Mount Hood and Timberline Lodge

We visited Mount Hood and the historic Timberline Lodge, three times during our year of living in Portland. The drive was a little less than two hours from our apartment in the city.

The first trip was on a cloudy and chilly, June 10th. We set out in the late morning. Here are a few pictures from the drive: lush and green, mostly farms and forests.

There was a lot of snow on Mount Hood. I'm not sure if this is true, but we were told that Mount Hood is the only place in the United States where you can ski year-round. After I took Dan's picture, a bird landed on the very top of the tree.

Not only was there snow on the mountain, but it started to snow as soon as we arrived. Snow in June!

And we saw hikers starting off on a trail. People have died on the Mount Hood trails.

No extreme hiking for us, just a photo.

Recognize the historic Timberline Lodge? The exterior of the lodge was used as a stand-in for The Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film, The Shining. It has been used in many other films, including the recent adaptation of Cheryl Strayed's memoir, Wild.

Timberline Lodge was build during the Great Depression as part of the Works Progress Administration ( renamed the Works Project Administration). Its lobby is filled with antiques from the era.

We headed up to the Ram's Head Bar, located on the upper level of the lodge, to warm up with the most decadent hot chocolate, that included a shot of Bailey's. Look at all of the whipped cream and toffee. Yummy!

We feasted on a cheese plate and homemade bread.

Our view of the snow storm outside.

Less than three weeks later, we visited Timberline Lodge with the kids. It was a sunny Forth of July and we were all in shorts. Much of the snow had melted, but there were still skiers on the slopes!

And three weeks later, on July 30th, we brought Dan's mom. Snow was still on Mount Hood, but the areas close to Timberline Lodge were blanketed with wildflowers.

If you're planning a trip to Oregon, Timberline Lodge and Mount Hood should be on your itinerary. If I were to visit again, I'd definitely make an effort to spend the night at Timberline Lodge. It's an incredible historic landmark. Obviously this is a wonderful place to ski, but if you're not a skier, there are other nearby activities, like The Ski Bowl, which is a family friendly center with activities like Horseback Riding and an enormous alpine sled. If you drive a little, you're near the "Fruit Loop," a scenic drive that takes you by local farms selling fresh produce. Fishing is also nearby. The whole area is beautiful and not to be missed.

Oregon Wine Tasting

During our year in Portland, we were lucky to have our friends from California (Valerie, Bryan, Susan, & Greg), visit and include us in their trip to Salem. After spending an afternoon showing them around Portland, we drove to Oregon's capital, where we spent two nights.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early, to begin our day of visiting wineries. We met up with their other friends (Larry & Judy), who had arrange a whole day of vineyard sightseeing in the Willamette Valley.

First stop, Domaine Drouhin, a winery that has been in Oregon since the 80's. The same family who owns it, also has vineyards in France and has been in the business for over a century. Judy and Gary arranged for us to have a private tasting, prior to Domaine Drouhin's business hours.

I know very little about wine and I do not have a sophisticated palate. I'll drink just about anything. To that end, we drank a lot on that day and I have zero memory of what I enjoyed the most. I left it completely up to Dan to make the decisions as to which bottles to purchase. I was far more interested in the places we visited, than I was in the wine that we were drinking. I'm left with a clear memory of what I saw, rather than what I tasted. I do remember that I was fairly tipsy after leaving Domaine Drouhin. Drinking in the morning on an empty stomach is rough.

Domaine Drouhin is a beautiful property.

They have vineyard dogs!

The tasting room was very grand and the private experience definitely gave it a personal touch. A great way to kick off our morning.

Next stop, was the Stoller Family Estate. This was my favorite, because it was the most casual. We took in the gorgeous views, while sitting in a heated tent and enjoying nibbles.

For lunch, we headed to the Hotel Oregon in McMinnville. The Hotel Oregon is a McMenamin's property. McMenamins is a PNW chain of quirky hotels and restaurants. For example, a few of their properties are old schools that have been turned into hotels. Each McMenamins has its own theme and charm. In addition to the main restaurant, The Hotel Oregon has four bars, including a roof top bar and a basement speak-easy. It's the type of hotel with a surprise around every corner. It reminded me of The Magic Castle in Hollywood. Lunch was great and we snuck down to the basement for a quick cocktail. If you visit a McMenamin's ( and you should) make sure to get a passport to collect special stamps from all of the properties.

To further solidify the quirkiness of McMenamins, they host an annual UFO Festival.

Our final winery was Willamette Valley Vineyards. This was the grandest of the three and it had a country club vibe. The weather was starting to get cool and rainy. It was wonderful to be in a cozy environment with warm fireplaces, while enjoying wine and majestic views.

We had a wonderful day spending time with friends, enjoying great wine, and being tourists. Here is our haul from the wineries. It has been over a year and we still have a few bottles left!

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm and Wine Tasting

I'm sure regular readers have noticed, that I'm blogging about events that are over a year old! We are just too busy running around and enjoying life, that these amazing activities that we've done rack up and I don't have a chance to write about them in a timely manner. I actually hope that I'm never current, as it will mean that we have a travel dry-spell. I love blogging about our lives, but documenting is certainly not as important as simply living and enjoying the moment.

Our amazing friends Bill and Melissa took it upon themselves to make sure that we enjoyed local Oregon activities during our year of living in Portland. One of these activities was a trip to Woodburn to the Tulip Festival at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm. We did a day trip with them last May to see the tulips, eat ice cream, and visit a few of their favorite wineries.

My first tip for visiting the Tulip Festival is to arrive early. Luckily, Melissa and Bill knew this and we avoided long waits. Be there when they open, because it's popular. When we left, just a few hours after they had opened, the line of cars to get into the dirt parking lot was enormous. We probably would have spent more time waiting for parking, than enjoying the flowers.

Before seeing tulips, we saw some old farm equipment.

There are a few rules to keep the flower beds safe and pretty.

When I visited Holland a few years ago, I visited a windmill farm, but it was after tulip season. They only tulips that I saw, were fake ones at the Tulip Museum in Amsterdam. I knew that tulips came in many shapes and colors, but seeing them in person was gorgeous. The entire farm was awash in color.

Pictures of us!

Another tip: Wear rain boots or shoes with good traction that you don't mind getting dirty. It had rained ( it's Oregon) and the fields were very, very muddy. A lot of people brought their dogs, which were having a great time playing in the mud!

Tulip close-ups.

The Tulip Festival had a large craft fair, live entertainment, and food. Of course, there were several tents where you could purchase tulips.

Being Oregon, they had a tent with wine tasting too. No, ten in the morning is not too early for a little taste, not even on an empty stomach.

After getting our fill of flowers, we spent the afternoon visiting local wineries. Oregon has A LOT of wineries. So, so, so many....that even a search for where we might have visited, doesn't leave me with any names that rang a bell. I remember that they were very good and at one, people were throwing a birthday party for their dog on an outside patio. You don't forget things like dogs having a party!

We also didn't take a single picture at the wineries. We did however, take a picture of this amazing ice cream truck that was parked outside of one of the wineries. Ice cream always trumps wine. Cream NorthWest was delicious. I vividly remember the scoop of Coldbrew Coffee & Caramel that I devoured. Yummmm

We had a wonderful day out with friends enjoying local activities. If you're visiting Oregon in the spring make sure to add the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm to your itinerary.