Today we visited another brewery on our bucket list for Belgium. Rodenbach Brewery is famous for its barrel aged Red beers. After our best nights sleep so far we headed out on the 45 minute drive to the brewery.
Part of the restaurant at Rodenbach Brewery.
We arrived at the brewery and signed up for the tour. They have a unique way of deciding what language the tour will be in, the tour guide speaks French, English, and Flemish/Dutch, which ever of those languages is spoken by the most people on the tour, is the language for the tour. Today there were 9 Dutch/Flemish speakers and 2 English speakers so the tour was in Flemish. They asked us if it was ok and we said sure. She did fill us in on key points in English as we walked on the tour.
Enjoying my lunch in front of retired beer barrels.
The pub and gift shop were beautiful but empty. We were the only guests for lunch, but the food was outstanding, and our first taste of the beer convinced us we had made the right decision to drive over.
The malt room is from 1863, but the wind vane on top was installed in 1933. It helps control the heat when they are roasting malts.
The brewery has been in business for 200 years and produces a rare type of beer. Most beers are bottled very quickly after they are brewed usually within a few days. But in the case of Rodenbach a lot of the beer goes into giant wooden barrels called foeders and is aged for 18 to 24 months. There are 296 of these barrels and the larger ones hold 17000 gallons of beer.
They have nearly 300 of these giant barrels called foeders.
After the beer finishes aging it is mixed with newly made beer to create different classes of beer. The most expensive is pure aged beer, and the least expensive is 1/4 aged beer and 3/4 new beer. The type of fermentation they use gives the beer an interesting fruity and sour taste. I am not usually not a fan of these sour beers, but these were exceptional and I enjoyed them.
This lady is quite tall so you can get a perspective on the size of the barrels.
The barrels are made of French oak and require constant maintenance. The brewery employs a full time cooper (barrel maker)which must be tough to recruit for when there is turnover.
The old brewery which now hosts the restaurant. The new brewery is very modern looking.
After the tour was over we enjoyed our sample beer and purchased some more excellent beer for the trip. I am really going to be looking forward to our evening beers as we head south.
Ton tried this fruit beer which is mixed with lemons and limes to make something like a Aperol Spritz.
We are starting to get ahead of the jet lag, this time we both woke up around 8 and could have functioned, but it turns out we are retired and don’t need to do anything at 8 am, so we went back to sleep until a more civilized hour.
The main library in Amsterdam is the largest in Europe.
Today the weather was perfect blue skies and temperatures in the mid 70’s so we headed into the city for the day. Ton loves bookshops and libraries and Amsterdam has the largest library in Europe so it was our first stop for the day.
Part of the interior of the library.
We wandered through the 7 floors of the modern building that hosts the library. In addition to books it has a conference center, a theater and two cafes. It is an impressive and well used facility. We really enjoyed a small art feature by a Portuguese photographer they were showing.
The sixth station of the cross.
As we were heading to our next destination we came across St. Nicholas Basilica and popped in. While Ton is Buddhist she was educated in Catholic Schools, she enjoys visiting Catholic churches and always seeks out the 6th station of the cross which is known as “Veronica wipes Jesus face”. Ton likes the story of Veronica helping Jesus. St. Nicholas had a very large and detailed depiction of the scene that Ton enjoyed.
The interior of the Stork. Our favorite Brown Bar in Amsterdam.
After our detour to St. Nicholas we headed on to our main destination for the day the Stork. Last time we visited Amsterdam we stumbled into the Stork by accident and had the best time. The server then went out of her way to make us feel welcome and even ran down the street to get us a slice of apple pie when we mentioned we were looking for a slice of it. It was magnificent customer service.
The required picture of a canal every story about Amsterdam must contain.
After that we decided the Stork was our hometown bar in Amsterdam. Today there was a different server worker, but she was just as nice. The Stork is what is known as a Brown Bar. These are local places that used to be frequented by working people before the tourists overran the city. And while the Stork is located in the infamously over touristed red light district it has found a nice balance between catering to locals and tourist. Dutch is definitely the language of the bar, but everyone also welcomes visitors and happily switches to English. We again enjoyed our visit to the Stork and will return again next time we are in town.
Cafe Karpershoek, the oldest continuous operating bar in Amsterdam from 1606.
Our final stop of the day was the oldest continuously operating bar in Amsterdam. Cafe Karpershoek has been a licensed establishment since 1606. It was also located on the waterfront in Amsterdam, but unlike the Stork its clientele was almost exclusively tourists and English was the first language in the place. We recommend you try it as how often can you drink in a place that has been serving beer for 420 years, but then move to the Stork where you can drink in a place nearly as old that is indisputably Dutch.
Well it is jet lag 2 Ron and Ton 0. Between 3 and 5 am we found ourselves having a nice conversation and doing some planning for the trip. At 5:30 I gave up and got up to watch the second half of the Timbers game on Apple TV thinking I would just power thru the rest of the day. At 6:30 I decided to lay down and read, and woke up at 11:30.
Walking down the aisle at the strangely named Mega Drinks and Food. It is a very large and well stocked Asian Grocery.
After our second brunch in two days we decided it was time to get out and do some more shopping. Our first stop was Mega Drinks and Food which is a giant Asian grocery store. It was influential in our decision to make Amsterdam our base as it allows Ton to stock up on true essentials for the trip. Then it was a quick up the street to Tong Fong which rivals Mega in size and has a deli that serves some of the best Barbeque Pork Ton has had west of Thailand.
Albert Heijn the biggest grocery chain in the Netherlands.
Having stocked up on Asian food it was time to finish our shopping for Dutch food so we were off to an Albert Heijn near the campground. The shopping trip took about 3 hours in total, but our Fridge is now stuffed with a wide variety of foods to last us until we get to France.
