Oregon again

OK, we have wifi again, so I'm back on track. But before I refocus on our adventures in Oregon, I have to revisit one of my recurring themes: that of interesting or ironic road signs observed during our travels. I was relieved to see the “End Road Construction” sign as we neared the road summit of Stevens Pass on our way to Leavenworth, WA, but then that relief was snatched away when not more than 50 yards further up was a “Begin Road Construction” sign mocking me. Now I understand that different construction projects are often handled by different contractors, and that often they are on different timetables, but you would think that they could get together in order not to taunt us motorists.

One other sign worthy of note that I saw again and again in our travels through Washington was one of honorable purpose: “LITTER AND IT WILL HURT.” Hurt who? The litterer? Those of us who have to see it? Mother Earth? I guess if they provoke thought, then the signs are working, but each and every time a saw one, all I could think of was the Earth Day public service announcement from the early ‘70s with the American Indian looking over a toxic, litter strewn river with a single poignant tear on his cheek. Never mind that the “Indian,” Iron Eyes Cody, was actually a second generation Italian actor from Louisiana, and that the tear was glycerin; it was still one of the most effective ad campaigns ever. Now Washington’s “LITTER AND IT WILL HURT” signs evoke the memories of those commercials for at least one individual, and now, you’ve gotta admit, it’ll do the same to you next time you see a littering sign as you drive…

And now: back to Oregon. After we left the Hood River area, we skirted the Portland area despite it being perhaps THE craft brew mecca, because, well, if we did it all on this trip, what would we have to look forward to? Besides, we’re beginning to look at this trip more and more as a scouting recon to plan the next decade or two’s trips.

We made it to McMinnville before Laura’s vineyard proximity twitch began to cause her to writhe around in her seat like Linda Blair’s character in The Exorcist. I figured that we better stop before it got messy, so we found an RV park which happened to be literally next door to the McMinnville Aviation Museum, which happens to hold a pretty big plane, among other things.




Our first full day in the area allowed Laura to truly immerse herself in wine culture, and I reluctantly have to admit that Oregon has some good wines in addition to it’s excellent beer. This immersion ultimately evolved into me driving Laura from tasting room to tasting room, as she got a little “toasty.” Have I mentioned that Laura is a bit of a lightweight when it comes to drinking? 95 percent of the time, that just amounts to her heading to bed to pass out after her second glass of wine in the evening, but when you mix in her excitement of going to various wineries and vineyards along with some beautiful weather, it translated to an entirely different experience. The other five percent of the time, she gets a little talkative. Did I say a little? By that I mean that I was treated to an entirely unedited streaming dialogue of every thought that was flowing through her mind. Fortunately, given the aforementioned wineries, vineyards and beautiful weather, these thoughts were overwhelmingly positive. Downright glowing and effusive praise of the world around us, in fact…



The next day we spent a good part of the day in the Aviation Museum, with it’s centerpiece the previously mentioned gargantuan gander: the Spruce Goose. This plane would be downright huge even if it wasn’t made of wood, but under those circumstances, it’s pretty amazing that it got off the ground, albeit only 70 ft for about a mile.



Yes, that is a DC-3 tucked under the Goose's wing (with plenty of room to spare)


B-17, The Flying Fortress


While in the McMinnville area, we also made it to the Golden Valley Brewery where we enjoyed a sampler of ten of their brews loaded onto a plank taken from a wine barrel. All in all, a nice variety, ranging from their Red Hills Pils to my favorite, Chehalem Mountain IPA, to their Muddy Valley Oatmeal Stout. Even Laura enjoyed the majority of them, which is saying something. The food was good, the atmosphere was pretty classy, but still family-oriented, so if you’re ever in the area, it’s worth a stop.




Next, we made it to the Oregon Coast, where we allowed Eugene and Meika to channel their inner salty sea dogs in between visits to lighthouses, the Oregon Coast Aquarium and just generally relaxing in the South Beach State Park in the Newport area. We were very impressed with the quality of the state park system, and I have no doubt that you need every day of the nine months available to make reservations for the peak summer season. We’re not used to having electric and water hook-ups in a state park system, and even lucked out with a campsite which was treed, but still allowed us to get satellite reception- the only thing missing was wifi.



We also made it out to the Rogue Brewery in Newport, where we were able to sample a number of brews off of their truly voluminous menu. No matter what your tastes, you can find a beer to match. I can recommend the Shakespeare Stout, the Imperial IPA, the Fresh Hoppy Frog, the Mocha Porter, the Triple Jump IPA, the Dead Guy Ale, and last but certainly not least, Old Crustacean Barley Wine. Shall I go on? Many of these are award winning beers, and they’re just the tip of the Rogue iceberg. All of this in a very informal atmosphere in which you get to walk through the roped off brewery area on your way upstairs to a cozy (read small, but cool), rustic bar area, and an attached basic restaurant, though the samplers are only available in the bar. The appetizers we had to complement our samplers were very good and were excellent examples of good solid "pub grub."

All things considered, Oregon has a lot to offer, so it warrants further consideration, at least as an excellent place for future expeditions. I’ll wrap things up at this point, except to say that for my next post or two, I’m gonna give everyone a break, and keep the commentary to a minimum while I share some pictures from our visit to the aquarium, as well as of some of the birds of the coast.