When we go to EPM, we stay for a relatively short period of time. The first time was three nights only. We knew that wasn’t enough… The next two were four each. That seemed about right, but we never left the resort.

This time, we went for four days and decided to do an excursion. There was only one day that all of my friends would be there, too, so we set the excursion for our first full day. In retrospect, three full days is not long enough when one of them is an excursion day. That said, if you’re going to do it at all, doing it on the first day is the best time.

We had heard great reviews of M & M yachts, right at the marina next to the resort. I debated whether to walk over there in the morning or to take the transportation. It was definitely better to take the transportation because it was confusing to see where the boat was, and how to get into the marina without someone there to greet us. (I like to have things planned), and at $10 a person round trip, why not! If you’re taking an excursion, you can check at the bellhop desk at the front, and they’ll lend you towels for the day. They’re free, you just have to sign for them.

Day 2 was just as windy as day one. We considered rescheduling. M&M was great to work with, but Friday was the only day all eight of us would be there – so we decided to go. The trip was $150 per person for a 4 hour trip which included drinks and made to order ceviche and guacamole. It could be as much or as little of a booze cruise as you wanted it to be.

The boat holds 14 people plus the three crew members. Still, many of the 8 of us are not small people, so I’m glad that we didn’t have anyone else. Eight was the most that fit on the outside of the back of the boat comfortably. We could have gone downstairs, but you can’t really see much from there. It’s a perfectly comfortable boat. It has sofas, a kitchen, and a small bathroom. Plenty of places to be for a few hours.

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None of us are HUGE snorkelers, nor did we really want to spend the day on Isla Mujeres, so we just decided a 4 hour boat ride was plenty. In the end, it was A LOT choppier than we were anticipating. And, because it was so choppy, there really wasn’t a chance to do any snorkeling.

Still, for me? I thought the day was GORGEOUS. Windy enough that it never got hot, and it made for a fun and wild ride. For those with motion sickness issues, though, not quite as glorious… We took the ride out to Isla Mujeres to where the water is so strikingly blue and clear all the way to the bottom (about 15 feet).

Eventually, we found a place smooth enough to jump in. It’s been YEARS since I jumped off the back of a boat into water. I forgot you kind of have to swim to get to the top… BUT after a minor moment of panic I resurfaced!!! The service couldn’t have been better the whole trip. The ceviche was fresh caught grouper, and the drinks were great. We road the boat back into some glass smooth inlets where they bring all of the boats in case of a hurricane, and we saw some of the big gorgeous houses of the rich and famous (Kenny Chesney’s was one.)

Since our trip was early we got back pretty early, too. When we returned, we could see Diego at the martini bar, so we made a run for him.

Dear old dad made a run for him, too and had his own personal wipe out down those famous lobby stairs. Hopefully his first will also be his last. We all have to fall at EPM at sometime, right? This was the first time I got medical insurance specifically for the trip, and I suggested to my parents to get some, too. They did, and I’m glad that no one had to use it.

It was only 1 o’clock or so, and I hadn’t been to the beach yet, so I decided to get a few hours in. It was almost deserted. Only one bali bed was taken. I loved sitting there with the wine whipping around for an hour or so.

After a bit, my mom came to join my husband and me. We wandered around the resort for awhile and took my mom to see some of the nooks and crannies. We had a mojito tasting scheduled, so we decided to get a quick bite at aroma before going back to the room to get cleaned up. I love their little snacks and sandwiches when you don’t need a whole lot.

We had done the tequila tasting before and the mixology. They’re $25 per person added to the total, and they are always so fun and informative! I learned about Sir Frances Drake beginning the mojito and also about Hemingway mojitos… which are now my new favorite. They are made with sparkling wine instead of club soda.

Now, I’m no quitter, but there is NO WAY that I could have made it through ALL of those mojitos. I think it was six each? In the end, we got to choose our own mix based on the ingredients. I had an apple, ginger, Hemingway mojito made with Captain Morgan rum. I recommend it! It was fantastic!

From there, it was time for dinner. Six from our group chose to go to Flavor Market. Last time we were there, we just asked the waiter to keep bringing us his favorite. That probably would have been a better bet this time as well. It was a wonderful dinner, and plenty of food, but I’m not sure that all my choices were the best. I did a TERRIBLE job of taking pictures, but the charcuterie board may have been my favorite of all. The octopus was good as was the Spanish omelet. I didn’t dislike any of it, but I was disappointed in the potatoes and the paella. I also think my question about the gorgonzola filet special was lost in translation. Still, it was good. We also ordered a Mexican wine that I hadn’t had before which we really liked: the Duetto. I think it was about $125 on the list. I’ve been able to find it for around $80 on wine searcher, so not a bad markup at all. We like to buy wines that are harder to get in the US if we choose off the list. (We buy A LOT of wine at home.)