Today I made some small mistakes that annoyed me, and I hope didn’t annoy Ton too much. We discussed our options for where to go today, and one of the options was Nuremberg, I checked the distance and told Ton it was 278 kilometers. So we decided to head to Nuremberg. The problem was I checked it on Apple maps instead of Google maps, and Apple maps is still set on miles. There is a big difference between 278 kilometers and 278 miles, so out trip today took about an hour and a half longer than I expected. Small mistake number 1. A little irritating.
One of the town gates at Nuremberg.
I have a routine when I pack up the car. Ton takes care of the inside and I do the outside. I usually do things in a certain order so I don’t forget anything. Today I broke my routine and most importantly didn’t do the final walk around to double check everything that is part of the routine. We leave our shower shoes outside François when we park to save room and to keep the wet shoes out. Today I forgot to put them inside before we left and drove away and left them in Koblenz. Mistake number 2 irritating to me and this time to Ton also.
The interior of St. Lorenz Church.
The campground we are staying at in Nuremberg is next to the soccer stadium here, and today they were playing their rival Dresden. The chants were incredibly loud. As we were driving in there was a very heavy police presence. The check in guy said there had been a pretty severe riot at a rivalry game last week in another city so the police weren’t taking any chances today.
Nuremberg was alive today.
Our plan was to take it easy the rest of the afternoon, and head into Nuremberg tomorrow. But while I was checking in Ton checked the weather app and it said there was a 100% chance of rain tomorrow. Since it is beautiful today we decided to hustle into town. We quickly set up and headed by the stadium on our way to the train station. The fans there were in full voice and we could tell it was approaching half time as the beer gardens outside the stadium were filling.
Part of the imperial palace of Nuremberg.
The weather today was beautiful and the people of Nuremberg were out in force. The main pedestrian streets in town were packed with everyone out enjoying a sunny spring day.
When we walked up to this square I told Ton there must be a concert or something as everyone was sitting on the ground facing the same way. There was no concert, just a bunch of people sitting on the cobblestones enjoying sun and a beer.
Nuremberg was much larger than I imagined. When I told Ton this she told me it was the second largest city in Bavaria. I had envisioned a small city like Koblenz, and instead found myself in a city nearly the size of Portland. (Probably small mistake number 3.)
One of the squares in Nuremberg.
Since we had not planned to come downtown until tomorrow, Ton did not have her usual plan for the visit. Today we winged it, just walking down the main street, and drifting off when we saw something interesting.
This house was behind the brewery we ate in. We wondered about the significance of the Star of David on the home.
We did find some time for some German food, fried pork shoulder, Nuremberg sausages which are much smaller and leaner than the typical German Brautwurst, potato dumplings, and sauerkraut. We chased that down with a couple of beers.
The city from the wall of the imperial palace.
It was a quick visit to Nuremberg and it is a city that probably deserves more than we gave it today, but this trip is supposed to be about Hungary and Slovakia so we made the decision to move on to the east tomorrow.
We were excited to head into Tours and see what it had to offer. As I said yesterday Tours does not get much love in the tourism press. Most guide books either don’t mention it or give it a passing glance. For this reason we had missed it in our past travels thru France.
The Rue Nationale possibly the longest stretch of straight road we have seen in any city in France. In the city center there are no cars only people and trams on the Rue Nacional.
Tours got off to a good start because the first person we met from Tours greeted us with a big smile, patiently helped us get our bus ticket sorted and smiled again when he handed us our change with a jolly Merci. It’s funny how encounters like we had with the bus driver can set the tone for a day, and a visit.
A half timbered home and Italian Restaurant in the Vieux-Tours.
Our first stop was the Vieux-Tours which is a section of the town that contains one of the largest collections of half-timbered buildings in France. It is also an area full of cafes and shops. But, probably because tourism is not a big thing here the shops are real shops aimed at selling to people who live here and not people passing thru. It makes for a very different dynamic, and a much more interesting one.
A packed cafe scene at Place Plumereau. Not one of the chalk boards advertising foods and the plat du jour were in English, another sign that this is not a city catering to tourists.
We decided we would return to the Vieux-Tours for lunch and headed off for the Roman ruins. I always assumed that Tours had something to do with towers as the French word for tower is Tour, but I was wrong. Apparently it is a corruption of Turonus who was the brother of Brutus who died fighting for Rome in France and is supposed to be buried here. It became a Roman town in the first century AD. It became an important part of Roman Gaul for several hundred years and had one of the largest amphitheaters in Gaul. I punched Roman ruins into the GPS and we set off on a 20 minute walk. At the end of the walk we were directed down a road to a wall and told we had arrived. We walked around the wall to the other side and found the front of the wall. This was the Roman ruins. The wall was part of the fortifications of the city during Roman times. While it was a nice wall it only took us a couple of minutes to decide to move on.
The Roman wall in Tours.
Our next stop was the Les Halles de Tour, which is the central food market. But on the way we came across the Cathedral of Tours.
The Gothic Cathedral of Tours.
The Cathedral of Tours was started in the 1200’s and completed in the 1500’s. We have seen a lot of Cathedrals on our travels, and have gotten a little jaded, but something about this Cathedral appealed to Ton. She spent about 20 minutes walking around the square in front of it and photographing it from various angles and asking me about features on it, some of which I could answer (who new that after a few years looking at cathedrals in Europe I would know what a flying buttress was and could even give a coherent explanation of their purpose.)
One of the stained glass windows in the Cathedral.
