, and I bought the green-handled melon baller, the pink/white tablecloth with matching napkins and the invalid feeder. Yes, that's the white ceramic thing. The small silver tray was an excellent yard sale find given to me by my sister-in-law, Sue, for display in Maeve's bedroom. It is hard to see, but it is engraved with the letter M.
We stopped by one of the shops where Mary and Jim sell their antiques. It is called Antiques, Etc. If you are ever in Yakima, you have to go there! The little cottage is PACKED with stuff. Five rooms on the main floor, the entire basement, the front porch, and the front and back yards. It is mostly antiques, but there are a few new country primitives things, too. They have every type of antique you can possibly think of...from outhouses to birdhouses. I only wish that I had a place like this to sell my stuff!
Take a look at those original built-in cabinets. Hey - that stack of picnic baskets looks awfully familiar!
Here is the owner, Marie (trying to hide from me):
Unfortunately, Antiques, Etc. does not have a website. If you ever get a chance to stop there, make sure you mention that you saw the store on my blog. Marie will get a kick out of it. But she might ask you to explain what a blog is.
I wouldn't exactly call myself an avid reader. I'd much rather sleep or play Poppit. But imagine my delight when I heard about a new book all about yard sales! I simply had to have it. In Garage Sale America, author Bruce Littlefield chronicles his adventures in yard-saling across the US. His book is divided into two sections. In the first, Bruce shares all of his finds from his visits to the World's Largest Yard Sale (Warrensburg, NY), the World's Longest Yard Sale (along route 127), and various barn sales and tag sales. The pages are peppered with yard-saling tips for buyers and sellers, as well as information about a few collectibles, like marbles, Bakelite, fishing lures, buttons, and Barbies. 
