Crinklys Pacific NW jaunt (5/29-6/20/2021) Day 12 Going to check out Astoria (6/9)

Do some yoga and get ready for the day (packing up and loading the car) before we drive up to Astoria. Drive through the countryside which is beautiful and then eventually get into town. Go to Fort George brewery for lunch and some drinks as they have great food and beer there. Walk along the boardwalk for a ways and its pretty underwhelming so we turn around and head back into the main part of town and wind up at reach break brewing to see what they have going on for such a small operation. 

Flight at Ft. George brewery

View from Astoria of Washington in the distance

Ships chilling in the sea

Bridge connecting the 2 states

Got a little closer

Just your normal beach views here

So otherworldly looking

People chilling on the beach on this fine day

walking to the big rock

reflective shot <3

This area is just stunning

Lil slice of heaven right there

They got a couple food trucks slinging grub and some pretty decent sours so I have a flight and we enjoy the music as they for some reason had banjo music playing. After we are done there, we get back to the car and drive down to cannon beach to check into our place which shares a parking lot with Pelican brewery. We put our name on the list there and then walk to the beach to check it out and continue to walk around town a bit as we are passing time until our reservation is available. Have dinner at pelican and a few beers which are ok; its a chain brewpub so wasnt expecting too much excitement around their beers even though they do have some options outside the normal pub selection. After we eat, we go back to the beach to watch the sunset and walk more along the beach enjoying the scenery before heading back to the place to get some sleep.

Crinklys Pacific NW jaunt (5/29-6/20/2021) Day 11 A night of wine in Dundee (6/8)

Woke up and did yoga and packed. Had breakfast with everyone and then drove up to the Ken Wright cellars for a wine tasting; the tasting room was in town so there were no views of vineyards but the room and patio were both incredibly pretty. After that tasting we drive to Domaine de Broglie for another tasting which is in a beautiful spot within the trees overlooking hills of vineyards.

I dont know why but being in the trees and seeing a vineyard is cool

View from the Domaine balcony

Cousin enjoying his wine as we walk around the vineyard

Just a couple cousins sharing laughs with some views

just having some wine at dinner

After that tasting we go over to Knudsen vineyards for a tasting there which is also right next to rolling hills of vineyards; it is really pretty such that we go walking around the grounds after our flight to get some views. After we finish there, we go to furioso vineyard because they are overlooking a whole hill of vineyards and the city so we have to have one more tasting there before going to our hotel and checking in so we can relax for a little bit before walking to trellis for dinner; the food there was very good and since we are in wine country, we accompany our meal with a bottle of wine from the region. On the way back we stopped at lumpys tavern for a drink or 2 to check out the local watering hole which is your textbook definition of a dive bar; bunch of people playing pool with some slot machines as all bars seem to have slot machines here. We lose a little bit of money at the machines and then walk back to call it a night.

Crinklys Pacific NW jaunt (5/29-6/20/2021) Day 10 Wine tasting and hanging with family around Salem (6/7)

Get up and do some yoga before having breakfast with everyone and having a shower to start the day. Go to Bethel Heights winery to do a tasting while taking in some gorgeous views. Then head down to Christom winery for another flight. 

These pretty flowers are everywhere up here

Cool way to present a flight

Winery Views

Flowers everywhere...

The people were so friendly and both places had some pretty good wines. After weve had our fill of wines, we go back to the house to do some laundry and get ready for dinner. Head into town to check out Ram Brewpub which had decent food (pub grub) and what I will call the normal selection of brews for a brewpub; all of them were ok, nothing too special but definitely drinkable and enjoyable. After dinner we drove around town for a little bit to see what was there then headed back to the place to hang out a bit more and have some beers until it is time for bed.  

