Blog posts from Oregon
Pacific Northwest, June 2022: Oregon waterfalls

Pacific Northwest, June 2022: Oregon waterfalls

With an open afternoon and good weather we headed south out of the Willamette Valley to Silver Falls State Park to do some hiking. We'd been there on a summer trip in 2016, and we were hoping that...

Pacific Northwest, June 2022: introduction

Pacific Northwest, June 2022: introduction

Oregon and Washington are amongst our most visited US states, and with good reason — they have an wide range of natural beauty, plus great food scenes including amazing wineries and breweries....

Oregon 2021: wineries

Oregon 2021: wineries

Because of COVID we had to make reservations in advance for each place, so we only did 1-2 places per day, which forced us to relax at each a bit more than in previous trips. Arborbrook Our first...

Oregon 2021: Willamette Valley restaurants

Oregon 2021: Willamette Valley restaurants

Rosmarino Osteria Italiana, Newberg Probably our favorite restaurant in the valley (other visits), if they had been open on Wednesday we would have gone for our anniversary. Alas, this year they...

Oregon 2021: Willamette Valley sights

Oregon 2021: Willamette Valley sights

In addition to the coast and our wine tastings, we also checked out two parts of McMinnville, downtown and the Mason-Rivera Sculpture Garden. It's been a few years since we'd last been in...

Oregon 2021: coastal drive

Oregon 2021: coastal drive

We left our Monday free of wine tasting reservations in the hopes of visiting the Oregon coast, and thankfully, the weather cooperated with our plans. Our plan was to check out the section from...

Oregon 2021: Portland

Oregon 2021: Portland

Our Oregon trip was bookended by days in Portland. On Sunday morning, we checked out of the Holiday Inn and headed to the Gateway Breakfast House for breakfast. They were busy! After a short 10...

Oregon 2021: introduction

Oregon 2021: introduction

If you asked us in 2019 where we would go for our 20th anniversary, we likely would have replied with somewhere in Asia, or perhaps the Pacific. Fast forward to 2021, and we did end up along the...

Oregon Wine Tasting, Dec 2019

Oregon Wine Tasting, Dec 2019

Since we are members of two wine clubs in the Willamette Valley, we wanted to get out to there to do some tasting of the wines that had been released and get a feel for what would be released soon....

Oregon: Willamette Valley – Food + Drink

Oregon: Willamette Valley – Food + Drink

Babica Hen Cafe — This was our second visit for dinner and as expected the burgers were still delicious. We opted for wine during this visit and found their choices just okay. I think beer is a...

Oregon: Willamette Valley – wine tasting

Oregon: Willamette Valley – wine tasting

Dominio IV — Our first stop coming in from the coast, we didn't get a chance to taste on our last trip so Eric wanted to make this place a priority. We arrived to a small crowd that quickly thinned...

Oregon: Cannon Beach

Oregon: Cannon Beach

For our overnight on the coast Cannon Beach was a good spot since it put us within walking distance of several restaurants.  We had a free Hotels.com night to use, and one of the few places that had...

Oregon: the coast

Oregon: the coast

After a leisurely drive from Portland we reached our first stop along the coast, Ecola State Park. The road through the park takes you through a lush green forest before ending at Indian Beach and...

Pacific NW: Willamette Valley, day 2

Pacific NW: Willamette Valley, day 2

We met our friend from college, Nate Wall, at Day Wines for a tasting and tour. Got to try a bunch of different wines and have a great conversation about wine making methods.    Our next destination...

Our Itinerary

2024 Trips

San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Valencia, Spain (Mar)
Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Bari, Italy (Sept)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)

2022 Trips

Florida (Feb)
NC Mountains (Apr)
Washington DC (Apr)
Valencia, Spain (May)
Hilton Head, SC (May)
Pacific NW (Jun)
Long Island (Jul)
Florida (Sept)
Chicago (Sept)
Poland (Sept)
NC Mountains (Nov)
Euro Xmas Markets (Dec)