It’s been a few years since we’ve done a wine trip. We had originally planned to go to Oregon for spring break, but then COVID-19 appeared. We were SURE it would all be over by the end of July, so we decided to go ahead and schedule…
Yet, here we are… We went back and forth on our decision. Is Oregon going to make Texans quarantine? Is this unwise or unsafe to go? Are we putting others at risk with our behavior? Oh, and then the federal government started sending unmarked vehicles into Portland to accost citizens who were protesting… plenty going on…
Anyway, we figured, when there’s no real end to ANY of this in sight, you have to do what you always do in life. Take your precautions and live…. so we did.
If you’re thinking about flying soon, I will tell you that, on United anyway, it’s really no different than it always is. I don’t know if it’s good or bad. They sent us a TON of information about what they were doing to keep things clean, so maybe it’s all behind the scenes? I also got information for all of my flights that they were going to be fairly full, and I could change them if I wanted to (But to when? The other flights were fairly full, too…) No, there were no temperature checks. No, I didn’t have to fill out any sort of contact tracing form. I did have to wear a mask the entire trip, but that was it… and I saw PLENTY of people in the airport wearing their masks on their chins… So, if that’s a big fear of yours, I want you to know that happens.
Anyhoo… I HATE changing planes, but that also seems to be a new thing in COVID travel. MANY less direct flights. There must be some part of the airline Tetris puzzle which taught them that it’s best to have people get on and off planes? Shorter flights that they can fit together better? I don’t know. Regardless, we jumped on a short commuter plane from Austin to Houston. When we got off in Houston, the next flight boarded less than 15 minutes later… which I guess is the way that most people like to book their connecting flights? I dunno. Anyway, we were off to our four hour flight to Portland… and my first time in Oregon overall.
Portland, even on an overcast day, is an absolutely stunning city. Sitting on the banks of the Columbia River gorge and at the foot of Mt. Hood, it’s absolutely gorgeous. If you’re flying in, try to sit on the left side of the plane for the best Mt. Hood views as you’re making your final descent.
We landed at around 1 PM and were getting ready to head off to Salem. One of my former students and his family purchased Vitae Springs Vineyard (like you’re going to say “vitamin,” but stop) a few years back. Randy has since become the vineyard manager/farmer/grape grower and lives there with a few roommates including his girlfriend who is the sommelier at the Joel Palmer House (more on that on day two.) His parents have a house on the adjoining property. They had generously invited us to come stay and make Salem our home base… but with pandemic and the fact that most of the wineries are about 45 minutes away, we elected to stay at a VRBO instead.
Still, spending time with our Freunds was the best part of the trip! Randy texted me to see when we’d be headed his way. I told him we’d grab some lunch then be out there. He told me he was whipping up some carnitas if we’d like to join, so we went out his direction instead.
There, we met the dogs, the chickens named after female philosophers and science fiction characters, and got to try some really fun craft wines, including a forced carbonation sparkly, that were great. (During most of my blog, I talk very little about wine itself. I talk about experiences. If you want to know about the wines, ask Richard.)
After an amazing lunch and promises to meet up again later, we traveled about 40 minutes into Newberg, in the center of the Willamette Valley wine
I found myself surrounded by a crop I’d never seen before! Hops! Very cool! Willamette may be known for their wine, but Portland is known for their beer. We plan to try far more of that on our next trip to Oregon.
I had lucked out BIG time finding the PERFECT place to stay at Two Maples Farms. (Pro hint, you get a better deal if you call them direct than if you book from VRBO. It’s about $100 a night). It had a roomy downstairs bedroom with a king sized bed and full bath and a living room upstairs with a full kitchen and half bath. It’s VERY private. I never saw the owners at all, but they provided everything we could possibly need. It was also VERY centrally located. It had lovely views out of many of the windows, air conditioning, very comfortable. We will stay again.
When we wine taste, we like to spend our money on the wine… not so much the food, so we always bring a collapsible cooler with us. We like to eat breakfast at home and get meats and cheeses for eating on the road for lunch. The first night, we generally just get a pizza from a local pizza place, so we drank a bottle of pinot with our Abbey’s pizza on the porch and got ready for day one of checking out the wineries!
Part-Time Teacher; Full-Time Human 