Crinklys Pacific NW jaunt (5/29-6/20/2021) Day 9 On to Salem with the cuzzo (6/6)

Today we go our separate ways. Start the day with some yoga and then we all get packed up and head into Portland for me to pick up the car that Ill use for the next week or so. After picking it up, we go to this cool little neighborhood nearby to grab a coffee at woodlawn and then some lunch down the street at breakside brewery. 

breakfast flight hahah

Flight at great notion looks delicious

The dog knows

Some of the art outside of Mutantis

Has some pretty good beer (a gin barrel aged wit? so good) and decent ass food. Then go down the street  to check out Mutantis which is a gluten free brewery and bottle shop. Have a couple tasters there of some of the gluten free options (they have a great selection of styles) and they arent that bad for being gluten free. After checking out that lil place we get in the cars and go nearby to check out great notion brewery which had easily the best beers of the day; they had a decent selection and all were really good. 2 of the guys have to go back at this point so me and my cousin get in the car and head south to Salem to go visit my "aunt" (whole life called her aunt, found out later in life than Id like to admit that she is my mom's friend so fake aunt but family is family hahaha). She is on the outskirts of town so we drive through some of the wine country to get there. We eventually get in and spend the night just sipping on some wine, having a delicious dinner, chit chatting while catching up, and enjoying the views of the back garden which has tons of hummingbirds flying around. So cool! :) Eventually we head to bed after a great day/evening.

Crinklys Pacific NW jaunt (5/29-6/20/2021) Day 8 Exploring Mt Hood area (6/5)

 Do some yoga and shower off before we head over to Hood river to grab a bite to eat. There are lines everywhere for breakfast places so we go to Freshies, a bagel shop that had minimum people in its line. Get a freshly made juice and a delicious bagel. We then get back in the car and drive into the forest area to go hike the Tamanawas Falls trail. It was a nice and easy hike with a great huge waterfall at the end so it was well worth it. As we were walking back, weather started turning on us but the rain held out. As we head back into town we decided to go check out Solera Brewery as its a minor detour. 

Couple of dudes hanging out on a bridge trying not to fall in

Pretty decent view from the bridge

The Tamanawas waterfall in the water (cause its made of water not flesh)

Better view. Postcard worthy

Rock faces lining the valley of the waterfall

Another great view

Some cool art at Solera brewery

View from the back patio of Solera

View from Solera pt 2

Lavender valley

View from stave and stone winery

Another view from the guest center at the winery

Our delicious flights (drink and food)

Kitty petting at Marchesi vineyard

Delicious flight at pFriem brewery

More complete view of the beer destruction

View out from the brewery aint too bad

Another view. So beautiful around here.

got excited to try some of these however...

this was the limited food menu for once we finally got there so no can do

Bagel place from breakfast stop

That is how you make many bagels at once

mmmmmmmmm

Who is that hunk of a man? whoever it is, he aint getting burned today

There he is again... lucky yall

When you finally figure out why you feel like you are being watched

To the falls!

the freaking machines of the trip... point them in a direction and they go, aint no holding them back 

hahahah mofo checking his watch waiting or us... beat his butt

from whence we came

Photobombing my long time friend cause i cant let people have nice things or pics of themselves

Just walking on water, no big deal

More complete pic from solera bar

beautiful beers in their natural habitat

Food pic before the wine came

Just 4 fantastic dudes hanging out at a waterfall, nothing to see here

Recommend you to do this hike if in the area. Was great.

They had a limited selection of their beers and the ones they had were ok, but the back yard and seating area was fantastic with wonderful views. Unfortunately the rain found us and we couldnt stay out there too long. Then we go check out Lavender Valley on another minor detour. Unfortunately the plants are not in season so the impact of the view is minimized but its still beautiful and smells delicious. Since we are kinda in the area, we also go check out the Stave and Stone winery for their tasting flight with food. For 25$pp you get I believe 5 or 6 wines if I remember right and each wine has a paired small bite; both the food and the wines were pretty good. To top that off, the views all around are amazing as the tasting room is essentially up on the hill in the middle of the vineyard. After we are done there, we head down the road to check out Marchesi Winery, which was a col set up, but wines were not as good as the Stave and we were under a patio so views were somewhat limited. This place had winery cats though which just roamed around like they owned the place which was cool. After this we actually got back into Hood River and went to check out pFriem brewery. This place had quite the selection of beer (different barrels, many sours, all the styles) and the beers were delicious. They also had a little outdoor corral with a service window so that you could grab beers to go or to stay and drink without having to wait to get a table inside (they had a wait). After a couple there, we walk down the street to check out and eat at Ferment Brewery down the street but we are just too late as after 1900 their food menu becomes highly limited and we didnt want what they had to offer. We decided to go instead to 3 Rivers Grill in the main town area for a good meal and some more local wine. After enjoying our meal, we head back to the place to chill for the rest of the night.