It seemed I was actually about to make it to a show! I went with my parents to the circus show, and I was REALLY impressed. I thought the acrobatics were great, and the costumes wonderful as well.

It was silent party night, but that’s not really my scene. Besides, the next day was my first full day AT the resort, and I definitely had a sunrise to get up to see!

When we planned this trip back in November 2019, I think I had heard the “Coronavirus” mentioned. It was a China thing, nothing I was thinking about a whole lot, ESPECIALLY not for November 2020. I planned with no concern at all.

I invited my parents to join as well as two other couples, both of whom had traveled to the resort in the past. We all booked our club level rooms during Black Friday, and that was really the end of it.

Then, came March and the US shut down. Still, November was a LONG way away… couldn’t REALLY be a problem, could it? Then, the RESORT shut down. Still, November was a long way away. We booked flights, with fingers crossed. There were none of those non-stop flights which we love from Austin. Still, going through Houston couldn’t be TOO bad. Finally, the resort reopened, COVID numbers started to go down.

Then, just weeks before the trip, they started to rise again, to even higher levels than before. We hemmed and hawed almost to the last possible second, wondering whether this was the most foolhardy undertaking we had ever considered. Still, we decided that the resort was no more (or less) dangerous than our day to day life, and we went. I am glad we did.

I took the day off before the trip to get all my paperwork printed (immigration form, excursion, room requests, Kalido travel voucher, confirmation, etc.) and all of my items assembled (clothes, power cord, fan, Liquid IV, champagne stopper, fire stick). I like Southwest because I can pack everything I will need and MIGHT need. I like to make my room feel like home for those few days.

Other than the worry of getting sick, I quite like airport travel during COVID. The airports are EMPTY, and on Southwest, until the end of this month, the middle seats are unoccupied. Our travel was totally non-eventful, just as you would hope it would be! When we landed at about 1:30 Thursday afternoon, there was NO ONE in the immigration line. Customs was merely a question for each of us as we walked through, and our luggage was already waiting. We were out of the airport in less than 15 minutes. I’m not exaggerating. And the always punctual Kalido was ready and waiting for us. We were to the resort before 3:00.

Glasses of champagne were handed out and we were escorted immediately to the club lounge for checkin. It was a little confusing because my friends and parents were there with us, and all three couples were checking in at the same moment, so there was lots of talking through plexiglass as our requests were taken. They wanted to let us know of their COVID precautions and to schedule our housekeeping and turn down to be sure we wanted it, and to be sure that they did it when we weren’t in the room. No sooner were we seated than the ninja guest services manager, Carolina Paz, was at my side. She is EVERYWHERE all at once! She welcomed us back to the resort and wanted to see if we had plans for dinner.

Actually, I did. I love Mexican food on the first night, so we opted for Agave. She said since there were six of us she wanted to be sure we had a chance to eat together if we wanted to, so we made plans to meet at 7 o’clock.

I had made some requests before we arrived (building 8B, Bailey’s in my room, Viscofresh pillows). All requests were met EXCEPT the room; however, when we got to the room, I’m glad that request was NOT met. I had room 8154 in building 8A, overlooking the grill and lobster house. Supposedly this was a pool view room. It was, sort of, but really? The view of the ocean was amazing. It wasn’t just a glimpse. It was expansive and wonderful. I’ll be requesting that again if at all possible.

As we were being escorted to the room Zuri, our building concierge stopped us to see if we had any requests. Our only request was to lower our room temperature to 64, which was promptly done. Our room did feel slightly humid and smell slightly musty, but damprid takes care of that in no time at all.

We dropped our bags and went to The Grill for lunch. I had another couple of friends who were staying, and I ran by the building 8 pool to greet them briefly before lunch.

I had the corn soup, which I’ve had before. Richard had the grouper ceviche, which he also loved. Then, the club sandwich just called out to me. (I’ve had the fish tacos most other times.) I’m glad it did! It was SO good. I need to be better at taking pictures of my lunch food, but it was an excellent club sandwich. It was bigger than I expected, but so good!

After that, I had intended to get into a pool, but it was already getting close to time to get ready for dinner! (Isn’t that the way it goes on vacation? Finish a meal and then plan another?) Still, I thought we’d stop in to the martini bar to see Cesar before going back to unpack. It was the very beginning of his shift, so we were actually able to talk for a bit. I knew his daughter had started at Princeton. She is back visiting for the month, and I love to see his pride as he talks about her. I had no idea she’d also been accepted at Stanford, Duke, and a myriad of other universities! He eventually sent us on our way with a peanut butter jelly shot!

Back to the room to unpack. There are drawers and shelves EVERYWHERE, so it’s very easy to make the room feel like a home. There is plenty of space to put all of your items and unpack completely while stowing the suitcases away.

When we walked into Agave, we were pleasantly surprised to see another of our favorite friends manning the bar. TNT himself, Tonatiuh!!! And when you see Tona, you have no choice but to get yourself a Tonatini, right?

