Oregon: May 2013, Day 7

Tuesday was my flight home.  The time zones work agains you when traveling this way east.  I arrived at the airport in Portland at 5:15 in the morning.  I arrived home in Gouverneur at 1:00 AM Wednesday morning.  A missed connection in Newark, NJ added six hours to the trip.  The Portland to Newark connection was mostly cloud free, so I snapped a few pictures.

Mt. Hood

Zoomed in view of Mt. Hood.

Wind towers on western farm land.

Rocky Mountains

Mid-western farm land.

So, to sum it all up, it was a fantastic trip!!!!!!

Oregon: May 2013, Days 5 and 6

Sunday was a slow and relaxing kind of "catch up" day.  Cory and I took a long walk, and then we both took long naps.  :-)  Molly went back to her house in Eugene.  Eugene is the home of The University of Oregon where Molly is doing some graduate work in archeology.  Later in the day, Cory and I drove to Eugene and stopped at the Ninkasi Brewing Company.  The weather was an exceptionally warm 85 degrees.  We sat outside and enjoyed one of their craft beers.  Then we joined Molly at her house for snacks/dinner and visited with their friends Dustin and Jaime until late in the night.

Sipping a cold one at the Ninkasi Brewing Company.

Early Monday morning Cory drove back to Roseburg for work.  Molly was working in Eugene for the day, so we went out for breakfast.  After breakfast I left for Portland, where I'm flying out of Tuesday morning.  With time to kill, I decided to visit the Portland Japanese Gardens.  They are proclaimed to be the most authentic Japanese Garden outside of Japan.  They were outstanding!!

View, from the gardens, of Portland skyline and snow capped Mt. Hood.

Tomorrow, the loooong flight home.  My connection is Portland to Newark, New Jersey, and then on to Syracuse.  This has been a wonderful trip visiting with Cory and Molly, but it will be nice to get home.  I miss my blond traveling companion.  :-))   I hope to drive out to Oregon with my camper in September to help Molly with an archeology dig.  I can't wait.

Oregon: May 2013, Day 4

We started the day by going out for breakfast.  On the way back Cory pointed out a pedestrian bridge that is suspended from the highway bridge that crosses the South Umpqua River.  I had to check it out. The bridge is part of an extensive walking/bicycle pathway system in the Roseburg area.

We decided to do some more wine tasting today.  The Umpqua Valley surrounding Roseburg is host to some 22 different wineries.  We visited three of them today.  It is amazing to see such a thriving industry of small micro-wineries.  All these wineries are members of the Umpqua Valley Wineries Association and they support and promote each other.  Interestingly, at all three places we visited today, the owners were serving at the tastings.

The first one we visited was Becker Vineyards.  This craft winery is owned and operated by Charlie and Peggy Becker.  They have no employees, and they sell out their supply of wines every year.  Peggy was our tasting host.  This is truly a "mom and pop" business that is very successful.  In fact, I ended up buying a case of wine and having it shipped back to New York.

 The second stop was Misty Oaks Vineyards.  This family business grows six varieties of grapes on 15 acres.

The last stop on our mini tour was Glaser Estate Winery.  Our tasting host was Sandy Glaser, who is a bundle of energy and wows you with her enthusiasm.  The winery is located on the banks of the North Umpqua River.  They have a beautiful outdoor seating area on a deck overlooking the river.  Sandy also has an eclectic collection of chickens, goats and geese.  They also have started a small distillery to make flavorful vodkas and rums.

We ended the day around a backyard campfire again.

That's all for now............

Oregon: May 2103, Day 3

Molly had to work Friday, so Cory and I were on our own.  We decided to drive along the North Umpqua River and hike some of the trails.  The North Umpqua and South Umpqua rivers converge about five miles west of Roseburg to form the Umpqua River that eventually meets the Pacific Ocean at Winchester Bay.  The North Umpqua is the "wilder" of the two branches and offers more recreational activities such as hiking, fishing, and rafting.

North Umpqua River looking upstream from the Tioga Bridge.

Our first stop was the Wolf Creek Falls Trail.  This 1.2 mile hike starts with an arch bridge that crosses the Little River, and winds through an old growth forest.  The main snow runoff season has past, so the flow over the falls has diminished.  However, it must be spectacular during the peak snow melt season.

