Willamette Valley, Oregon

Roger here....  For those of you who follow us, we apologize for dropping off the edge of the Earth for a few days.  We have excuses.  Of course we have excuses.  Our dear friends from Indiana, Jay and Nancy, have been with us this past week, so we have been busier than usual.  AND, we have been parked under a tree at Nehalem Bay State Park; therefore, our satellite internet coverage has been nonexistent.  

We are still at Nehalem Bay State Park, but we, ahem, emptied our sewer tanks this morning and parked at a slightly different angle.  The satellite now has a clear view to the southern sky and we have returned to the connected world.

Our last day in

Newport was quiet, but we did travel to the Newport Farmer's Market to buy some fresh produce.  Every state seems to have its idiosyncrasies.  There are a lot of them where we spend the winter in Texas.  Oregon has more than its share.  You cannot pump your own gas in Oregon, as it must be done by an attendant (takes me back a few decades).  AND, pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way.  This is true in most states, but it is a religion in Oregon.  In the picture above, notice the lady on the way to the market with the yellow flag.  She picked it up on one side of the street and deposited it in a container on the other side for others to use.  When we left Roseburg a few weeks ago, I was stopped (no ticket) by a friendly (he really was) officer because I did not stop at a cross walk where people were waiting to cross on the sidewalk.... a new place to focus attention.  I now psych up every time we drive into a town.  People here tend to plunge into the street, knowing that the traffic is required to stop.  When I am on foot, I still look both ways --- you never know when an ignorant out-of-stater might come barging through.

The drive to Nehalem Bay State Park near Manzanita was uneventful except

for the magnificent scenery along the Oregon Coast.  Jay and Nancy arrived the day after we arrived, so Dianne had time to plan for a delicious welcome dinner.  After a search we found the freshest of fresh salmon (caught that morning) at the local grocery.  The manager of the meat counter actually called us when it arrived.  Yum.

Since the weather forecast was gloomy for the following day, we decided that it would be the perfect day to visit the Willamette Valley wineries.  Sampling wines can always be an indoor activity.  

The first leg of the hour-long drive to the Willamette Vally was certainly not as quiet as our drive along the coast two days before.  100 yards before our turn from Hwy 101 to Hwy 26 we rounded a corner and found a tractor-trailer blocking both lanes of traffic.  The accident had obviously just happened --- no police or emergency vehicles.  Not sure how it happened (ongoing discussion between Jay and Nancy).  The good news,  for us, was that the trucker went to the back of the trailer and directed traffic from both directions.  (Nice guy)  We were soon on our way.

We visited several

wineries, including: Elk Cove, Erath, and Winderlea.  The wines (mostly pinots) were good; however, the highlight at these three establishments may have been the eye-popping Oregon scenery and landscaping.  Warning.... lots of scenic views:

Since we already have plenty of wine and because pinots are not our favorite, we were not tempted to spend money other than the tasting fees.  However, we spent quite a bit of time at the last winery in the town of Dundee.  The Argyle Winery specializes in sparkling wines and champagnes --- something different.  

 The landscaping around the winery was extremely well-done  --- slate walkways (just like our previous home in Indiana).

 The front porch entry way also reminded us of our last home in Pendleton, IN.

 More than a lot.  The front view of the winery could have been built by the same builder who built our former house in the early 1900s.

Here's two photos (winter and summer) of our old Indiana house that the Argyle Winery reminded us of:

Winter Scene

Front Porch Summer

We sampled the various champagnes and sparkling wines --- excellent.

We did not want to transport more wine -- especially wine that might need to be refrigerated -- in our motor home. 

However, Jay did some serious damage as he had quite a bit of champagne shipped.  The plaques on the wall were letters of appreciation from the White House thanking Argyle for various wines that were served at Presidential functions.  The letters included thanks from the George H.W. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama administrations.  Impressive.

Needless to say, this was our favorite stop.  The knowledgeable lady who poured our wines offered to take our picture together.  

 

We plan to close our Manzanita posts with sunset pictures taken from Jay and Nancy's motel on the beach.

What goes with wine?  Cheese, of course --- the topic of our next post.  Check back soon, for we plan to catch up on our postings from our event-filled week with our friends.

The pet picture of the day is a particularly good shot of Tequila.

Mom uses lots of slipcovers so I can lay on the furniture!