The interior is relatively unadorned compared to many of the other Cathedrals we have been in, but we kind of liked that. But the stained glass was very beautiful, and what made the windows even better is each window had a detailed explanation pane by pane of the story contained in the window. It really was well done and helped us understand better the religious story being told by each window.
If you look carefully one of the gargoyles is “mooning” the town.
As we walked by the side of the Cathedral Ton noticed the gargoyles. Ton loves gargoyles so I lost her for another 20 minutes while she shot pictures of the gargoyles. While I was standing there I noticed one of the gargoyles was mooning the town. Apparently in the middle ages stone masons were a rowdy lot and would hide little protests in their work. This is the second Cathedral we have seen a mooning gargoyle, the other was in Freiburg Germany. The story there was that the town council had a meeting with the stone masons to tell them they were disappointed with the quality and the speed that the work was being done on the Cathedral. A couple of days later a very quickly carved and highly detailed gargoyle was produced mooning the building that the town council worked in. I wonder what the story is here.
This is a half timbered building also but the timber part is covered in slate to protect the wood. The carvings are of pilgrims as this building was a place for them to stay while passing thru Tours.
The market hall was supposed to have a great selection of local foods, including a large area devoted to mushrooms. Ton was very excited to see what would be on offer, but we forgot about the French lunch. When we got there it was basically shutdown as all of the food sellers had closed for the customary 2 hour lunch.
This Lebanese Cedar is over two hundred years old and stands nearly 100 feet high, and is over 100 feet around.
A little disappointed about missing the hall we decided to join everyone else for lunch. We had passed by many restaurants just setting up when we arrived. This time when we headed into the Vieux-Tours, they were all doing good business. We had spotted a cute looking cafe in the morning and headed back to it for lunch.
The exterior of the cafe we picked for lunch in the morning when we first arrived.
While most of the cafes were busy when we arrived there were only a few customers at the exterior tables, and one other couple inside. We sat down for a three course set lunch. The ambiance of the place was great with everything you could ask of a French restaurant down to the red checked table clothes. Unfortunately, the food was mediocre. The sparse crowd should have been a warning to us. We were a little disappointed but we enjoyed the atmosphere and the service was good.
The dome of St. Martins Basilica the patron saint of Tours.
After our three course meal we took a little stroll down the Rue Nacional looking at the modern shops. Part of the reason the Rue Nacional is so straight and the buildings look so modern is that Tours was heavily bombed by just about everybody who had bombs in WWII. The Germans leveled much of the old town in 1940 when they invaded France. Then because Tours was a major transportation hub the Americans and British leveled the area around the train station to restrict the Germans transfering troops to Normandy during the invasion. As a result much of the town had to be rebuilt after the war which resulted in straight streets and some areas of the town seeming to be on a grid pattern like in the US.
Balzac the famous French writer is from Tours, and this building was the school he attended when he was a boy.
Tours is a nice town, it is sometimes called the little Paris. Why it has been by passed in the tourist trade is curious to us. It has everything you would want from a French city if you were visiting. But. . . if you want to experience a French city that has not had its soul ripped out by tourism, keep it quiet, but give Tours a look as I am sure you will enjoy yourself as much as we did.
While it was clear last night and we were treated to a nice fireworks show over the lake, we woke up cold this morning. For the first time in about 3 trips we turned on the heater when we got up and warmed François up before we got out from under the blankets.
The mini fort next to the old city gate of Perpignan.
We were both looking forward to Perpignan, so we packed up François pretty early and headed into town. We found a narrow parking spot next to the High School downtown, but I was proud of my ability to squeeze in there and leave enough room for everyone to get around us.
The Vauban Market. I liked it, but Ton was disappointed as it was not a proper market but a tourist attraction. The Starbucks is the giveaway.
We thought we would start the day at the main market in town which had been renovated recently. Ton thought it would be a proper market with fruit, vegetables, meat, and cheese so we stuck a couple of extra bags in our day pack. When we got there we were greeted by a Starbucks at the entrance and a collection of upscale restaurants including a Thai one. We took a quick pass thru and Ton was very disappointed.
The streets were pretty quiet because it was a Sunday.
We decided to head towards the main attraction in town which is the Palace of the Kings of Majorca. But, our path was not very direct as Ton really liked the streets and architecture of Perpignan. Every 100 meters or so I would turn around and realize I had lost her as she saw another cool building or street scene she wanted to photograph.
The Cathedral in Perpignan with a cast iron bell tower which we have never seen before.
She really liked the town hall and Palace of the Delegation so we spent about 20 minutes looking at them from many different angles. The town hall is from the 1300’s and the Palace of the Delegation is from the 1400’s.
The upper facade of the town hall complete with gargoyles.I really liked this figure, but now I can’t remember what building it is from!
The Town Hall is one of the oldest municipal buildings in France. Today it serves as the Wedding Hall as well as a museum. We tentatively stuck our head in and were warmly greeted by a nice lady. After being armed with an English guide we were turned loose.
This statue was in the atrium of the town hall. Ton dubbed it the female “Thinker”. She saw it as a warning to the brides to be to make sure they knew what they were doing.
The wedding hall was very impressive for a municipal building and featured very old furniture and some impressive art. It would be a very nice place to get married.
The waiting room before you enter the wedding hall proper.The actual municipal wedding hall.
We were still making our way to the Castle when we came across another municipal building. Again we stuck our heads in to see what it was and were waived in by the guard on duty. I’m not completely sure what this building was, but it had a very impressive stairway and lobby.
The Catalan flag is featured throughout town as the region is part of French Catalonia. All signs are in both French and Catalan.
After all of our diversions we finally arrived at the Palace of the King of Majorca. In the 1200’s Perpignan was the capital of the Kingdom of Majorca. The palace was completed in the early 1300’s. The Kingdom of Majorca was incorporated into the Kingdom of Aragon in 1349, so its period as the seat of power was short lived.
