Rosemarried

Posts Tagged leisure

Wine Weekend

There are so many amazing things that exist beyond the city limits. Portland is a wonderful and beautiful city, but when you leave Portland it just gets better and better. We are surrounded mountains and rivers, trees and fields, forests and farms. When I drive outside of the city, I’m always struck by all the green. As I drive through the fields and forests of Oregon, I see shades of green that I didn’t even know existed. It’s kind of unreal.

With that said, I implore you to drive out of the city. Just take a day and get out of town. I escaped to wine country this past weekend, and it was nothing short of magical. I still can’t believe that wine country exists, just 30 miles outside of Portland.

I drove out after work on a Friday and stayed at my friend Mari’s farmhouse. (Yes, one of my best friends in the whole world lives in a giant farmhouse on a vineyard. It’s pretty fantastic.) If you don’t happen to have a friend with a farmhouse in wine country, I recommend the lodging at McMenamins Hotel Oregon in McMinnville. It’s affordable and has a lovely rooftop bar with a great view!

The next morning, I woke up to the sunshine pouring through the farmhouse windows. (If you are from the Pacific Northwest, you know how important this factoid is: Sunshine in February!!!) I spent the morning lazing about in the quiet of the farmhouse, curled up next to the fire with a cup of coffee and a book. I took my time and soaked in the quiet of the day.

Later on in the day, I met up with a group of Portland Food Bloggers for an afternoon of wine tasting. We stopped by three of my favorite Oregon wineries – Erath Vineyards, Anne Amie, and Soter – and we sampled a lot of wonderful Oregon wine. There was, of course, a lot of Oregon Pinot Noir (which is always amazing). But we also tried quite a few other varietals and blends, such as: Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Rosé, Muller Thurgau, and Cabernet.

It was the perfect day.

Thanks to all of the wineries who so graciously hosted us, you were all so fabulous. I came home with a deeper love and appreciation for Oregon wine (I also came home with a lot of bottles of Oregon wine. It happens.).

With that said, I’ll leave you with a few photos from the day.

The view from Erath:

Tasting Pinot Noir at Erath:

The best dessert wine ever (at Anne Amie):

The last stop of the day, Soter Vineyards (and the lovely Mari):

Northern California: Snapshots

This past week, I went on vacation.

The purpose of my trip was to visit a few old friends in various parts of Northern California. Specifically, friends who have had babies recently. The babies needed to meet their aunt Lindsay!

My first stop was in Placerville, CA. I stayed with my best friend from high school, Abbie, and her darling family. We reminisced about the good old days, caught up on recent years, and I fell in love with her children. They are really quite cute.

Abbie and I managed to squeeze in a girl day, sans children, and ran about town and pampered ourselves.

We ate In-N-Out: Cheeseburger, Animal style.

We got pedicures.

We watched a really, really bad chick flick.

And, later, we met up with Abbie’s husband for dinner at a local cafe, where we drank delicious wine and ate fantastic food.

After my short (but sweet!) visit with Abbie, I set sail for San Fransisco. Except, I didn’t really set sail. Rather, I chose the more glamorous travel option, and took a Greyhound bus from Sacramento to San Fransisco. When I went to purchase the tickets, the husband expressed a little bit of concern for my welfare as I navigated the bus system on my own in Northern California. I told him that it was fine. I am a seasoned traveler, after all.

I found out the hard way that the husband was right. Thankfully, I wasn’t in any real danger, I just had a series of unfortunate (and stressful) events. So what exactly happened, you ask? I found out my bus was going to be an hour late, so I locked my bags in a locker in order to escape the stuffy, overcrowded bus station and get an iced coffee. When I arrived back at the station, I was pleased to find that my bus had just arrived and would be boarding shortly. I went to retrieve my bags from the locker…and the locker didn’t work. It just would not open. I asked a security guard for help, who referred me to the baggage counter. Conveniently, no one was working at the baggage counter (!). I proceeded to run around the overcrowded and understaffed bus station like a crazy person, trying desperately to find someone to help me. Several minutes (and several tears) later, I finally found someone to help me. My baggage was freed from the faulty locker and I made on the bus (just barely). I was the last person on board.

Nevertheless, I finally made it to San Francisco in one piece (and with all my bags!). I was in town with the purpose of spending time my college besty, Becca, who just had a baby girl last month.

Immediately after Becca picked me up from the bus station, we headed straight to Tartine Bakery. We ordered the (large) Strawberry Bread Pudding.

Oh, and we ordered something with bread and cheese and asparagus and spicy pickled carrots. It was amazing.

The next day, we ventured into the heart of the city to visit the legendary San Francisco Farmer’s Market at the Ferry building. Being the Oregonian that I am, I was in pure shock that they had cherries available (for only $7/pound!). Oh, the glories of California…

I tried raw oysters for the first time in my life, and I was not disappointed. They were incredible.

Overall, I had a lovely trip. I got to see old friends, visit a couple of beautiful cities, and ate a lot of good food. I apologize for the lack of blog posts, but as you can see, I’ve been running around Northern California (and thoroughly enjoying myself).

Happy Friday everyone!