PNW Road Trip Day 3: Willamette Valley to Cannon Beach

Day three of our road trip was wine-tasting day! We had nine wineries on our wish list, one of which we visited yesterday, Benton-Lane. We ended up making it to six of the remaining eight on our list, including Archery Summit, Domaine Drouhin, Domaine Serene, Erath, WillaKenzie and Elk Cove. Unfortunately, we missed Willamette Valley Vineyards and Ponzi, but I am looking forward to visiting them on my next trip up this way.  Our plan of attack was mapped out the night before, we had our food supplies for the day and a good breakfast in our bellies, we were ready to go taste some Pinot Noir!.  As we were driving to our first winery in Dundee Hills, which was about an hour drive to the north of Corvallis, we came across this beautiful red barn set amongst a field of gold. This turned out to be one of my all time favorite photographs.

We pulled into Archery Summit just a few minutes after they opened. There weren't many people there yet, which was nice, since it was Memorial Day weekend, which is a big weekend for Willamette Valley wineries. They had lovely caves that we walked through to each "station," where they had a specific wine paired with a specific cheese and bread. Manchego! Oh, and the bathroom was so cool. I even took a photo of it (which didn't turn out that great but you can get the idea of it a few photos below..I also love how you can see me taking the photo in the bathroom mirror).

Our next stop was Domaine Drouhin. I had heard a lot about this place and their Pinots...it didn't let me down. Domaine Drouhin is in a gorgeous setting overlooking the Willamette Valley and surrounded by hills that have the most unreal colors. Oh, did I mention what a beautiful day it was? Picture perfect!

Look at these hills, such crisp and distint patterns and colors...and the sky...

A cool hand-crank grape crusher was at the front door, just waiting for me to take a picture of it. Look at that view. I sat outside on that patio with my wine and just took it all in.

This photograph below was another of my favorites from this trip. I'm not sure what it is about this photo. The sky almost looks animated. Again, rather unreal.

 Next up, Domaine Serene...which is probably an appropriate name most of the time. However, on this occasion, about 10 minutes into our visit, a large gaggle of LOUD giggling girls pounced out of a limo and invaded the place for about 20 minutes. The noise level went up a thousand fold. The Domaine Serene staff was not impressed by this display...a lot of eye-rolling ensued. Luckily, it appeared the gaggle was on a tight schedule, so they did not stay long. Thankfully, they were not headed in the same northern direction as we were.

Jerusalem Hills Pinot Noir...Yummy!

Next up was Erath Winery....lots of daisies in front!

Next up was WillaKenzie Estate, a little bit north of the main Dundee Hills area of wineries. There is a herd of long-horns on the property just as you turn into the estate. Cool!

Our last winery stop was at Elk Cove Vineyards, which is quite a bit north of the other wineries and perfect for our continuing drive to Cannon Beach, where we would stay our third night. I loved the name of this vineyard, La Boheme.

After all the wine-tasting was said and done, we headed about 90 miles northwest to the coast. It was a beautiful drive along heavily forested hills. We hoped to make Cannon Beach in plenty of time to take a long walk and take more photos (of course!).

Our last stop for the day, before heading to the Seashore Inn in Seaside for the night, was at Ecola State Park. Here, we were treated with a gorgeous view of Cannon Beach from the other side. A very nice way to end day three. 

Now...after a quick stroll around Seaside and dinner at a local restaurant, it was time to settle in for the night. Day four would be another long day. We were going to be up early and driving north to Astoria and then to the Columbia River Gorge...I can hardly wait!

Goodnight from the end of the Lewis and Clark Trail!

PNW Road Trip Day 2: Crater Lake to Corvallis

Day two found us up fairly early...we had a busy day planned. We packed up the car and headed to Crater Lake for one last try at a glimpse of the lake. I had been to Crater a couple of times a few summers back, but my traveling companion had not seen it so it was important to him.  We got to the park entrance and we were told by the ranger that, once again, it was snowing and there was zero visibility. We finally had to resign ourselves that seeing Crater Lake this trip was not meant to be. We turned around and got on the road heading to Willamette Valley (wine-tasting can always cheer you up!) and eventually, Corvallis, where we were stopping for the night. Also planned, was another stop at a covered bridge or two.