The entrance to the Palace from the gardens.
The Palace is a fortified palace so you enter through a very impressive gate and lengthy tunnel. You come out on top of the first set of walls which contains the gardens for the Palace. The palace itself is also fortified with a gate and a tower.
The view from the tower in the center of the picture above, the mountains are the Pyrenees. In the other direction you can see all of the way to the Mediterranean.
The palace is really well preserved. The rooms are presented without any replica furniture or any antiquities, but just as they are.
Looking across the courtyard towards the main entrance.
We enjoyed wandering from room to room and taking in the scale of the palace. The literature says it is a Gothic style building, but to us we felt a Moorish influence also in some of the windows and arches. This area was never conquered by the Moors, so it may not be true.
Part of the lower chapel with a sample of the painting. Most of the artwork has been lost and not recovered or replicated so the walls are mostly bare.
While most of the rooms in the palace are unadorned, a few have exhibitions. One had a modern artists work on display, and another had an exhibition on the Garnet jewelry industry that flourished here for nearly 500 years.
A cross made from Garnet. Perpignan had a large industry based on Garnet jewelry until the 1930’s when Garnet jewelry went out of style.
The highlight for us was a display in the old kitchen of the palace called the Jardins Enlumines. It was a light display showing life in the area during the height of the Majorcan kingdom.
Part of the light display showing the view from the castle in the fall.
It was a giant display covering all four walls of the kitchen which is approximately 50X30 feet. Every bit of the wall is covered with different moving figures. It is elaborate, very inventive, and full of small details that are quite humorous as you follow them from season to season.
Part of the display showing different images from the spring.
We were both entranced by the images. The images start in the spring and cover all four seasons. The images are enhanced with sounds that match what is being shown. I have never seen anything quite like it and I highly recommend you see it if you come to Perpignan.
Spring.
Ton had one more place she wanted to visit, the Pams mansion. This is a mansion of one of the richest families in Perpignan from the late 1800’s. They made their money making cigarette paper. The mansion is nothing special from the street, but when you enter the door into the courtyard you come into a place of immense wealth.
The main stair case of Pams Mansion.
Every space in the courtyard, main stairway, and entrance way are filled with art. All of the walls are covered with frescoes. I’m not sure about the quality of the art, some of it feels a bit Nouveau Rich to me, but the volume is impressive.
Another section of Pams Mansion.
Perpignan wowed us. We had read that it is an underrated city in France, so we had positive expectations, but it exceeded those for me. My only regret is that we were there on a Sunday so all of the shops were closed and the streets were mostly empty. Even so I think Perpignan is one of my favorite cities I have visited in France.
The weather is deteriorating and there is a chance of snow overnight. We had planned to go home tonight or tomorrow, so the weather made the choice an easy one for us.
When we set out we thought we would only spend a couple of nights in the Yakima Valley, but we ended up staying 4 nights. Our planning was a little off this trip as we ended up winging our days, and probably drove a couple of hundred random miles because of our poor planning. But we do enjoy seeing things in the back country so except for the extra cost of gas it did not particularly bother us.
One of our unplanned highlights of the trip, Bombing Range Brewing in Richland. Ton loved the hazy IPA so much see bought a crowler to go.
The nice part about the trip is each day we ended up finding a place that we really enjoyed and was memorable for good food, drink, and fun people. None of these places were on the agenda at the beginning of the day when we set out. So while it may not have been an efficient week, spontaneity led to positive experiences. This seems to happen to us very often and rarely do we have the opposite experience where things go badly. I think these kind of finds are what we enjoy about traveling.
The vines were just beginning to change colors at Idiots Grace Winery.
Driving down the Columbia River Gorge Ton proposed we make one more stop before home so we pulled into one of our favorite Gorge Wineries, Idiots Grace. They had just reopened with a tented and heated tasting area. We had a quick lunch from Scout pared with a tasting of wine. The weather was crisp at about 50 degrees but it was a good end to a very nice trip.
We decided to extend our stay in our current campground, so we took a little extra time this morning. After looking around for options to do today we decided to head over to Saddle Mountain Wildlife Refuge to start the day and once we were done there decide what was next. We know that this is a very vague plan. The other decision for the day was whether this was going to be a wine tasting day or a beer tasting day. The final decision was for beer, so now that we had an agenda for the day.
The Columbia River passing thru the desert. The source of water for the crops in the region.
We set Greta to no freeways as we wanted to get where we were going by driving thru the verdant farm country in the Yakima and Columbia Valleys. We both really enjoy driving down country roads trying to identify crops, and looking at the different ways farmers manage crops. This area is known for three major crops now. Apples have been the major crop for generations, but about 40 years ago they began planting warm weather varietals of wine grapes and it now a major wine region. The third major crop now is Hops. Hops have been grown here for decades, but since we last visited about 10 years ago hop production has exploded in the area, and today we drove thru thousands of acres of hop farms.
These apples were being harvested as we drove by.
We were enjoying our drive and looking forward to the Wildlife Refuge. As we left the Yakima River Valley we entered the high desert grassland this area is naturally without irrigation. For about 20 miles we were skirting the edge of the Hanford Nuclear Site. During WWII this area was very remote and sparsely populated, so a top secret facility was built out here with some of the earliest nuclear reactors. At the peak the Hanford Nuclear site had 9 reactors to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons. The nuclear matter for the Manhattan Project was produced here. The production sites are now deactivated though it is one of the largest storage areas for used nuclear material in the US. At one point we came to one of the guarded entrances to the site. It did not seem like a good idea to stop and take pictures so we have nothing to show.
