It doesn’t happen overnight, but over time a sedentary lifestyle can creep up on us and become a recipe for a weak core, hip pain and falls in our older years. As a result, time meant to be spent savoring life could be robbed by chronic pain and injuries. The good news is that much of it can be avoided by taking preventive measures now.

Fitness trainer Veronica Davis knows firsthand the damage that decades at a desk job can inflict on a body. Even pursuing an active lifestyle outside her working hours kept her hip pain only at manageable levels, and some of the sports she was pursuing actually contributed to her ailments…

Situated on an extinct volcano just outside Beaverton, Cooper Mountain Vineyards marks 40 years this fall. Throughout those decades, the winery has long been a pioneer in sustainability, earning organic certification by Oregon Tilth in 1995 and Biodynamic certification by Demeter in 1999 — the latter the first in the Pacific Northwest…

Chelatchie Crossing Smokehouse & Saloon is among the newest additions to the booming Clark County restaurant scene. Attached to The Cedars on Salmon Creek in Brush Prairie, this restaurant, bar and event space combination opened in 1975 and underwent a much-needed overhaul to emerge back in April as a warm, inviting spot with premium outdoor dining…

Ragtag Revival’s Antique Show & Hootenanny is back for another year on Friday, July 27 and Saturday, July 28. The 10 picturesque acres of Wickering Heights in Woodland could not be a more perfect spot for antique vendors to set up their shabby, chic and everything-in-between booths.

For its fourth year running, Ragtag Revival will offer attendees a mixture of what’s trending in upcycled décor as well as tried-and-true antique pieces. Wickering Heights owner, Angela Harvey, spends the majority of her year organizing this annual event and is excited to offer a combination of vendors for 2018 that share her mantra of “gritty to pretty."

It’s that time of year again when adventure types hit the open road with their RVs, travel trailers and toy haulers. A common replacement or upgrade is an awning and, thanks to Tough Top Awnings, Clark County residents have a team of experts in their backyard.

Back in 2006, avid RVers Ray and Sandy Oberreuter were challenged to find a consistent source for quality replacement fabrics. Adding to the mountain of proof that necessity is the mother of invention, the Oberreuters opened Tough Top Awnings as a mobile business that began in Arizona. A couple years later their then son-in-law, Tyler Hammack, came on to help build the business and daughter, Christie Hammack, created their online ordering department from the ground up…

Finding good people in the wine industry is not a difficult task. Finding exceptional people that top vintners are “honored to work with” and describe as “inquisitive, hardworking, dedicated and humble” is a more unique discovery. But, Mike Sauer is a unique man. The owner of Red Willow Vineyard in the Yakima Valley AVA, Mike has been farming his 150-acre site for 45 years and, with all of his success, priorities have not escaped him.

“I guess to finish up the best part of the journey, personally, is to be a part of it with family. My wife’s been involved since the very beginning and now it’s my two sons and a son-in-law. They have a continuity of family on the same land. I’m 71 and am gradually turning it over to them but still very involved and it keeps me young to be involved and supporting them and…

When Jim VanNatta extended the Hockinson Market to include an intimate tap room back in 2016, it didn’t take long for him to realize that another expansion was a plausible follow-up move.

Converting what decades ago had been the Hockinson/Brush Prairie Post Office before it relocated to Brush Prairie sometime after World War II, VanNatta created a 10-seat tap room that immediately drew residents from this growing area of Clark County…

Dogs are attention grabbers, ice breakers and all around conversation starters, but puppies have a way of warming even the most seasoned heart. Add the uniqueness of a 50-pound puppy  and an owner with an empathetic spirit and you have an unstoppable force…

When you’re a new restaurant in an established area, it helps to make a statement. That is exactly what the 1,000-gallon offset barrel smoker does in the courtyard of The Smokin’ Oak Pit & Drinkery in downtown Vancouver.

Owners Bryan Rodgers and Erick Gill partnered with a good friend to build the smoker and its 600-gallon sidekick for their new restaurant, which opened in November 2017. At the Smokin’ Oak, central Texas barbecue is the star of the pit and kitchen, supported by an innovative craft cocktail menu and Northwest-focused beer taps…

Around a table set for 12, food is being passed and conversation ranges from catching up on extended family to gardening and canning. One person holds a bowl of greens while another takes a spoonful. Another person remarks on how the fried chicken has a bit of a kick. It could be Sunday dinner in Georgia but it’s actually the inaugural Sunday Supper at The Eatery at The Grant House, on Officer’s Row in Vancouver…

The charm of Yakima Valley is a direct result of the tight-knit communities that dot this high-desert expanse. Three hundred sunny days a year translate to about eighty wineries spread across 17,000 acres of vines in the Yakima Valley AVA and that doesn't even touch the bounty of fresh produce available at seasonal stands. Can you say road trip?

A thick Belgian waffle piled high with strawberries and whipped cream is the stuff of childhood memories. All that was left when mom set it in front of you like a Christmas gift was to top it off with a generous layer of sweet maple syrup. 

As adults we have a tendency to shy away from these decadent morning treats but one waffle advocate is balancing sweet with savory at his new venture, Syrup Trap, in downtown Vancouver…