I was SLIGHTLY disappointed to be seated inside instead of in the gorgeous courtyard, but I’m sure that was because they didn’t have a larger table outside. The disappointment was VERY short lived.

Francisco, our waiter, was excellent and gave us some of his favorite choices. I mean, you can’t really go to Agave without the Oaxaca mixed cheese can you? I veered away from his suggestion some, however, and went with the Enmoladas. Oh. my. goodness. I have had a lot of tasty dishes at Excellence, but this may have been my favorite ever. They don’t have menus at the restaurant right now. You have to have your phone and look at the app to order, but at least this way it wasn’t too dark to see it! I ended with the ice cream trio, also spectacular!

It had been a long day of travel. Still, I was determined to make it to the fire show for white night.

Because of COVID, white night was QUITE reduced. It was really just a few decorations and no buffet. It was also VERY windy our first few days there, so the “fire” show was in the theater as opposed to on the Prelude square. Maybe the fire came out later, but all we really saw were some Christmas light like butterfly costumes. They were pretty, but none of the fire I’ve been used to in the past.

We had a pick up for a boat ride at 8:20 AM the next morning, so we decided to call it a night and go back to the room. We’d brought an Amazon Firestick and hooked it up. I was thrilled! Friends is no longer available in the US but it is in Mexico, so why not watch some comfort TV and get ready for bed! We couldn’t get the regular remote to work with it, but we were able to hook up the room remote and all was well!

Coming back to EPM really does feel like coming home. I was sated, exhausted, and ready to go on my first excursion the next day.

For the most part, four nights is plenty long enough for me for a vacation anywhere.  The bear is the same.  This is ESPECIALLY true when it comes to wine vacations.  You can only drink all day so many days in a row before your palate and your liver both cry, “uncle!”

Day four was Sunday, and Randy had arranged with me earlier in the week to meet him out where he takes some of his own grapes.   He has several experimental barrels of his own wine and one amphora of rose.  First, we got to taste his white pinot noir.  All grape juice is basically white; it gets its color from its time on the skins. This was my first taste of a white pinot ever, and I really enjoyed it for how clean and refreshing it was.  Next up was the rose of pinot.  I LOVED the one from his amphora.  It was absolutely delicious.   I could have finished it all myself!

He also let us taste two different pinot noirs–one with the grapes destemmed before barrel, once with the stems.  I, sadly, couldn’t tell which was which, but I definitely tasted a difference between the two.  We ended with the blend of the two.   I have never had a pinot that young out of the barrel.  Spending time with a former student AND getting to taste his wines was an absolute highlight of the trip.

While at Craft Wine Company we also had a chance to taste some of the other wines sourced from his vineyard (Vitae Springs) along with a few others.  This is definitely one of our favorite types of places to go.   Smaller production winemakers have banded together at this facility.  They buy wines from a variety of grapegrowers.   It’s the best way to geek out and try something other than just chardonnay and pinot noir , which make up the bulk of the valley.  Here, we bought a Gruner Vettliner made from before Randy’s family purchased Vitae Springs.  Note on the tastings:  I wasn’t surprised that everything, including the chardonnay, was served at cellar temperature (warmer than cool).  They want you to really TASTE the wines.  What WAS interesting is that most places served the chardonnay LAST.   In general, when I’ve tasted before, it’s lightest to heaviest.  In the valley, however, they love the acid in their wines, so they like to go from least acidic to most acidic.  I thought that was super interesting!

It was time to say “ta ta for now” before we headed off to our last two tastings.   The first was one of the best known in Willamette, Domaine Serene.  This is one of those giant facilities complete with gift shop and rewards points based on number of purchases.   During the non COVID days, this is one of the types of places that would have the tour buses pulling up all day long.   That does not, however, take away from how gorgeous the building is or how tasty the wines were.   This place probably had the biggest variety in overall taste of pinots.  They ranged from the ultra BIG heavy pinots to very delicate and elegant.   We chose to taste outside, and I’m glad we did… but it was time to say goodbye to the cool Oregon days.  It had been in the 70s the previous two days.  It got up to 100 for us on our last day.  I suppose it acclimated us back to Texas…

Our final tasting of the trip was at Penner Ash.   I am running out of words to describe places that are “breath taking,”  “stunning,” “beautiful,” and “gorgeous,” but Penner Ash was all of those.   Part of its drama comes from the VERY long and narrow road you take from the valley floor all the way up a winding road to the top of the hill.  Their own vineyard is actually quite small.   They primarily buy from other vineyards in the Willamette valley and sell mostly single vineyard offerings.   Then, they have one final wine “Pas de Nom” which blends the best of each vineyard together.   This was a lovely way to end the trip–tasting pinots from all over the valley.

