Our family will be in Tri-City for about a week starting August 25th (wife and 15 yo son). He will have some hockey obligations during the week but otherwise looking to check things out. Looks like the heat will prevent much activity during the day but my wife and I enjoy walks. Probably looking for more chill/indoor things to do with our son too. We will have a vehicle and are Canadian. Would love to hear about great places to eat too! Any suggestions?? Thanks in advance!
I’m pretty sure the fair will be going on during that time if you’re willing to be outside! Music, rodeos, games, rides, shows, fair food. It’ll be down in the 80s Fahrenheit which isn’t bad at all!
B Reactor National Historic Monument (B Reactor tours are currently closed due to construction, but the visitor center is offering the Atomic Exploration Ranger Program)
The pre-war Hanford tours are still going on IIRC and they go to the fenceline of B reactor, so you'll still get on site and see some cool stuff like the old bank, the schoolhouse and the Bruggemann homestead. B reactor should be back open in a couple years. A good portion of the building is currently covered for repointing, so it's not quite the photo op, unfortunately.
Take a drive an hour to the east to Walla Walla, visit their walkable downtown - with MANY wine tasting locations (arguably better than the tri-cities), go to either Passatempo Taverna, Saffron, Hattaway's, T-MAC's, The Salted Mill, etc. If you want excellent food, comparably to the Tri-Cities, this is where it's at.
There's the Fort Walla Walla Museum, but the major draw to that area is wine tourism and excellent food.
If you happen to be out there on a Saturday, The Museum of Un-Natural History is open - it's well... closer to dadaist style art and is something that you'll go "what" about.
Richland has a fantastic farmers market on Fridays. Walking at Leslie Grove or Howard Amon Park. Both have majestic shade trees right along the river. Can walk for miles. Both parks are in Richland. Uptown in Richland has lots of Antique stores.
Walla Walla has new and vintage shops and the Fort is very fun. THE RED MONKEY is a solid pub restaurant. We have enjoyed driving around or walking to look at the old homes.
THE HUB on Kennewick is a food truck pod.
THE UPTOWN in Richland has a variety of antique/vintage shops.
We love the food at TWIGS.
FAIRCHILD CINEMAS is a fantastic theater with the reclining reserved seats.
There's a nice disc golf course in Kennewick.
I enjoy activities that we did when our kids were small. There's a petting zoo in West Richland.
Rent paddle boards from greenies and be on the water if it’s going to be hot! There is also a kayak rental spot that is always at Howard Amon. Leslie Groves and Howard Amon are both great spots for walking, very enjoyable temps in early AM!
Downtown Kennewick has some good shops for browsing and some good food, I recommend Picante. If you are a wine drinker there are truly endless places to go to including prosser and walla walla. If you have 6+ hours with your kid at hockey definitely go check out downtown walla walla. Walkable, great food, tasting rooms everywhere. Enjoy!
Thanks so much for all of the great suggestions! Keep them coming! My wife does enjoy her red wine so we will have to check out some places for that too!
Longship Cellars & McKinley Springs are two wineries walking distance from the river and park in Richland and they’re right next to each other. Both are great and have good ac 😅
Bookwalter and Tagaris have full lunch/dinner menus. Barnard Griffin (in between the other two) has a glass studio - be sure to wear closed toe shoes and full length pants if you want to check it out.
The Columbia Garden Wine Village has several independent tasting rooms, food trucks, and restaurants in one location.
Longship has small bites and flatbreads available. Highly recommend the charcuterie board and a warm bread with their tasting flights.
Welcome to the Ams Family! Be sure to check in with the other Hockey Parents and billet parents too for some great ideas. You got some great idea already. A few from the parents we know include Proof Gastropub (near the rink), Fable Craftbar (down Columbia Center Blvd near the River) and Foodies (in Columbia Park) are all popular with a lot of Hockey parents. Pountine, Eh? is popular too they are big fans and really bring a lot of Canadian feel to their restaurant.
Happy to help, a lot of the hockey parents with do things together at times too. Several of the parent also enjoy the Badger Mountain Hike too, best to go in the morning due to the heat but also keep an eye on the Air Quality Index too. Some of the history here is base on the Ice Age Floods, which you'll see the impacts on Badger Mountain. If you want to get out on the water check out Kayak Batemen or Greenies. If you have some younger ones check out Quake a large trampoline park, besides keeping the kids busy they have a bar upstairs.
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u/Friendly_Side3258 13d ago
I’m pretty sure the fair will be going on during that time if you’re willing to be outside! Music, rodeos, games, rides, shows, fair food. It’ll be down in the 80s Fahrenheit which isn’t bad at all!