Monday was adventure in the wine country day. I had decided to take a drive out there to have a look around in case I got hired by the Pedal Bike Tours to go there with bikers later.
I headed towards Newberg, which was a blast from the past. I had gone to my first of 4 colleges in that town. I must have not spent much time actually in the town because I remembered very little about it. Except the Dairy Queen...freshman 15, yes please!
From Newberg I headed to Dundee, which is thriving on wine. I turned down a road that was recommended and ended up driving up and down hills and through vineyards and it was a pretty neat drive. I will say one thing about that though, if you're by yourself you MUST be prepared. There are so many wineries, some junctions had 10 signs on them, that you really need to know what titles your looking for and you need to be aware of being followed too closely because there isn't anywhere to stop and read all those signs. It was really tough. I'm trying to watch the road and read all the signs and see if they are opened or closed etc. And most intersections were that way. I say pick a few and just go straight to them, don't just wing it. (how often does that work for me anyways?!)
At some point I got to what I thought was a highway. I still don't know if it was but I turned onto this really fast busy road and then saw the sign towards Carlton where I was ultimately headed and turned at the last second. It was quite an ordeal. Carlton is a tiny place with nothing but tasting rooms. And a city pool. Weird that they can manage like that but its a cute place. You could park and walk to about 8 tasting rooms and be three sheets within one block.
I found the winery Troon that I was headed to. Sacha had found this wine she liked and their tasting rooms were close by so I went looking. They sign on the door said close for January but I saw a girl come out of the door so I went up and tried it and it wasn't locked so I let myself in. The girl was surprised to see me and she said they were closed but how could she help me. So I launched into my story about how I was visiting from Idaho and that my friends who's birthday it was that day, loved this wine. As I said that another girl says "ooh but we're out of that wine altogether" of course they are. The girl I'd been talking to starts opening these drawers and finds 2 bottles of the very kind and year Sacha had wanted so I was in luck. See it never hurts to try the door right?!
On my way back to Portland...oh first, I didn't stop for any wine tastings...I worked too damn hard for my California CDL to do that!
So back to POrtland I stopped in Beaverton to see if I could find Uwajimaya. Which is a huge Japanese grocery store. I guessed right the first time and wound up right where I needed to be! This store has the most amazing stuff in it. All foreign to me (haha). I love it. I went in search of my favorite spice. Nanami Togarashi.
Once back in Portland I took a scenic detour through Washington Park and then by my old building before I found parking and had a bit of a wander again. I love doing that in Portland! Its just visually so appealing to me for some reason. I can't get enough of it!
I hopped on the street car and went in the direction of the Pearl District and wandered into Life of Riley Tavern. They have U of I stuff on their walls! Its my new favorite place! They also had beers on tap that I had never seen before (another reason I love Portland) so I had a pint there ( Mack and Jacks African Amber) and then went to meet Sacha and group for a birthday celebration.
We were at Veritable Quandary for a little while, what a posh after work place. I was under dressed for sure. But amazing cheese plate! Blue cheese, goat cheese and some others. Yum!
From there we walked to Rock Bottom Brewery for some cheaper food (Prime rib sandwich with rosemary au jus) and some laughs. Mark and Candy were there and they are hilarious. It was a good mix of people,we had fun.
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