Following the suggestions of our ‘guide’ Helen at The Dalles Dam, we enjoy driving the camper on a fun winding road that provides us with some great views of the river and  takes us up and over the hills into the quaint old town of Hood River.  At first, we drive around to get a sense of the town and discover it is bustling with activity.  It isn’t really a ‘Hippy’ town but the easy going Oregon Athletic types definitely gather here, and not just Oregonians, but from all over the country, they gather for the great windsurfing. There are a lot of windsurfers and cyclists, and shops to support them. We are feeling very much at home in our VW Bus.

We decide to park the camper and explore the town more intimately on foot. Finding a parking space on a side street, we feed the meter and head out for a leisure walk downtown, checking out shops and restaurants. And since it is noon, we decide to find a place to have lunch.

The menu at the South Bank Delicatessen has several delicious sounding foods that support our eating preferences. We are just ahead of the crowds and are glad we stop when we do as this little eatery is a popular place. It  quickly becomes busy with a line out the door forming in no time for counter orders and a stream of other patrons are in and out, purchasing the easy- to-pick up prepared foods.

We finish up our tasty lunch of wraps (brown rice, lentils, carrots, and peas with bean spread; and lumpia (a rice wrap of crispy veggies with peanut sauce) and a black rice and edamame salad with wasabi dressing–all very unique and quite delicious. We continue our ‘walk-about’ downtown appreciating the warm sunny weather (though BREEZY!) and enjoying the atmosphere of this interesting town on the river.