Spring Trip 2015: Eugene and The Big Surprise

Thursday, May 14th to Sunday, May 17th.

Thursday:

One of the points of this trip is that we had decided to get married in Oregon.  While a few close friends and family were aware of this, most of my social network was not.  My son Cory and Judy's daughter Terri were going to be the witnesses.  Terri lives in Manhattan, NY and her flight was arriving in Eugene at 1:00 Thursday afternoon.

Thursday morning we went to the Lane County Clerk's Office in Eugene and applied for the marriage license, which turned out to be much simpler than I expected. We had to pay a nominal fee to wave the three day waiting period.

Friday:

Friday was our wedding day.  Molly and Terri set up a beautiful table setting on the picnic table.  The wedding officiant was Susan Sanford who specializes in ceremonies.  She had interviewed us several weeks ago by FaceTime, and she did a great job of personalizing the ceremony.  It was simple, short and private.  Just what we wanted.

 We broke out the champagne and grilled tenderloin steaks for dinner.  It was a very nice day!!

Saturday:

Today we went wine tasting, along with Terri, Cory and Molly.  Cory and Molly's best friends, Dustin and Jaime also came along.  We visited three wineries, King Estates, Sweet Cheeks, and Sarver.  We ended up buying a case of wine at Sarver.  Terri bought a case and had it shipped to NY.

All three wineries had incredible views with outdoor seating.

Sweet Cheeks Winery

Lunch at King Estates

View from Sarver Winery

We have noticed a pretty yellow flowered shrub along the countryside.  You can see some in the pictures above.  However, it turns out to be a pesky invasive plant.  Scotch Broom is  thriving in the Northwest.  We have seen it everywhere, especially along road sides and areas of timber cutting.  It is a pioneer species and moves into disturbed and open land.  It grows fast and then shades out new tree seedlings, thus slowing forest regrowth.  The damage to the Oregon timber industry is in the millions.

Sunday:

Cory and Molly picked us up at the campground and we went to the Cornucopia for lunch.  Molly's parents, Dan and Cathy,  joined us.

Micro brew tasting was the afternoon activity.  Dustin and Jaime met up with us again and we made three stops.  We visited Oakshire Brewery first, then Hop Valley and Ninkasi Brewing Company for tastings.

Hop Vally Brewing Company

We dropped Terri off at the airport about 6:00 PM for her red-eye flight home.  It was sad to see her go.  She and her dog Ollie had a great time with us in Eugene.

Cory and Molly headed back to Cory's house in Roseburg.  Judy and I ended the day around a campfire back at the campground.  Tomorrow we take the camper to Roseburg, where Cory lives, for a couple days.