From there, it was time for our second and last dinner reservation.  We LOVE tapas and had seen great reviews for La Rambla in McMinnville.  It most definitely did not disappoint.  Our server told us to start with 2 or 3 starters if we were ordering the paella.   The paella took almost and hour, but it was worth the wait.  Had we known how huge it was, we would have ordered less tapas to begin, and would have skipped the lamb/blue cheese nachos, but I’m almost glad I didn’t know because they were AMAZING!

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We pretty much had to roll ourselves home after all that!   We saved the paella for breakfast the next morning.

The next day was just a travel day.  When we wine travel, we collect our wine in a box and ship it back.  It’s easier than trying to check it and cheaper than having it sent from the wineries.  Newberg Mail Room had a deal for half price one day shipping for a case, so we stopped on the way to the airport, and dropped it off.

Went to the gas station (where someone pumped our gas–so cute, Oregon), and we were on our way.  Our flight to Denver ran late and was nearly sold out.  We just BARELY made the flight from Denver to Austin which WAS sold out…  but we landed in time and ran to the gate.

Now, we’re home safe… I’m certainly not craving any wine any time soon, but the trip was amazing!   I recommend it to ANYONE!

Day three was our furthest vineyard from the house, back south toward Salem and Bethel Heights

This winery was just out-of-this-world beautiful.

Here, we were fortunate enough to do a tasting known as “Beyond the Block” where we got to do side by side tastings of two different generations of wine makers and what they chose to do with the same grapes.  We got to taste indoors in the library under a gorgeous wisteria tree.  We were the only two in the room.

Then, we were escorted in the vineyard to taste the chardonnay right beside the vines.   It was amazing the difference in flavor based on whether or not the grapes were “high wire” (just four feet above the ground) or on the ground itself.

I can’t say enough good things about this particular tasting.   It was magical, and I think we’ll have to join the club.

When we do a wine trip, we love to ask about places that are doing new or unusual things in wine making.  We had a second tasting scheduled for the day, but we had a little time to go someplace else between tastings.   Our wine hostess, Betsy,  suggested DuPonte Cellars.  She told us that they are doing a 2017 Sparkling Melon de Bourgogne.

They were kind enough to squeeze us in for a tasting.  The sparkling wasn’t on the tasting, but we bought a bottle for later that evening.  I’m so glad we went!   The venue was a little more casual than some of the others, and it was a very nice break in the day.

From there, we went to Domain Drouhin. This is a very interesting place.  It partners with the same winemaker from Drouhin in France and has for four generations.   It’s possible that COVID will make this the FIRST year the winemaker is not able to travel to the US in order to be part of the winemaking process.   Here, we tasted the same grapes and the same vintages both from France and Oregon.  It was so much fun to taste the nuances between the two!

Then, we were finished for the day.  Even on vacation, Richard often likes to cook!   Since we were in Oregon and near the coast, the bear wanted seafood.  I WANT to like seafood, so I was happy to have him pick up some cod and some oysters from Northwest Seafood market. This is also why we like to stay at VRBO’s than we do at a hotel.  Usually they have some really nice setups for grilling and outdoor eating.

The sparkling was just as wonderful as Betsy suggested it would be!   Two days down…  just one more to go!!!   Three days of wine in a row is about all I can take!

 

The bear and I were musing about how we USED to do the wineries.   Our first wine trip outside of Texas was for our honeymoon in 2007.  We would get up and start at 10 AM and taste until 4PM:  open to close for the wineries.  We STILL do that.   Back then, however, we’d hit six or seven a day… often just standing at the bar and going through the lineup.

That was okay,  but doesn’t compare the the EXPERIENCES we have now.  I LOVE the education part of wine.  To be honest, it doesn’t really stick with me.  I have teflon brain when it comes to wines which is very frustrating to me.  I don’t remember the tastes, and I don’t remember all of the stories, but I sure like being there.  Now, instead of six or seven, three is about our limit.  Even then, we don’t have time to stop for lunch.

We do have an advantage when it comes to tastings, most wineries do free or discounted tastings for “industry.”   Because Richard cooks up food pairings and I do some paper work for our friend’s wine bar, we are “industry.”  If you know people in the industry, and want to save some money (for us, it gets close to $1,000 in savings per trip between tasting fees, which range USUALLY $20-$50 per person and discounts on wine which is usually between 20 and 30 percent), you might want to talk to your industry friends.  If they can set up tastings for you, that can be quite a bonus.

So, our first tasting was at Argyle wines.  They are the premier sparkling wine house in the Willamette.  I’m surprised by how few do sparkling…  Champagne is made from pinot noir, pinot meunier, and chardonnay… so I would think that there would be a lot more sparkling in the valley since most of the wineries focus on chardonnay and pinot noir…  but there really wasn’t much.

 

I’m not going to describe the COVID precautions over and over because they were all basically the same, but it was that patrons wear masks while up out of their seats, they take them off while they’re seated.   Most tastings were outdoors.  All tastings were spread very far apart.  Most places limited tastings to an hour to accommodate for other guests.   All hosts wore masks, and most didn’t handle our glasses at all.  Many places poured the wine in a carafe which we picked up and poured in our glasses.  None of this felt particularly weird or impersonal.