After leaving Hanford we had crossed over into the Columbia River Valley and the apples, and grapes reappeared, but more corn than hops. We were following Greta Garmins directions as we drove along and she finally had us turn down a gravel road into a large apple orchard, Greta finally announced we had arrived at the wildlife refuge when we were surrounded by apples with a large expanse of desert in front of us. The desert was probably part of the wildlife refuge but it did not appeal to us, so we turned around.
As we were heading back to the main road we saw a small field of a plant we have never seen. We slowed down to take a look and I began to suspect it was marijuana. We stopped and I saw some signs in Spanish that I think confirmed that it was cannabis. Now that the stuff is legal it has to be grown somewhere, and a remote apple orchard in the Columbia River Valley is as good a place as any. The smell from the plant is very strong and distinctive.
Marijuana, the newest cash crop in the Columbia Valley.
We finalized the day by visiting two local breweries in town. The first one was Bombing Range Brewery. We really enjoyed their beer, and they have one of the coolest logos we have seen. We ended up buying a couple of the glasses to add to our collection. The second brewery was Horse Heaven Hills Brewery where we ended the day.
The local brewery in Prosser.
Tonight we are hunkered down watching the local Soccer Derby between Seattle and Portland. The good guys let three points get away by conceding a goal in stoppage time. Soccer is such a cruel sport.
Continuing our tour of Eastern Washington Wine Country today we headed to center of the region. Walla Walla beside having a great name, is the town that really put Washington wines on the map. We last visited this wine town 15 years ago and were curious how success had changed things. Ton favors small producers and she picked two of the places that had good friendly reviews for our visit.
The day started out sunny, but cooler than the last couple of days, but the weather report showed that things are going to go down hill. The drive over was uneventful so we decided to take a stroll thru town before heading over to our first winery. Walla Walla is a really cute, regional farm town, probably the most picturesque and upscale looking of all of the towns on the east side of the mountains. It has a very well respected liberal arts college that adds a youthful energy to the farmers, ranchers and winemakers. There are several nice restaurants and coffee shops. The biggest change since our last visit is that about every other store front is now a tasting room for a winery.
One of the streets in Walla Walla that has been converted to outdoor seating to support the local restaurants and coffee shops.
Many of the towns and cities in the Northwest as a response to Covid have begun to convert streets and other public spaces to outdoor dining. This development put in place as an emergency measure has been well received. The streets that have been closed do not seem to have had a big impact on traffic, and like we noticed in Europe it makes walking a much more enjoyable experience. The temperature today is only in the mid-50’s and as you can see from the picture above it was too cold for most people to sit outside. It will be interesting to see what happens in the bad weather, both with the disease and if restaurant owners and customers will be able and willing to adapt.
Our first stop was Reinenger Winery. It has been producing wines since 1997. The wine tasting experience is a little different in these times. Instead of bringing over a sample one at a time and poring the wine while explaining the characteristics, they brought over the entire tasting flight in small carafes with a written explanation. This allows for proper social distancing for us and the tasting room workers.
The new tasting room experience, self service!
We were enjoying our tasting when one of the workers and asked if wanted to take a tour of the winery. We were surprised as it is harvest time and usually the wineries are closed to visitors as they bring in the grapes. We masked up and headed out to have a walk around with one other group, and the tasting room manager. It was a nice treat to watch the workers deal with the grapes, and to see the vats of newly picked grapes going thru their initial fermentation.
The de-steming operation at Reininger Winery. The rolling wheat fields in the background made us think of the mid-west.
The view from the winery was different, usually you are looking at vineyards. In this case we were looking at wheat fields for miles. The vineyards for the winery are a few miles away. So we were enjoying the great wine with a view that reminded us of North Dakota.
We finished the day by visiting another tasting room in downtown Walla Walla. Kontos winery was interesting because the family had been farming and ranching in Walla Walla since the 1850’s, but had only recently taken up winemaking in the 1990’s. They have a strong connection to the town and are proud of this recent development in farming there.
Ton and I have always enjoyed the Yakima Valley. It is usually sunny and bright. Ton really likes the “light” in the valley. It is the biggest producer of hops, fruit, and wine grapes in the Pacific Northwest, so it is a source of some of our favorite beverages. We decided that today was going to be a beer day sandwiched between two wine days.
But before starting with the breweries we headed to the local Costco for a quick run thru. We also had a luxurious lunch of the $1.50 hotdog for me, and a chicken wrap for Ton from the snack bar there.
Part of the Japanese garden at the Yakima Arboretum
As we have passed thru Yakima in the past we noticed a very beautiful botanical garden just off of the freeway so we decided to visit today. The garden was very well tended and had an interesting section highlighting the trees of the Northwest. There were several families exploring the gardens as well as us. They also had a nice formal Japanese garden tucked in one corner that we spent some time in. Some of the trees were at peak fall colors, as were the plants along the bank of the river, so we achieved our fall colors goal for the day.
Part of the wetlands exhibition at the garden.
As we drove down the freeway, Ton hit me with the bad news that due to Covid-19 the two breweries on our list were on restricted hours and closed today. I was really disappointed as my beer day looked busted. A little further down the freeway Ton told me that there was another brewery open that looked promising, so after a little reprogramming of Greta we were on our way to Cowiche Creek Brewing and a fantastic afternoon.
A great location for a brewery..
The Brewery bills itself as a country brewery, and it is certainly out in the country. Ton looked around, and asked where did I think they drew their customers from. Even though it is hard to tell from the beautiful rural setting it is only a short drive into Yakima. The hilltop the pub is on has expansive views toward the Cascades in the west, and overlooks hop fields and apple orchards in all directions. Ton declared it the prettiest brewery in Washington, and ran off with her camera as soon as we arrived.
