Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Ashland to McMinnville and Oregon's wine country-August 19 to 20, 2015




We kind of wished we had an extra day in Ashland.  I mean we never got to the market for instance but...




after breakfast we did visit a very fun place just outside of town, the Dagoba Chocolate retail store.   And there is nothing I like better than tasting chocolate!






What a way to start the day!  After that we took Route 66 to wend our way back to I5





We kind of powered our way to McMinnville.  In retrospect we should have stopped at some of the wineries along the way but we didn't!  I had been to McMinnville about 15 years ago and had a great time in the pretty town and visiting wineries.  Our hotel, the Comfort Inn,  was just outside of town so after we checked in (nice room and no reason to demand an upgrade-hoho) we drove into town.







It was still warm even in late afternoon but the streets were as pretty as I remembered.







We stopped to do a wine tasting bar (and the problem with waiting too long to write a blog is I am not sure which one we went to).  I was not impressed.  We were offered five wines to taste for $10 and I really didn't like the second and really wasn't that interested in the reds so had a glass of the first wine instead.  Donna did the tasting, but we were both not overly impressed.







This is the McMenamin's Hotel.  Apparently they have a nice rooftop deck so perhaps that is where we should have enjoyed a glass of wine.








We had a very good dinner at Moljanetes and we liked the decor as well!











Look at this gorgeous tree!







I was surprised to find Benjamin Franklin in McMinnville.
















We headed back to our hotel and I went on a walk in pursuit of a sunset.










And you can see I was fairly successful!






It is very pretty countryside!









After breakfast we headed off towards Portland along the wine route.
















We stopped at Rex Hill Winery


























We did an aroma test which was fun...








This time we shared a tasting for 10 dollars and it would have been free if we had bought two bottles of wine-note the prices...







It was a neat building


















They actually had cheaper wines but somehow we would have felt déclassé buying those!!!






We went seeking another winery but none seemed conveniently located so we had to drive a bit off the main road.










Again hit some beautiful country








And found a winery with a beautiful setting!








But when we heard it was $15 a tasting we decided to forget that and I was driving!  And honestly I don't even remember the name of the winery.  So our winery experience was not as positive as it had been many years ago here-but it was still fun to revisit McMinnville!































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