 

We did both the sparkling and the mixed flights.  We each did one and switched and shared.   When we travel, we usually ask the first winery for a case box, and we just collect our wines along the way, and ship back to ourselves at the end of the trip.  (More on that on the last day.)   I’m glad we started at Argyle.  First of all, starting with sparkling is a always a good idea.  Secondly, it was so pretty, but I may not have noticed how lovely it was if we had gone to the other truly spectacular venues first.  Argyle is in the center of downtown Dundee, not on a vineyard at all.  Its grounds are quite pretty, and I thought maybe that’s what Oregon tasting would be like as opposed to Napa.  I was wrong…

We stopped by our vacation rental and had some quick cheese and crackers before going off to spectacular view number one at Adelsheim.   Our fabulous Austrian host sat us outside on the edge of a gorgeous vineyard.  We were surrounded by cabanas.   All of the wines were set up on a barrel… and they JUST. KEPT. COMING.   Each time we said we liked something another new wine would show up…  chards and pinots galore.   There was even one syrah thrown in there for good measure.  You could feel the Pacific breeze coming in through the Van Duzer corridor on the amazing day.

After our tasting, I looked up the hill at the top of the vineyard and saw a garden, Richard warned me that it was a bigger hike than I was expecting.  He was right, but I’m still so glad we trudged up.   The views were so phenomenal.  I truly wish I had the photography skills to capture them.   Instead of mulch, much of the ground cover was hazelnut shells.  The weather was spectacular and the perspective of looking back down at the winery from the top of the hill was breathtaking.

From there, it was back to downtown Dundee and Evening Land.  If you ask many people in the wine industry, they will say that Evening Land is making the best wine in the valley right now.  It is a project between VERY famous sommelier Rajat Parr and Sashi Moorman.   This was a very intimate and fun tasting.  It was just us in the tasting room in Dundee.  Our wine host let us try the lineup along with some very fun experimental wines.   We had a great time, and I would have to agree the wines were likely the best we had the whole trip.

Then, it was time for a quick trip home to clean up before the Joel Palmer House for dinner.  The restaurant is famous for its mushrooms and has been in the Willamette Valley for four generations.  We had found out the day before that my former student’s girlfriend Alexis is the sommelier at the restaurant, so we were very excited to see her again.

We say out on the patio for a lovely experience with the mushroom madness menu.  There were two options on the menu, so Richard and I each ordered a different option and then shared.  They were all wonderful.

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After our meal, Alexis surprised us with a tour of the wine cellar.   We walked back through the kitchen and met the chef, then down the basement steps to a cellar packed with some of the best wines out of Oregon, including a wine made at Beaux Freres by Robert Parker (wine critic) himself.

When you travel for wine and food, you get to learn so much about the people and the regions where you travel.  You get to meet and speak with some of the kindest, smartest, and most interesting people around!

Our first full wine day in Oregon was behind us, and we were more than excited to enjoy day two!

 

 

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.

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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!

Warning:  Reading this may change your opinion of me, and not in a good way…

Hmmm… am I really going to publish this?  I’m not sure.

I sometimes publish just because I know other people read and think “same, girl…” and I want THEM to have that feeling.  I write because it feels good to me.  I publish because I want others to understand that they’re not alone…

Sometimes, though, when it comes to this quarantine and this pandemic, I feel I am alone.

Let me tell you about my COVID feelings.   I believe it’s real.  I believe the pandemic is real. I don’t believe the numbers are inflated.  I think that many people really did die from it.  Even if they did have pre-existing conditions, they were living with those… COVID killed them.

I don’t think it’s the same number of people who die every year from the flu or anything else.  I think a lot more people have died around the world in 2020 than other years during the first five months of this year.

But here’s my other thought…  this is the one that may give you the “shivers.”  They were going to die someday anyway.  Me, too.  You, too.  How much should we do to pretend that we can cheat death for awhile?

“Yes…but if we would stay home for another three months, they could live another twenty years.  You can’t take three months to give your mom twenty years?”

First of all, yes… I can stay home.  I just don’t want to.  But there’s really nowhere I can go right now…   Secondly, I can assure you my mom doesn’t want the whole world to stay inside so that she can live another twenty years.  Thirdly, there’s something to be said for quality of life and the reality of just HOW MUCH good we’re doing.

or “Fine, if you know that you’re just going to die someday anyway… why not do it now… what’s stopping you?”

I didn’t say I WANT to die… I said I’m GOING to die.  I do the basics to prevent it.  I look both ways when I walk out in to traffic, but there are other things I SHOULD do if I wanted to live forever–eat better, drink less, exercise more.  I don’t do those things because I ENJOY food.  I enjoy wine..  that’s part of my quality of life.  I’m willing to have those things knowing that I’ll probably die earlier.  Quality of life matters.