We were the first customers of the day and had the place to ourselves when we arrived. I corralled Ton long enough from photographer duties to get her to pick a beer so I could grab a spot on the patio and take in the view with a cold brew.
One of my favorite pub dogs of all times, she quickly trained me to throw the ball for her on command!
Ton would stop in periodically between photos to grab a sip of her beer, while I played with one of the best pub dogs I have ever met. She was part Labrador and wandered over to check us out when we arrived. After I scratched her ears she settled in, and decided we were good company. Eventually she conned me into throwing her ball for her for about 30 minutes. As I played with the dog quitting time for the people working arrived and the pub began to fill up, so they do have a good customer base despite the remote location.
If you are ever in Yakima, make sure you swing by Cowiche Creek Brewing. The beers are delicious, and the food is prepared using fresh ingredients from the garden on site.
We are doing another short trip this time to the east for wine country and a bit of fall colors in Eastern Washington. We woke up a bit early and packed Scout up for about a one week trip, though our plans are not finalized yet. On our way out of town we headed over to our friends house to drop off some packages she had shipped to our home in Oregon to avoid the sales tax in Washington.
After that chore was done a quick stop to top off the fuel tank and we were headed east through the Columbia River Gorge. The weather was a bit unsettled and we hit a few patches of rain, before entering the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains and the desert of Eastern Oregon and Washington. The drive was pretty simple and we arrived at the campground in the Yakima Valley town of Prosser a little earlier than we planned. We have stayed at this campground once before and picked it because it is a nice central location in the Washington wine country.
As Covid has taken hold a lot of people have taken to RV’ing to have a good way to travel and maintain social distancing. This trend is unfortunately being reflected in the cost of camping. The campground tonight is $45 per night, and for that price you do not even get free showers, but have to pay an additional 25 cents. Campground prices in the US have been rising steeply over the last few years, and are much more expensive than what we typically pay in Europe.
Once we settled in and I quit complaining to Ton about the cost, we headed over to a couple of wineries that are walking distance from the campground. I was really looking forward to the first one, and was profoundly disappointed. The wine was old, and not very good, and the server was pretty disinterested. I had been looking forward to the winery as I had read good things about it and had hyped it up as we walked over, so I apologized to Ton.
As we were walking into my disappointing winery Ton pointed out a winery next door that she had read about and wanted to try, so we quickly exited my winery and walked into a great experience.
Justin Michaud winemaker at Coyote Canyon Winery and Ron appropriately masked up.
Coyote Canyon Winery has a 1300 acre vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills Viticultural Area where they grow 29 varietals of grapes that they mostly sell. They take a small percentage of the grapes and produce their own wine. We were lucky when we arrived as the nice lady in the tasting room said the wine maker was giving a talk in the back if we wanted to join. Justin Michaud was showing a group of ladies the latest grapes they were fermenting and explaining the process when we joined up. His pride in his work was obvious and the pride showed thru in the final product. Ton told him that she really enjoyed Primitivo in Italy, and was excited because they were one of the few producers who made it in the Northwest US. So even though Primitivo was not included in the taster tray we purchased, a sample showed up. In fact several other samples showed up that were not in the sample tray that we really enjoyed. The surprise for us was a wine called Graciano made from a grape that originates in Northern Spain. Justin talked us thru this one and it really knocked our socks off. We want to thank Justin and the lady in the tasting room whose name we did not get. They were gracious hosts and we really enjoyed ourselves.
Wine bottle lamp at Coyote Canyon Winery.
Ton really remembered that she liked the sunsets around here on our last visit and sure enough we were treated to another great sunset as we walked back to Scout. It was a good start to our trip.
Our first post pandemic trip ended today. We both have dental appointments tomorrow so we needed to head home despite the spectacular weather forecast for today and tomorrow that would have normally tempted me to keep going.
Another shot of the Oregon Coast.
The drive home was uneventful as we took it in one long bound without stopping. Traffic seems to be back to normal on I-5 which was quite heavy all of the way home.
What did we learn about pandemic RV’ing. If anything campsites and parks seemed to be busier than normal despite it being shoulder season, and the kids are back in school. We had read that a lot of people had taken up RV’ing as a way to social distance while traveling, and our experience confirms what we have read. The tourist oriented places were as busy as ever, and while the stores and restaurants were doing a good job enforcing mask wear inside, mask wearing outside in crowded conditions were hit or miss at best. The restaurants and pubs were mostly making a good faith effort to keep people seated 6 feet apart. Many had converted parts of their parking lots to outdoor dining which was working well in good weather. We were much more comfortable with outdoor seating than indoor. It will be interesting to see what happens when the weather drives people back indoors.
I am hoping for one more trip before the cold weather really sets in. Stay tuned to see if we will be able to get back out.
A view from PCH. We think the haze is from the California wildfires.
Since we cannot spend the night in Brookings due to the state park being closed there we decided to get up early and do a round trip drive to Brookings. The weather is the best since we arrived on the coast with temperatures in the mid-60’s sunny skies and minimal wind. It is a perfect day for a drive.
Harris Beach near Gold Beach Oregon.
We just meandered down PCH until we got to Harris Beach. Ton yelled stop at me so I swung into a pull out, and we spent the next hour walking up and down the beach. It is one of many spectacular stretches of nearly empty coast line. Ton took a bunch of pictures, and except for a haze that we think is from the wildfires in Napa California it was perfect.
Another view of Harris Beach.
As we worked our way down the coast towards Brookings, Ton yelled stop a couple of more times to take some more pictures, so there were a couple of shorter beach walks as we made our way south. We finally arrived in Brookings around 12:30 and started out towards the brewery that was our excuse for driving 80 miles.
