Oregon is beautiful. We even experienced a few nice showers and a couple of heavy downpours. Everything is green here. We spent evenings in Grants Pass, Eugene, and Salem, seeing friends, enjoying a bicycle ride, and visiting four wineries in the Willamette Wine Valley.
In Eugene, we enjoyed lunch with Manuela Rodriguez, a Fremont High School
Class of 1944 grad and close friend to Sue. She and her late husband, Tino, still provide a large scholarship every year for two FHS graduates. Her senior living apartment is wonderful, with southern-facing windows that really let the sun shine in. The complex provides great meals and we enjoyed lunch with Manuela and her son.
Next we moved on to Salem, and pulled our trailer right through the middle of the downtown area to get to the other side of the Willamette River and our home for one night.
After disconnecting and setting up the trailer, we visited a few of the gorgeous wineries in this area. Due to the cool climate, they specialize in whites and pinot noirs around here, but most wineries also source-in heartier grapes from California or elsewhere. Here are the wineries we enjoyed:
Silvan Ridge Winery – a few miles outside Eugene, they have a beautiful landscape and pride themselves on pinot gris and pinot noir;
West of Salem is the little town of Rickreall, and here is where we did an entire afternoon of small tastings the next day.
Elola Hills Wine Cellars – a good start for tasting with a nice chard and pinot noir, and a worthy t-shirt we bought for bicycling in Oregon.
Left Coast Cellers – a bunch of really good wines, with a bakery inside. We ordered a rosemary focaccia bread with three yummy dips. On the weekends they even serve pizza. We loved the vibe of this place and bought a bottle of pinot noir that we enjoyed.
Firesteed Cellars – this winery had great service, with the most informative pourer of all. It was our favorite winery, with a 2015 pinot noir that we’ll probably come back and get on our way home when it’s available next week.
We continue our journey north today, and with cloudy weather, we’ll see how much we can view of Mt. Ranier National Park.