Has the quality of my life really diminished THAT much in the last two months.  Um, yes… it has.   Enough that I would be willing to kill people to get my life back?  No, but I’m super pragmatic. We’re all going to die even if I stay in my house for eternity.  If I go to Mexico, I’ll die happier.

And why does everyone keep forgetting that the goal was about the hospitals… and when the hospitals DIDN’T get overrun… and showed no real signs of it happening, instead of rejoicing, we said, “Now let’s stay in longer and get rid of it.”  Huh?

Maybe my feeling on death is so out of ordinary.  Maybe that’s why I’m afraid to publish this.  Yes, I think death is sad.  I have no “denial ” part of it.  I understand the reality.  It makes me angry and depressed…  but no denial.  The people who have died suddenly in my life have ripped out huge chunks of my soul.  I’ll never recover from it.

But it’s also as much a part of life as birth.  From the moment we start breathing we know one day we’re going to stop….I feel like the idea that we shouldn’t travel, shouldn’t go plays, shouldn’t go to our friends’ and families’ houses is just this false feeling that we have some control over our own mortality.

Then I go back to how it’s ONLY been two months and 10 days…  that’s true… that’s a very short amount of time…

But how many things have been taken away from me in this very short life in those 2 months and 10 days? how many moments did I plan that I would remember forever that have already been stripped away.?  How many seconds have been stopped in their tracks when I wonder whether I’ll be allowed to have these new moments, to make my new plans.?

Would I feel the same way if my own parents got sick? Yeah, yeah I would.  Does that make me a monster?  To you it might, to them I know it doesn’t.

Would I feel the same if I got sick.  Oh, absolutely.  My only fear of death is that it won’t be quick.  That’s it.  So… if I got sick because I decided to experience life, would I think I was stupid for doing that?  No, no I wouldn’t.

Don’t be sad because it’s over… be glad because it happened.

So, on the last day, it’s still happening.  I get there as early as I can on day one and leave as late as I can on day 2 (within reason.  I don’t like hanging out at the resort when I don’t have a room.  Sure, I could use gym or spa showers to change and stuff, but it’s just a pain hauling that around with me.)   If you get there at noon and are sad your room isn’t ready, it’s me… it’s my fault… it’s because I check out at 11:59.

So we slept in on the last morning before making our way to Magna for breakfast.  It was early enough that the martini bar wasn’t even open, yet. I had some wonderful juices (one of them being a sparkling one with alcohol in it) and an excellent egg white omelet.  The brioche cart was as fabulous as everyone says it it.  It was super quiet up there.  Just the bear, me, and a couple of other “EPM Addicts.”

I told the bear that I wanted to wander the grounds for a bit.  The sun was out in full force after all the drizzly days, so some of the iguanas were getting their moments in the heat. 

I told the Bear I wanted to stop for a smoothie.  I really like “Tommy.”  It’s a celery based one, not too sweet and so tasty.  I know some people have said that the smoothie bar is closed when they pass it.  There’s not always someone in it, but when I’ve walked up to it, people have come up to man it.  No booze at that bar, but from 11-2 you can get a whole fresh coconut.  It’s a nice way to start a morning.

Back to the room and time to pack.  It’s always a little bittersweet.  Look, ok, I know it’s controversial and all to take the ENTIRE haul of Bvlgari products, but those things smell SO GOOD.  I’ve tried to buy them before, and they’re $10 EACH for those little tiny bottles. They replace them for you twice a day if you move them anywhere in the room! Yes, I have some guilt associated with it, but it’s not like I shoved the pillows in my suitcase.  (ha)!

The bellman called as soon as I was zipping the last suitcase at 11:30 and asked if we were ready.  They were in there in minutes, so we slogged off to the club lounge to check out.  It was starting to get cloudy and drizzly.  I felt bad for the new people, but I was glad to not be leaving on a sunny day.

We had one last drink.  (I had the “homemade gimlet” which was excellent.  I asked for it to be not too sweet…. there was no sweetness AT ALL, and I loved it.)  Then downstairs 5 minutes before Kalido was to pick us up.  The driver was already there.   Sheesh!   I love Kalido for being on time but another minute or two would have been okay!,  (ha)!

We did the sad drive away from the resort… probably won’t return for another year, although I’d love to sneak one in sometime before then.