Another view of Harris Beach.
Before we got there though Ton remembered a small hole in the wall seafood place she had read about. She said it was supposed to be good, fresh and simple seafood, so a quick reprogram of Greta Garmin and we were off. The food was as advertised, we split a seafood combo of 2 pieces of cod, 2 oysters, 4 pieces of calamari, 4 clams, and 4 shrimp, all fried. We substituted hush puppies for fries. The fish was all fresh and we enjoyed it.
The final stop in Brookings was at Chetco Brewing Company, which is our first Vegan Brewery. We are not sure what constitutes Vegan Brewing but we tried a taster of different styles of beer, and they were all pretty good. So I think I can say that this is the first Vegan food I have liked.
Battle Rock in Port Orford Oregon.
The return trip to Bandon was quick and the views were as spectacular going north as they were going south so we both enjoyed ourselves. We made one stop at Battle Rock park which marked the site where 9 white settlers were besieged on top of a rock by the natives who were not happy with the invasion of their land. It is now a pretty park in the town of Port Orford and we enjoyed our last walk for the day.
We had a leisurely start to the day. Once we got going we started south on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). Our target today was my favorite town on the Oregon Coast. At one time I was an avid golfer and Bandon was my personal favorite golf course. Now that I am not golfing we visit a lot less.
This guy had dropped down from a tree and made this nest overnight. Almost hated to move Scout in the morning.
Enroute to Bandon thru the miracle of satellite technology we listened to two English soccer games as we were driving. Both games were shocking with Tottenham beating Manchester United 6-1 followed by Liverpool losing 7-2 to Aston Villa.
As we entered Coos Bay Ton remembered that there was a brewery there she really liked and asked if we could stop. I of course said ok and so we found ourselves sitting at 7 Devils brewery for a light lunch and a nice taster flight of their beers.
Today we are staying at an Oregon State Park. Oregon has a very large and well maintained park system. Oregonians tend to be outdoors people and they support the parks. When the pandemic hit, the parks were initially shut down completely. Over time they re-opened the parks, but now all campsites are only available thru reservation. We usually like to select our sites on the spur of the moment, but now we are having to plan a little more. I was startled when I went to make the reservation last night as there were only 6 spots available in a park with over 90 spots. We had read a lot of articles about people taking up camping as a way to have social distancing and recreation and I guess we are seeing the impact of that.
After checking in we headed over to Bandon which is a cute tourist oriented town. We walked around town again watching people crab and fish. They have three little fish restaurants on the waterfront, but they were all mobbed and the mask wearing and social distancing was poor so we moved on.
As we drove into town we saw a new cidery and decided to check it out. We had low expectations as neither one of us are big fans of cider. This place however, knocked our socks off. We tried a sample tray of 4 ciders and liked every one of them, so we decided to get a second sample tray of the remaining ciders and were equally impressed. If you are in town I really recommend Bandon Rain Cidery. Ton and I agreed on a favorite which is apple cider with gorse flowers.
The gulls were hoping for crab bits by the docks.
While we were at the cidery we decided to book our state park for tomorrow night. Our original plan was to follow the PCH from Astoria which is the northernmost town on the coast to Brookings which is the southernmost town. When I went to book a site the reservation system showed no availability in a park with 79 RV sites. I called to confirm and they said that the system was true. So we are going to drive down to Brookings tomorrow and return to Bandon for the night. When I went to book the state park here there were only 4 sites remaining for tomorrow out of 90!
Good Cider!The Coquille River looking towards Bandon Wildlife Refuge.
We finished by walking along the Coquille River to the ocean. It is a nice walk on the other side of the river is a Wildlife Refuge, though we did not see anything particularly interesting. We did not linger at the ocean as the wind was blowing pretty hard and kicking up the sand.
Neither one of us was in a big hurry to get going in the morning. We slept in a bit, then settled down to watch the Premier League game of the week with Paul and Khun Jim. Khun Jim cooked a big American breakfast to go with the game and we all enjoyed ourselves. Finally it was time to take off for our destination for the day.
The entire trip so far has been fogged in as you can tell from our photos. For the first time we did get a couple of sun breaks as we were driving over Cape Perpetua which is one of the more spectacular parts of the Pacific Coast Highway. Ton did not take any pictures though as while we were in the sun, the ocean was still pretty fogged in as the marine layer was just off shore.
We planned on staying at a Forest Service Campground near Florence, but as we were driving we began to get nervous because all of the State Parks and Forest Service campgrounds we saw had full signs posted at the entrances. We are still surprised how busy the coast is this week.
We made it into Sutton Creek Campground. A beautiful forested campground.
When we arrived at Sutton Campground we were relieved to find they had a few spots, so we grabbed one before heading into Florence to do some exploring. We have fond memories of Florence as it is the first place we ever took our kids on a vacation in Oregon. It is a cute fishing town that now is more tourist oriented than fishing oriented. The downtown is pretty compact consisting of only about 3 blocks of restaurants and stores. We picked a riverfront restaurant and shared some chowder and a salad that was pretty good. The highlight of the meal was watching a family on the dock below us crabbing. They were pulling in a number of crabs, but most were undersized and had to be tossed back much to the frustration of the 6 year old boy in the family.
I woke up early to take a walk along the ocean front, Ton had stayed up late catching up with one of her friends in Thailand on line. The surf was still pretty rough and the rock in front of the condo was taking a beating. The rock is usually covered with different sea birds, but this time there were only two birds on it. When I looked closely I realized that they were a pair of Bald Eagles which explained where all of the sea birds had gone.
A pair of bald eagles near our condo.
