Weekend Getaway: Walla Walla Fall Wine Release
Walla Walla is one of my go-to options for girl’s weekends. I’ve been three times in the last couple years, which pretty much makes me a local, right? ;)
Last year my best friend and I went for the fall wine release in November and had a great time. We made it a three day weekend and got there Thursday evening, leaving on Sunday morning. (I’ve also been for the spring wine release weekend – see that trip here.)
Thursday
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7:30pm: Arrive at our hotel & eat sushi in the room
Walla Walla is about a 3.5 hour drive for me, so we made it later in the evening after work. We booked our trip late, and almost all of the hotels were full, so we had to settle for staying at Quality Inn & Suites. It wasn’t our top choice, but it was walking distance to downtown and very inexpensive so we really can’t complain!
On our drive we were so hungry for dinner, so rather than waiting to go out when we got there, we found a sushi restaurant, Shiki Hibachi, online and called and ordered take out when we were 20 minutes away from town. When we got there, we picked up our food and then checked into our hotel. We had brought a bottle of white wine plus some fruit, so we made makeshift sangria and ate our sushi on the bed. The sushi was so good, we recommend the Walla Walla roll!
8:30pm: Unwind in the hot tub
After dinner, we went and used the hot tub to relax before bed. We needed to rest up, we had a long day of wine tasting planned for Friday!
Friday
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7:30am: Coffee in bed
We woke up and went to the complimentary breakfast to get coffee. They were small so we had to double fist it. ;) We drank our coffee in bed with the TV on and had a relaxing morning before getting ready for the day.
8:30am: Breakfast at Maple Counter Cafe
We walked to breakfast at Maple Counter Cafe – home of some of the best pancakes I’ve ever had! This is a popular breakfast spot on the weekends, but since we were only a party of two, we didn’t have to wait. We each ordered a mimosa, pear and peach, and looked at the menu. We both ordered an omelette which comes with a side of three pancakes. So good!
9:30am: Shopping downtown Walla Walla
After breakfast we walked around downtown and did some shopping. We walked back to our hotel to freshen up before heading back out for wine tasting.
11:30pm: Hard cider flight at Goose Ridge
We started at Goose Ridge. (Our hotel gave us a coupon to use there.) They offer both hard cider flights and wine tastings, so we decided to try the ciders. It was fall after all, and ciders feel so fall to me.
12:30pm: Wine tasting & wine slushies at Plumb Cellars
Our next stop on the wine train was Plumb Cellars. We did a tasting, and then couldn’t resist ordering a wine slushy. (We mixed both the red and white, which was yummy!) We sat and chatted for awhile, since the slushies are big!
2:30pm: Wine tasting at Henry Earl Estates
This was our favorite place of the weekend! The decor is adorable and old-fashioned like a speakeasy (plus firepit seating outside), and they have a small plates menu. We sat at the bar for the wine tasting, plus ordered a charcuterie board. Loved it here!
4:30pm: Wine tasting at Browne Family Vineyards
After Henry Earl we walked next door to Browne Family Vineyards for our last tasting of the day. Browne’s tasting room has cute outdoor seating with cornhole. We sat for awhile and chatted before dinner.
6pm: Dinner at Brasserie Four
When we were starving for dinner, we walked across the street to Brasserie Four for some pizzas. The restaurant was full and we were starving, so we decided to sit outside (in November) so we wouldn’t have to wait for a table. We were cold, but when the pizza came we didn’t care!
8pm: Back to our hotel
While we could’ve gone out for drinks after dinner, we were so exhausted from our day and had had plenty of wine, so we just walked back to the hotel to relax before bed.
Saturday
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9am: Coffee and breakfast at the hotel
We let ourselves sleep in on Saturday. We had coffee and a quick complimentary breakfast at our hotel, then got ready for the day.
10am: Junque Jingle
We went to an event called Junque Jingle at the Walla Walla fairgrounds. It was a market full of local vendors selling lots of goodies, from popcorn to antiques. We walked around for awhile wanting to buy all the goodies. We ended up both getting a spoon ring – the perfect girls weekend souvenir!
11:30am: Shopping in Walla Walla
After the vintage market we drove to some stores for more shopping.
12:30pm: Grab lunch from Ice-Burg Drive-in
We were craving some greasy food for lunch and saw that Ice-Burg had great reviews online. We had to wait for awhile, but it was worth it! We took it back to our room and devoured our burgers and fries.
2:30pm: Shopping downtown Walla Walla
We walked downtown Walla Walla and did some more shopping. We stopped into the cutest tiny shop called Midnight Oil Soap Co where we picked up some bath goodies. We also visited Inland Octopus – an adorable toy store where I picked up a little surprise for my one year old daughter. I’ll take this moment to say that downtown Walla Walla in the fall is so beautiful. There is a horse-drawn carriage giving rides, and the leaves are beautiful and vibrant.
3:30pm: Wine tasting at TruthTeller
We did a tasting at TruthTeller, another cozy tasting room downtown. There are so many! I think it would take a lot of trips to Walla Walla to get to visit them all.
4:30pm: Ice cream at Bright’s Candies
We are the type of people who don’t care how cold it is outside, we will always want ice cream, and Bright’s Candies did not disappoint!
5:30pm: Live music at Henry Earl
We ended the night back at our favorite place, Henry Earl Estates, where we got a glass of rose and listened to live music. The place was packed, so we had to stand in the beginning. Eventually a fire pit table opened up outside and we ran to it before it was even cleaned off. We ordered some small plates to share for dinner. Sitting outside during fall with a glass of wine and a fire was so perfect! The best way to wind down our weekend.
8:30pm: Back to the hotel
We were so exhausted, and went to bed after music and wine at Henry Earl. We’re party animals, I know. ;)
Sunday
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9am: Head back home
We had coffee and a quick bite at our hotel before packing up to head home. (Toting about three bottles of wine each we got at some of the tasting rooms we visited.)
We had such a great girls weekend. I love Walla Walla because even on a weekend like this – where it was super busy for the fall wine release – it still doesn’t feel crowded.
Have you been to Walla Walla?