The airport was a ghost town.  We were there almost three hours before our flight and it took us less than 15 minutes to get through security, but you never know!!!!  We meandered around duty free for awhile sipping on alcohol.  I was excited to know, however, that the terminal 4 lounge had opened since the last time we were there.  It’s a perk that comes with some credit cards (ours is Chase Sapphire Reserved) and a few other things.  I’ve been to the one in terminal 3 before, which is nice, but not THIS nice.  This one was exceptional.  It even had showers and places you could sleep if you wanted.   Upgraded liquor was available as was upgraded snacks, but the meats, soups, pasta, and cheeses were just fine with us.   I did order a rose, which was a mistake… turned out to be a sweet pink blush.  YUCK!   But it was free… so…

Our flight took off exactly on time and even got us home a tad early.  We have global entry, so we were off the plane and done with that within literal seconds, but still had to wait 10 minutes for luggage.   Again, reminding me that I’d like to do carryon, but how in the world could I take all my Bvlgari products if I did!!!???!!

We were actually home in time to go get Cava from boarding.  She was quite happy to see us at first, but later gave us the cold shoulder for leaving her so long.   I walked in the door, threw all the suitcases in the garage to deal with later.  We ordered a pizza and sat on the sofa snuggling the doggie… the end to another amazing trip,

I knew that the next day, I’d have to face classrooms full of 30+ high school juniors talking to them about research papers and synthesis essays.  Next year, I’m making sure this vacation ends with a break, so I’m not rolling into class and getting right back after it the next morning! 
Until next time, EPM… I can’t wait to see what trip #4 will bring…

 

I woke up the next morning and looked at the clock… 6:20.  Wait, I think I read on the Excellence Times that sunrise was at 6:50.   I started throwing everything I could think of into my beach bag.  The bear sleepily looked at me and said, “What are you doing?”

“Beach!”  I exclaimed.

“Now?” he asked…  I think he was back asleep before I answered.

I scurried down.  The air was warm and very, very still.  I was glad that I had brought plenty of insect repellent lotion and smeared it all over me.  I could SEE and HEAR some bugs, but they weren’t biting me. Back home, we were on a two hour delay for possible ice!

When I got to the beach, most of the covers were taken off the Bali beds because they had gotten very wet from all the rain the day before.  There was one, however, that was still on and it wasn’t bad at all.  I got an armload of towels.  (That’s one of my favorite things about this resort.  Towels are easily accessible EVERYWHERE, and you can have as many as you want!   They’re harder to come by at other resorts.)  It wasn’t long before Ignacio came along and did a far better job of setting up my bed than I had, but it was still a great morning and so worth it to be there for the sunrise.

 

I stayed down there for about 3 hours before the bear decided to join me.  I haven’t read a book in a stretch for that long in FOREVER. I was LOVING it.  Eventually, he joined me and had stopped at Aroma on the way over.  He had a bag of croissants and some coffee.  This is when I FINALLY figured out that coffee was the heartburn culprit, and didn’t make the mistake again.  I ventured down on the beach and went in the water for the first time since day one.  It was CRYSTAL clear.  I saw a small stingray hiding under the sand and enjoyed just splashing around.

Bear had said that he wanted at least some pool time, so we decided to walk up the beach to Las Olas for ceviche and burgers for lunch.  I love that place.  I love that they usually have live music going on and such a variety of things to taste.  Their fries weren’t as good there as that The Grill or at Toscana but everything else was very good.

 

We walked over to the main pool and we could only find one or two single chairs that weren’t taken, but I walked back behind the Sol bar over by the building 9 non-EC pool and the bathrooms and there were a BUNCH of spots that weren’t taken; we put our stuff there and got in the main pool for awhile.  I have always wanted to participate in one of the activities.  We played BINGO in the pool and it was a blast.  The rain started to come in again, still we stayed in the pool in the rain for a time before getting out.  We split a meat lover’s pizza from the wood fired oven, and it was great.  I also always love the cheese fingers at the Sports Bar… it wasn’t quite open, yet. We decided to spend just a little time at the building 8 pool before going back to the sports bar to have some of the cheese fingers.  They’re a tiny order of just three, so they’re not particularly guilt inducing… and so good with a beer after a long day of doing nothing.

Tuesday night was date night at Agave and something I’ve always wanted to try. We decided to go to The Lobster House to get just a steamed lobster as an appetizer; then, back to Agave for dinner.  When we got there, the hostess recognized me from my Facebook posts and gave us an extra special table just over the pool.  We both ordered tails–Mine, thermidor; bears, garlic butter.  It’s a different kind of lobster than Maine, but they do SUCH a good job there. Before it could come to us, however, the rain started to really come down and got our pretty table all wet.  No worries in paradise, though, we just scooted further in the restaurant and had our tails there.

 

The rain had lightened up… some… and we decided to make our way over to Agave.  The hostess gave us an umbrella to use, and we had to go down one of the few uncovered pathways at the resort.

I felt bad for them at Agave; you could tell that the setup had been even more romantic, but all of the candles in the open area had gone out from the rain and the tables were all pushed back under the covered parts.  It did make it QUITE stuffy.  The menu is different for date night.  You get a starter salad which was a tasty shrimp.  You have soup which was a creamy walnut, and I went with the vegetarian option, the bear went with the steak.  He said it was good.  Mine was good, too, except the artichoke did not taste fresh.  We decided to forgo dessert because we wanted to try the “famous” peanut butter cake at the grill.   The atmosphere and the music at Agave were lovely.  It was just so hot and stuffy!