It was a pretty quiet day for us as we spent most of it catching up with our friends and watching the ocean crash on the rocks. We were hoping for a whale siting as the whales are migrating and this area is famous for whale watching. Despite a couple of whale watching boats going by we did not get to see any whales.
In the afternoon Ton and I drove back to Lincoln City to check out a brewery there. The beer was just ok and the setting was nice overlooking a golf course and a creek. The problem was it was a little chilly so we did not enjoy the setting as much as we would have liked.
After our beer taster we headed back to the condo for a nice dinner Khun Jim prepared, and an evening of watching old comedies on the TV.
We had a very good nights sleep at a very quiet and serene Camp Rilea. I got up for my morning stroll and met one of my neighbors who told me that a herd of elk usually came to feed on the grass on the rifle range behind the campsite. After spending a few minutes looking for the elk it looks like they decided to go somewhere else for breakfast this morning.
We got under way around 9am heading towards Depoe Bay. Good friends of ours Paul and Khun Jim are staying at a time share condo overlooking the ocean and we are going to spend the next couple of days with them.
We thought that October on the coast would be pretty quiet. Yesterday in Astoria seemed to confirm that idea, but today as we were driving south on the Pacific Coast Highway the traffic was extremely heavy with a lot of RV’s. One of the reasons became evident when we went thru the town of Garibaldi as the river was covered in fishing boats. One of the biggest salmon runs of the year is happening now so all of the fishermen are out trying to get their fish for the year. We stopped and watched the slow parade of fishing boats go by using their trolling motors.
The traffic continued to build as we headed south and we were really startled when one of the larger state parks had a full sign for the campground. It looks like our hope for a quiet off season week on the coast is not going to happen.
We arrived at Depoe Bay around noon and shifted into the luxury of the condo. Paul and I entertained ourselves talking and watching the surf crash on the rocks on the beach, while Ton and Khun Jim chatted at the kitchen table and planned the Thai meal for the evening.
When Paul turned in for a nap I headed to Depoe Bay for a cup of coffee and received final confirmation that the coast was not quiet but actually very busy. While I was gone Ton decided we needed to visit one of her favorite breweries which is near by so we were off to Wolf Tree Brewery in Lincoln City. The beer was as good as Ton remembered and after trying a sampler tray we decided to purchase a couple of cans of each beer on the tray.
We ended the day with a Thai fish meal prepared by a local restaurant with fish provided by Khun Jim. She convinced them to cook a couple of dishes not on the menu while we were gone sampling beer. Ton and Khun Jim were gone to the restaurant longer than Paul and I expected because as they explained when they returned the place was mobbed with customers and it took a while to get the special dishes done
It has been a long time since we have been on the road. Packing Scout seemed to be a little more difficult as we kept remembering things we forgot to pack and were running back in constantly. Eventually we got almost everything loaded, (except for wine glasses) and got on the road for the coast pretty early.
The trip over to the coast was uneventful, and we started by stopping into Camp Rilea to get a spot for the night. Camp Rilea is a small Oregon National Guard Post that allows retired military to camp in an area that is much like an aire in France. The only difference is it is next to the rifle range where soldiers do their annual qualification. Luckily for us no one is shooting today so it is nice and quiet.
Once we got checked in, we decided to head over to Reach Break Brewery which is one of our favorite breweries in Astoria. We got there just as they were opening, and like many places in Oregon they have closed off their inside dining room and are serving everyone in outdoor seating. We prefer outside seating, but today was one of the first cold days of the year. The marine layer had set in and refused to go away so it was pretty chilly and damp.
We tried a taster tray of 5 of their beers. They were doing a fresh hop sampler where they took three different hop varieties and applied each of them to the same beer. We could taste the fresh hops in the beer, but could not really taste any difference between the three different hops. We also shared a fish and chips.
Our next planned stop was Ft. George Brewery where we planned on having a pint. When we got there they had a sign saying that they were only seating people by reservation. The next reservation was in 30 minutes and since we only wanted a beer we decided to move on.
We went back to Reach Break and asked one of the brewers what place he would recommend that would be open. He recommended a brewery on the other side of the Columbia River in Washington called North Jetty Brewery. We had been there once before several years ago, so we were off.
The bridge over the Columbia River near Astoria.
Astoria is located near the mouth of the Columbia River, and the bridge across is an impressive structure. The river here is over three miles wide, and ocean going ships have to pass under the bridge so it is quite tall near Astoria. We always enjoy crossing it. The views from the top are spectacular when it is not fogged in.
When we arrived at North Jetty, they had indoor dining available that looked effectively distanced so we had another taster tray indoors. They were serious about mask wearing as Ton and I both stepped away from the table a couple of feet without our mask on and were admonished by the bartender.
We were hoping for a break in the marine layer, but we did not get it. So after our taster tray we decided to head back to Camp Rilea to settle in for the evening. We took a walk down to the ocean but the fog and the damp drove us back to Scout for the night.
The drive home was easy. It was clear and relatively warm until I got to the pass over the Cascades where I was met with clouds and rain to remind me I was home. My trip thru the Great Basin, Sonoran, and a little bit of the Mojave Deserts was great. The total trip was 3300 miles, but it is generally low stress driving as the roads are good, and the traffic is remarkably light. The highlight was Organ Pipe National Monument. It merits another trip in the future.
We will be taking a break until late March when we are off for our spring trip to Europe.
Today I made like a commercial truck driver and focused on miles and not fun. I covered a little over 600 miles in 10 hours. It was made easier by driving a route I really enjoy. I love the quiet roads and expansive views of the Great Basin. For me it really is low stress driving.
I was still on the road for sunset and the Great Basin rewarded me with a great desert sunset.
