Hood River County produces more pears than any other county in the United States, and the Fruit Company on Highway 35 is the perfect place to learn the difference between a sweet Anjou, a crisp Asian, and a velvety Comice. Farmers Scott and Addison Webster offer guided walks through their packing facility and $5 orchard tours aboard a tram. You’ll also find a small museum devoted to local agricultural history.

Two miles down the road at Rasmussen Farms, kids can pick pumpkins, sit on an antique tractor, crunch on caramel apples, and run through a corn maze. In the fruit stand, bins are piled high with Cinderella pumpkins, swan gourds, Spanish onions, tomatillos, and dozens of different pear and apple varieties.

Young ones will also love Cascade Alpaca Ranch, where former Portlanders Thomas and Connie Betts raise the llama’s distant cousins, animals so gentle that kids can hand-feed them. "We wanted to leave the city and move to the country," Connie says. "Our friends thought we were crazy. Now we’ve got 20 alpacas and a shop selling yarns in hundreds of colors." Neighboring Hood River Lavender Farms grows more than 60 types of the fragrant plant and you can drop by to pick a bouquet.

Highway 35 meets Highway 281 in Parkdale, a small farming community with a brewpub, general store, ice cream shop, and the Hutson Museum, known for its unusual collection of rocks that resemble food. Here, you can take the turnoff to Kiyokawa Family Orchards and then drive the loop’s return leg, popping in at the Apple Valley Country Store for a warm apple turnover or a huckleberry milk shake. Across the way at Pheasant Valley Winery, you can try the pear wine that’s a perfect accompaniment for a picnic.

Make a last stop at the Country Girl Fruit Farm. In a tiny red shed, Peggy Kinsey sells delectable homemade confections, such as dried apples dusted with cinnamon and chocolate-dipped dried pears and cherries. She makes them all from scratch in small batches and invites visitors to join her in the kitchen as she cooks up pear butter in a 12-quart steam kettle. "At our growers’ meetings, we were urged to get creative," Kinsey says. "That’s just what I did."

The farms close by 6 p.m.—time to start thinking about dinner. Hood River’s downtown is full of restaurants where chefs cook with fresh local ingredients: salad greens from Zion Farms at Brian’s Pourhouse; pears and apples in the chutney at Jean’s@110; and locally foraged mushrooms at Celilo. Each is a tasty way to end a delicious day.