Jackie's Blog

Our 14th wedding anniversary :) So instead of heading south to Ashland (an ironic name now!) we went east towards Crater Lake national park and hoped the smoke would not effect the views too much. A beautiful drive up there soon started to 'fog' over and the smell of burning grew stronger. The crater itself is quite spectacular and despite the smoke was quite amazing. It apparently is even bluer than Lake Tahoe under normal conditions. April 2015 Sorry, I had no idea I never finished this day - shame! From what I recall we ended up just staying in a small hotel and drove home the next day?

After a very active day yesterday we had a slower start and headed off to do our first wine tasting of this trip in Oregon. We started in st innocent winery about an hour north of Corvallis. This is apparently the area where pinot noir was first grown in the Willamette valley. The winery was very pretty. We were tasting 2011 and 2010 vintages which were wet and cool years here so not the rich fruit forward pinots  that I prefer but Dick was happy. We just went to one other winery- Cristom, and decided that even sharing a tasting that was enough that early in the day. We then came across the Willamette cheese company and so stopped in for a cheese tasting which was very nice after the wine. Ironically we ended up buying Oregon Gouda ! On our way back south I checked email only to discover that our planned visit to the Ashland Shakespeare festival to see A Midsummer's Night Dream for our anniversary treat (August 1st) was in jeopardy due to forest fires in southern Oregon that we k...

Last night we decided we really like Corvallis, and maybe we should stay an extra day. So we decided to have a no car day. We rented some good road bikes and had a really nice 27 mile ride around the countryside around Corvallis. The area was so English- right down to the blackberry laden hedgerows that we almost felt homesick. Both of us started to think about whether this area has seasons and whether it might be a good retirement spot....no sales tax here and house prices are more like Georgia and Corvallis is a great college town. After our ride we had a great lunch and beer (great micro breweries here- another good reason to love it here). We intended to do some wine tasting later but discovered that although there are wine shops, no one actually offers wine tasting in town :-(  So we went back to the hotel and soaked in the hotel hot tub and relaxed until dinner. Dinner was in a great wine bar which offered flights of fabulous Oregon wine and some really good tapas. Tonight...

Another early start and breakfast at a bagel place to plan where we go next.  Originally we were going to head to Portland but today we changed our mind and decided to go inland to do some wine and beer tasting. There's a surprise! However first we intended to start our day with a hike instead of ending it with a hike like previous days.  A couple we met recommended a dunes/ forest/ beach hike a few miles north of where we stayed last night. Unfortunately we parked a bit too far north.  That was the beginning of another adventure... The walk started off in the forest- a little sandy underfoot but very pretty. We then walked a couple of miles along a deserted beach, and because we'd ended up walking further from where we parked, we decided to do an alternate dune route back. Er.  Mistake. Up and down undulating dunes is not fast and not easy. After almost three hours, we finally made it back- starving! Next stop lunch! Quick fish and chips in Newport and then a vis...

A good nights sleep had us already on the road by 8:30 AM.  Morning mist was heavy so Mustang top was still up.  Passed a heard of elk at Elk Crossing and had to go back and take photos. Had to stop for coffee at a Starbucks because no where else was open and was finally able to put the roof down. Finally crossed the Oregon border which we discovered was about 500 miles from Morgan hill. California IS a very long state! We stopped at the OR border visitors center and picked up maps etc. Next stop was at the Natural bridges viewpoint.  Fairly steep downhill with amazing views.  After, we discovered we had walked across one of the arches and didn't even know it! The roads have been pretty quiet and Dick keeps talking about how much he loves his mustang.  There are lots of passing places  when the road goes down to two lanes, so it is easy and not frustrating driving :) We stopped for lunch at Port Orford  in a tiny shack called  Griffs on the D...

Drove just over 200 miles yesterde and still only made it as far as Humboldt redwoods state park from Napa. California is a very long state! Mind you we'd both only had six hours sleep due to Dick's flight from st. Louis bring almost two hours late, and we arrived in Napa at 1:30 AM!  Leaving Calistoga we'd got stuck due to a bike race but the once we got on 101, it was lovely.  The roads were quiet and easy. We didn't even stop for lunch,  Drove through the 'Avenue of Giants' once we got to the forest and picked up a map.   Nice amble through the woods to stretch our legs before a well deserved beer in a tiny logging town called Scotia.