 

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As we walked over the The Grill (again, the ONLY uncovered part of the resort) the rain started to threaten again.  We got in just in time, and the cake did not disappoint.z
The bear suggested we have ONE drink at Havana with Diego  (good luck with that), and we braved the rain one last time to go back between buildings 7 and 8.  It was rocking in there with our friends from night’s past and two lovely new couples from the UK.  The single drink was a double from the very beginning… followed by a few shots that Diego made for everyone, but then it was bedtime.

It was to be our last night in paradise for this time around.  Still, I knew we had until noon the next day, and it’s not like it was going to be our last trip!!!

So the forecast had said 90 percent rain all week.  So far, we’d only had a smattering of sprinkles here and there.  Waking up in paradise on Monday, however, was a full on downpour…  and a minor hangover… to start the day.

Call me kooky, but I’d never had a rainy day in paradise, and I was excited to see what it entailed.  I was amazed to watch the employees CONSTANTLY wiping down decks and skimming pools to make sure that things stayed pristine.  I saw some people, towels over their heads, running around and making the best of the situation.  I plopped down on the super comfortable balcony bed and read until I got hungry.  The bear stayed inside and played on his phone and watched TV.  I figured on a day like this room service would take a long time.  I figured wrong.  It still was only about 30 minutes.  The green chili chillaquiles with a couple of fried eggs on them….  Ohhhhhhhhhhhh my!   And, as always, the French toast was fabulous.  I had not figured out, yet, however, that the coffee was causing my insane heartburn, and had more on day 2.  Not a good plan.  It made me feel ooogie for most of the rest of the morning.  But I had The Blindside to watch and a compfy place to be.  Life was not so bad.

 

After lolling around lazily for the majority of the morning, we decided to see what was happening around the rest of the resort.  The thought that went into designing it is pretty amazing because you can get ALL the way from building 8 to the theater and the main building without ever stepping out into an uncovered area.  They had food set up in the theater and I braved some rice and got a club soda while nursing my heartburn.  They had a movie set up on the big screen, some people playing blackjack, and after the movie, a coconut making demo where you could have a coconut drink if you liked!  I’m sure they had been doing the activities that were scheduled to be by the pool in there all day long.

 

I walked over to the gym and got some chlorophyll water and was starting to feel human so went by Aroma and got a croissant.  The bear got an ice cream and we went inside the main building to go try a magnarita in the EC lounge.  I’m glad I tried one because I’ve seen so many people talk about them, but it was WAY too sweet for me.  I couldn’t have more than two sips before I switched to a sparkling wine with some dry vermouth and green tea.  That was WONDERFUL.

 

After that, we wandered back to the room.  The sun was starting to come out and I heard the band playing above the main pool.  I LOVED hearing the music and briefly considered canceling our mixology class for the day to go get some main pool party time, but realized I could always do it again next year.  So, instead, I took a jacuzzi in the room and opened the windows to the outside to hear the music.  The water always comes out a tad yellow in the beginning, so I just let it run until it runs clear, then I start over.  It’s so relaxing!

After that, it was time to head to mixology.  I already know I love Diego, and I had heard so many great things about the class.  It really was a blast!   Lots of molecular bartending with tequila caviar and vodka key limes.  We had some excitement in the beginning when Diego caught a scorpion under a glass.  We met many charming people from the Facebook page and had fantastic fun!

 

From there, it was off to Spice for dinner.  I’m trying to get to all the restaurants for dinner eventually.  We really liked Spice a lot.  The Dragon’s kiss sushi was excellent, the beef carpaccio was good.  The gyoza was fantastic.  I had the pad thai which I really liked.  The chicken in it was so tender.  The bear had the duck.  He liked it, but it was almost overwhelmingly spicy.  We shared an ice cream for dessert to help with some of the heat.

 

We went out to Prelude after that, but because of the rain, there wasn’t much going on, so we decided to head back to Havana.   Diego was finishing up the second mixology class and we went back to our seat at the bar.  All of the people from our class came back in along with some newcomers who had heard of Diego’s famous “jellyfish” shot.  He made one for everyone in the bar.  They’re really cool looking even if they aren’t my favorite flavors.  (It’s a mixture of a bunch of sweet stuff, the base is coconut rum and the “jellyfish” is Bailey’s.)

 

Since it was Monday, we decided to go back and check out silent disco.  They had moved it to the theater because of the rain, and people were having a BLAST.  Maybe one of these times I’ll participate!   I think I’d have to have other friends with me because it’s definitely not something the bear would enjoy.

 

When we got back to the room, we had towel art for the second time in a row!   I sat outside and listened to the resort for awhile before ending my wonderful third night in paradise.