Arch Bridge over the Little River.

Wolf Creek Falls.

Old Growth Forest.

Cory and his dog, Tyler, viewing the Falls.

The next hike was the Susan Creek Recreation Area.  A new hiking trail leads from the campground along the North Umpqua to the newly constructed pedestrian Tioga Bridge that crosses the river.  The new bridge is a beautiful wooden structure, and replaces the Young's Bay Bridge that was washed out by flooding in 1964, and connects foot traffic to the North Umpqua Trail.

New pedestrian footbridge.

After the Susan Creek hike, we stopped in the small town of Glide for a snack.  A rare geological feature occurs here when the Little River and the larger North Umpqua River meet head on.

We were back at Cory's by 3:00.  We met Molly for dinner at The Roseburg Station Pub and Brewery. Then we spent the evening around a backyard campfire solving the world's problems.  If only the politicians would listen to us.  ;-))     It was a great day.

Oregon: May 2013, Days 1 & 2

The last time I saw my son Cory and his girlfriend Molly was at Christmas when they came to New York.  One of the opportunities of retirement is the ability to travel on a whim.  With that in mind, I decided to fly out and visit them during the first week in May.  Since I would be flying, I would have to travel solo.  My trusty Golden Retriever travel companion, Zoey, would have to stay home with her "cousin" Bailey Sipher at Justin and Amy's place.

Zoey with her "cousin" Bailey Sipher

I flew out on Wednesday, May 1st.  The trip was uneventful.  I took a flight from Syracuse to Chicago.  After a two hour layover in Chicago (which is a good thing because I had to walk a mile from one gate to the next) I had a four hour flight to Portland, Oregon.  The planes were full, cramped and crowded.  But I guess thats the tradeoff to have the ability to eat breakfast in Syracuse and have lunch in Oregon.  I always choose window seats, and the view coming into Portland was stunning.  The final leg of the flight paralleled the Columbia River Gorge and off to the north in the state of Washington, Mount Rainier and Mount Adams were covered in brilliant white snow.  I tried to take a picture, but the quality of the photo wouldn't due justice to the view.  I did find a link on the web of someone who did capture the scene from an airplane.  I rented a car in Portland, and made the three hour drive to Cory's home in Roseburg.

Molly had to work Thursday, but Cory had the day off.  We and I decided to take a hike to the Callahans, a range of rock outcrops that is a favorite of local climbers.  In fact, both Cory and Molly climb here too.  The trail was a steep one, but the view from the top was worth it.

The Callahans rock outcrops as seen from the parking area.

View from the top.

Cory looking at some of the clear cut logging in the distance.

An example of the many climbing faces.

  We got back to the house about noon, and Molly texted that she could get the afternoon off.  We went to lunch, and then hit a couple of wineries for tastings.  The first was Rustle Vineyards.  Cory is a member, so the tastings were free, and the service was exquisite!  We tasted four wines, while sitting in an outdoor courtyard.  There were several groups of people tasting, but each group was served individually, and four different foods were served with each tasting.  Of course, the wine isn't exactly cheap.  Cory, as a member, could get a 20% discount, which softened the blow.  We bought several bottles in the $24 range.

Courtyard at Rustle Winery.

Enjoying a tasting with Molly.

Then we moved on to HillCrest Vineyards, the oldest Estate Vineyard in Oregon, and the birthplace of the first Pinot Noir in Oregon.  The winery only sells their wine out of their shop.  It cannot be bought in stores.   HillCrest is owned by the DeMara family, and the tasting was conducted by Mr. DeMara.  We were the only ones there at the time, so the tasting was long, informal, and very informative.  I even got to teach Mr. DeMara about maple syrup.  He had no idea how it was made, and in fact thought it came from the tree in the form of a liquid much like honey.  He offered to trade male syrup for wine next time I visited.  Molly is a member of HillCrest, so we got the 20% discount and bought a few bottles.  Again, it was not cheap.  I'm starting to learn that good craft wine costs a few bucks more than the mass produced generics.

We ended the day by grilling some steaks.  It was so warm and nice, that we ate outside on the deck.  Another hike and some more tastings tomorrow.  On Saturday we plan to drive to Bend, Oregon and spend a couple days exploring.  The weather forecast for the next few days is sunny and in the 80's.  Can't beat it!!  Stay tuned.......