Question of the Week: If you could take a vacation anywhere in the world where would you go?
By Cole Goodwin
Welcome to Question of the Week, a weekly news column that poses timely questions about life, politics, culture, economics, health, and more to people out and about in our communities. Our hope at CCC News is that having this space dedicated to being curious about other people’s experiences can help us to deepen our understanding of people from all walks of life.
Heather McClure, 41, Trout Lake
“Generally my answer would be a sunny beach somewhere, but it’s springtime here and you know, I don’t know. A spring day in the Gorge is so beautiful. So, I would just take a vacation to a beautiful sunny day like yesterday. (Thursday, April 7th.)”
Teresa Trent, 64, White Salmon
“Well, right now I’d go to Anchorage, Alaska. I’ve got a daughter there in Gravity. It’s in the 40’s there actually. It’s kind of cool, it's on the ocean a little bit.”
Jaime Ingalls, 28, Hood River graduate now living in White Salmon
“If I could go anywhere. I don’t know it’s a toss-up between Ireland, just to see the gardens they have there. Because they say they have these big parks that are just big huge fields of flowers and I’d love to just go like frolicking through the flowers. Or I would probably go to Paris, just for the generic, go see the Eiffel Tower. I’ve been to New York and I’ve been on top of the Rockefeller Center. It’s like a different experience when you’re up really high just looking at everything. You can’t hear anything but you can see everything. There’s just, like, peace and tranquility that comes with that.
So those would be my two places I would go. Ireland for the gardens and to see where some of the people are from since my Dad’s Irish…and Paris for the Eiffel Tower.”
And in case you were wondering, yes, Jaime actually is related to Laura Ingalls Wilder of Little House on the Prairie.
“I haven’t read the books,” confessed Jaime citing an interaction with a young fan of the book’s obsession with her after finding out she was related to the famous author as a key deterrent in her interest.
“Maybe you just need to write your own adventures,” suggested the CCCNews reporter.
“Yeah, updated Ingles Family Traditions,” joked Jaime.
CCCNews caught up with Brook Dirsta, Trevor Dirsta, and Helia Damstani at Chesser Roe’s tea shop in White Salmon.
Brook Diresta, 31, San Jose, CA
“If I could go anywhere in the world I would go to Croatia because I love Mediterranean food and it’s got the ocean right there and they’re big beer drinkers. And it would be just far enough away that it would really feel like an escape.”
“My dad went a few years ago for a wedding and he sent me a ton of pictures. I cook for a living. And in the photos he sent, the food just looked so amazing. They eat so much fresh seafood and I would just die for some fresh octopus.”
Trevor Diresta, 29, San Jose, CA
“If I could go anywhere in the world it would probably be Dubai. I know they have like the craziest stuff there. A lot of stuff you don’t see anywhere else in the world because they have so much money. Other than that, I’m more of a tropical person so maybe like Kauai island.”
Trevor said he was visiting family in White Salmon with his girlfriend Helia.
“My Grandpa lives ten minutes down the road, So my sister, girlfriend, and I are visiting until tomorrow. We just came to visit for a little two-day excursion.”
Helia Damstani, 28, San Jose, CA
“If I could visit anywhere right now it would probably be Italy, I just want really good pasta and the beach and just that environment. It’s just one of those places that you know you’re gonna fall in love with.”
“We had a trip planned to go there, but then COVID hit and we had to cancel everything. I’m still fighting for my $500 ticket. Actually, I gave up, I lost that.”
Carlos Ibarra, 19, White Salmon
“Japan. I just love their culture and it’s very beautiful over there especially in spring. I’d love to go in spring and see the sakura blooms on the trees. I enjoy their tea. I’d like to maybe go to an authentic tea house and hot springs, all of that. Yeah, Japan. Easily Japan.”
Dalton Wake, 28, Bingen
“I’d go on a cruise to Jamaica, Cayman and Cozumel, because it was probably one of the best vacations I’ve ever taken. It was fun. The water was amazing. I got a tattoo that I really didn’t care for. And spent an extremely large amount of money. “
