Getting the flavor of ... Culinary camping in the Northwest, and more

Culinary camping in the Northwest

It turns out you can rough it and still eat well, said Bonnie Tsui in The New York Times. A number of companies across the West now offer culinary instruction along with their outdoor excursions, creating a kind of “cooking school gone wild” for those with an appetite for adventure and haute cuisine. Row Adventures takes travelers on white-water rafting trips along Idaho’s Snake or Salmon rivers and Oregon’s Grande Ronde River, but the “distinguishing attraction is the opportunity to cook up fancy fare the old-fashioned way.” Using a Dutch oven, campers prepare wild salmon to pair with Pacific Northwest wines that have been carefully packed by the guides. Oars, an adventure-travel company, brings a Culinary Institute of America–trained chef on their trips in California, Utah, and Idaho. Dressed in “chef whites,” he serves up steak in Jack Daniels sauce, which you eat off white tablecloths while surrounded by towering pines. Contact: Rowadventures.com

A fruitful Fresno journey

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The Fresno County Fruit Trail is a “showcase” of Central California’s bountiful crops, said Jay Jones in the Los Angeles Times. Fresno County is “among the top U.S. producers of peaches, nectarines, and plums.” You can find—and taste—such succulent treats at the 30-plus roadside stands and markets along the trail. Their “colorful displays of sun-sweetened delights” beckon, as you wend your way through such quaint towns as Sanger, Kingsburg, and Reedley. The first stop along the trail, Simonian Farms, has become known as much for its “ever-growing collection of antiques” as for its fruits and vegetables. As you pass orchards full of fragrant fruit blossoms, be sure to stop at the Art Stand near Minkler. Located in a former produce stand, it features works from local artists. “Just a peach pit’s toss away” is the Cedar View Winery. Finish off your journey with a glass of their “award-winning” wine. Contact: Gofresnocounty.com