This photo below is the Aspen Inn right outside of Crater Lake where we spent our first night. It was a cozy and interesting accommodation.

This was about all we saw of Crater Lake...other than the snow falling.

 After leaving Crater Lake, we started along the Rogue-Umpqua Scenic Drive. A really pretty drive that was completely unexpected! 

 The Rogue River below.

 Our first hike on this drive was at Clearwater Falls.

 Oh, look, there are the falls.

Our second hike on the Rogue-Umpqua drive was at beautiful Watson Falls below.

 Nice place to have a picnic.

 Our last stop on this drive was in a town called Glide, Oregon. It was a place where several rivers collided together...called, appropriately, the colliding rivers. Honestly, while it was a very pretty place, there didn't seem to be much of a collision going on, not like the one in British Columbia anyway. I took a walk down under a bridge by myself while at this stop and there was a guy drinking something under the bridge and he started talking to me about the beautiful day and then he started in about a dead baby otter. At first I was concerned (about the otter), but then I realized that he was drunk. I got out of there fast. Weird. Anyway, the beautiful yellow lupine (pictured below) was in bloom all over Oregon...including on the sides of major highways....nice!

 After the lovely the drive, we headed over to Monroe, Oregon for a stop at our first winery! Benton-Lane. The wines were so good and the vineyards and sky were almost unreal.

One last stop before heading over to Corvallis for the night. We stopped at Harris Covered Bridge in Wren, Oregon. For some reason, I really took a liking to Oregon's covered bridges. I get a rather romantic feeling from them.

Finally, about 8 PM, we arrived at our lovely hotel right on the Willamette River. Too bad we were only here for one night, but we made the best of it. We went to Trader Joe's for supplies for the road the next day, and then walked over to a Mexican restaurant across the street for dinner. The view  below is of the Willamette River from our hotel room in Corvallis....so serene!

It was a very long and full day, but very fun....tomorrow is wine-tasting day! Yippee!!! I love the start of long vacations!

Pacific Northwest Road Trip Day One: Portland to Crater Lake

Well, we are off on the big Pacific Northwest road trip. After flying into Portland, we jumped in our rental car and headed for Crater Lake, stopping along the way to visit a couple of Oregon's very cool covered bridges. It sprinkled on and off throughout the day, but overall it was a beautiful day. Oregon is very green and lush. We made it to Crater Lake about 6 PM, checked into the Aspen Inn and headed for Crater Lake (after stopping at a little organic store to pick up dinner). About halfway up the road to the park, it started to snow! We made it to Rim Village, but there was no visibility and the wind was really blowing, so we headed back to our hotel. We will try again tomorrow morning.

Shot from the plane flying into Portland. It looks like crystals are falling from the sky.

Lowell Covered Bridge

 Beautiful valley near Lowell

 Office Bridge in Westfir, Oregon

 Snowing in Crater Lake. Zero visibility, so no shots of Crater Lake itself. Oh well...we shall try again in the morning.

Wetlands - May, 2011

Just thought I'd post a few photos from a walk around the Bolsa Chica Wetlands yesterday. Not the best time of day to take photos in the wetlands, but I got a few decent shots.  Vacation is coming up in a few weeks (YAY!), so I am looking forward to updating the blog regularly with some interesting thoughts and sights.

Egret amidst a field of gold algae.

Tern in flight.

This little tern landed near us and hammed it up.

Same egret, a different pose.

Someone lost their hat in the algae.

This little guy came over to us to say hi. He wanted to know why I was only taking photos of the big birds!

Egrets

Terns

Great Blue Heron

I love this photo. It looks like Ms. Egret is taking a dramatic leave of us, with her tail feathers all aflutter.