Roaming the streets

The cow and I had to take his bike rim to get fixed again so we strolled through the streets of NW on a great afternoon. We sat and had a cup of joe in Jamieson square park and went downtown and stumbled upon the Poets at Work in from of the Central Library. We had a glass of wine and Nicoise salad in the sunlight as I was thinking I wanted a second glass, we headed home, sat out on the deck, I drank wine and graded papers and got a bit of sun on my pale skin. Lovely.

FREE Stuff

Hanging on my door the other day was a present from Trimet, our local transportation people here in Portland. I had mailed in a request for FREE items and voile there they were hanging on my door. Later I found out they delivered by bike messanger.

I received a nifty umbrella - good quality - keeps me walking in the rain, a couple of coupon books to use in my local area as well as one for a bit farther when I am on my bicycle, I got many new maps, a nozzle for the water hose, some seeds for herbs, a great bag that my school binders fit perfectly into and the best gift in the package was a PEDOMETER. It is not in the picture because I was wearing it at the time of the shot.

Eugene - Go Ducks!

A couple of weeks ago I had the delightful opportunity of taking ten Aloha High School students to a Model United Nations conference in Eugene, Oregon. I want to point out that the U of O is thought of as the Chico State of Oregon.

The campus is beautiful. It is a blend of old and new. Some of the buildings - Gerling Hall - reminded me of an old Enlish lodge where men with big cigars would be sipping cognac. There are miles of bike trails along the Willamette river with sports venues everywhere. I was amazed at the amount of money and prestige that sports brings to a school (remember I went to Sacramento State). This is the alma mater of Bill Bowerman, Steve Prefontaine and, of course, Phil Knight.

The city of Eugene has a vital downtown on the opposite side of the campus. It has wine bars, bookstores, independent clothing stores, etc. I also found Steelhead Brewery (there is one in Irvine if your interested els) and brought a little treat back for the cow. He loves beer so I picked out the hoppiest one they had and he loved it.

Hood River Ride

The cow and I took our bikes near Hood River for a ride on the Historic Scenic highway between the town of Hood River and Mosier. It was gorgeous. You climb high above the Columbia river and follow the switchbacks and up and downs all the way to Mosier. During the ride you also go through what is called "the twin tunnels." It is very scary and very dark.

Picnic in the park

I know I am a bit behind but I am trying! A couple of Friday's ago the temperature was 70 degrees. The cow created a little picnic, we went down to the "french" guys wine store bought some vin and meandered down to the river. We watched dogs and people socialize, the river roar by and a cop patrol the area (no picture - I was trying not to get caught drinking, down by the river).

Oh yeah, the picture at the top is of a glass wine cork...has anyone seen these yet? They work rather well - it just pops right back into the bottle.

Birthday No. 38

The cow turned another year older and I hope he enjoyed the weekend spent in the Willamette Valley Wine (WVW) country. He left work early on Friday and we drove about an hour into the valley between Carlton and Newburg for a sampling of grapes. The day was warm, warm, warm!

We used the WVW map to guide our path of afternoon tasting. First stop, Adelsheim Vineyards. Very well known in the area as being one of the first families in the valley.

I know we stopped at a few on the first day but my NEW favorite place is Penner Ash. The view from this hilltop winery is fantastic. They have built a brilliant wood focused tasting room and also have a massive dining area for wine makers dinners with a state of the art kitchen. They had four wines offered we purchased the Roseo and Rubio, both fabulous.

Late afternoon on Friday we found our hacienda for the weekend - Abbey Road Farms. The proprietors have taken an old horse farm and turned it into a small goat farm. They make a variety of mild goat cheeses which were offered at breakfast with homemade bread. The owners, John and Judy. seemed to have "cashed out" of Vegas and have built the lodgings on the farm out of old grain silos. There custom built house on the same property was quite impressive. I would say that John likes to hear himself talk about the successes he has created and Judy really loves animals and is very excited and proud of their adventures. The lamb (Shadow) being fed by Judy is only a week old. Shadow was abandoned at birth by mom after a stressful delivery.

Saturday we awoke to a cloudy cool morning but by the afternoon we found ourselves parked on a winery patio enjoying the sun on our skin and closing the place down. I will not go into great detail but the town of Carlton is where to be if you are young, have energy and are willing to work to make wine. It is a quaint, cute walkable town and we enjoyed four wineries within a three block radius. We drank great wine all day: R. Stuart (BigFire), Panther Creek, Solena cellars, Scott Paul, The Tasting Room, Zena and lastly Cuneo Cellars (great patio).

The big birthday dinner was a drive to Dayton for the historic Joel Palmer House Restaurant (think antebellum mansion with a porch that screams MINT JULEP). This is the mushroom forager of the Northwest. I was looking forward to this dinner for a very long time. We ordered the Mushroom Madness Five-course dinner. All mushroom all night long.

Menu: Wild Mushroom soup, Three mushroom tart, Portobello/Onion,Gouda and Red Pepper Puree, Truffles, crab, scallops, and shrimp in creamy Riesling sauce, Crab Cakes with porcini duxelles and mustard vinaigrette, Salmon with chimichuri sauce over quinoa, desserts were strange with candied mushrooms on top. What a great way to spend a weekend, we were very happy driving home under a full moon that lit the farm land like it was daylight.