September 22nd

We take off after work and head west in the 911.  Wahoo!  We are on our way to Portland, Oregon.  We make it to Medicine Hat for the night.

September 23

In the morning we take off and head towards the Crow’s Nest pass on highway 3.  Ferni, Cranbrook and then cross into Idaho at Eastport.  We head south past Sandpoint (ski area in winter), Coeur d’Alene (beautiful area) and on to Spokane for the night.  In Spokane we stay at Davenport Lusso.  The downtown area of Spokane is small and quaint for a city.  Wine bars, blues bars, and restaurants.  There is outdoor music festival of some sort.  We end up at the wine bar of course.  Tasted some local Washington wines  Take the #3 highway through Alberta and into southern BC and cross into the US at Eastport. Into Idaho and south to Sandpoint, Finally into Spokane for the night. We stay at the Davenport Lusso. What a great downtown! Check out the Blues Wine bar. Great music and decent wines.

September 24

Headed SW on the 395 to Kennewick. Not many trees, lots of hills and wide open spaces. Head toward Walla walla. We stop at Long Shadows and do a tasting and walk out with several bottles. How is this all going to fit into the Porsche? Then Gramercy but they are closed. Too bad. Back on the road and head towards the Columbia valley while driving along the Columbia river. Spectacular scenery. As we drive west towards Mt Hood National Park we can see Mt Hood. Majestic! So glad we can see it since just last week forest fires had this highway closed. Traffic increases as we get closer to Portland and then there is construction. We are at a standstill and then trickle along. This gives us lots of time to take in the views along the river. Finally we get to Portland with it’s overpasses and bridges crossing over each other to reach downtown and the Heathman hotel of “50 Shades of Grey” fame! We are a little concerned about the parking and decide to do the self park. We are greeted with an evening cocktail. The Heathman is a very nice boutique hotel. We go in search of fresh oysters. Find them and other seafood at Southpark. We have a tasty dish with brussel sprouts and oysters. Yum!

 

September 25
We walk along the river and then poke around the shops. We stop at a wine tasting shop to experience the local wines. Get told we are saying Willamette incorrectly. OK, it is Willamette , damit! Got it. Back to the hotel to check out the tea room but we have sparkling and oysters. Finish off our 2nd night at the restaurant right at the hotel which was excellent.


September 26.
Take off for the Willamette valley. Of course, Neil has the need to wash the Porsche. Spend a lot of time trying to find a wand wash but eventually do. Arghh! Just like our dating days way back 42 years ago. We arrive at our B and B called the Owl’s nest in Newberg. Nice little place. The pay the owner to drive us to Domaine Drouhin to meet up with Chris, Viv, Piglet and Ollie. We actually see them biking up the hill on the way. So glad we have a vehicle! It is a gorgeous day and the views are breathtaking. Mt Hood is in the distance. We of course, do a tasting. It is such a beautiful setting. Wines are not quite the quality of the french Domaine Drouhin. We catch a ride the Chris and Viv’s van (Piglet is DD) and go into Dundee for a late lunch at the Wine and Bubble bar by Ponzi. Ponzi is a winery we met at the Kohler Wine and Food festival. The wine and food was flowing. Lots of fun. We get dropped off and decide to skip supper. We visit with the owner at the firepit.   Lots of marijuana smells around here. It is legal and the owners have medicinal marijuana.  We use the hot tub before bed which was a nice relaxing way to end the day.


September 27
Viv’s birthday. We go picnic shopping. We get a variety of meat, and cheese and bread and then meet Piglet and Ollie at Stoller winery. Beautiful winery with another stunning view. Excellent picnic on the patio. We buy more wine. We then go to Domain Serene. And of course, another gorgeous patio with stunning views. We head back to our places to clean up. Tonight we are out at Allison inn and spa for supper for Viv’s birthday. We have the chef’s table which is enclosed in glass overlooking all of the chefs working their magic. Many delicious wines and may delicious courses of food.

 

September 28
After breakfast we are back on road. We head east in the Columbia valley again and then north to Yakima Washington. We stop at the Salmon hatchery to look around. There is lots of wind farms on the hills and you can see Mt St Helen’s in distance. We get checked into the hotel and then go walking the town for tasting rooms. Yakima is a small town and has some old buildings, art deco buildings and modern buildings. We do 3 tasting rooms and buy wine at each one. Yikes! Where are we going to put all of this wine in the Porsche? Kana Winery, Gilbert Cellars and Antolin. At Gilbert, I notice people going downstairs and ask what is happening. Well, there is an art show tonight. Cool! We will be back. They store our wine for us while we wander over to Antolin. Antolin we have a fabulous time talking to the server. And we end the tasting with a wine slushy. Delish! The server tells us where to go for dinner and makes a reservation for us at Carousel. He also says he will deliver our wine to the hotel after he is off. Wow! Folks sure are friendly. We head back over to Gilbert for the art show. We mingle and end up buying a piece of art and meeting the artist. As we are paying, the guy asks us where we are from. Regina! I know someone from Regina. He tells us and it happens to be the daughter in law of my co-worker. WTH! Small world. We go get changed for dinner. Dinner at Carousel is Italian and tasty. And as we are walking back to the hotel, the server drives by and delivers our wine.

Sept 29
The next day we go wandering for breakfast and as we are walking back to hotel we are greeted with waves from some people. We are like “OK” do we know you? They could read our faces and said, “we met you at the art show last night!” Oh…. We are thinking we had a little too much fun last night.
We head to Wilridge winery. Service was lacking. Wines were OK. We do buy one bottle. Then it is Treveri for some sparkling and charcuterie. And lastly, it was Owen Roe winery. Again the server recognized us because she was serving at Gilbert last night. Great service and good wines. In the afternoon once the vehicle was parked again we head out for a beer tasting. A beer festival is starting in a couple of days and it looks like it is going to be a big event. Yakima is a nice friendly town.


September 30

Up super early and start our long drive home. Lots of wind farms as we head for Spokane. Hilly and hardly any trees. Through Coeur d’alene. Idaho and montana speed limit is 75 miles per hour on interstate. Wahoo! We cruise at 90 mph. Lots of curves through the mountains. We want to get to the east side of the mountains because they are predicting snow tomorrow. We do a quick stop at Missoula and then on to Helena and then north to Alberta. We know snow is coming so high tailing. We cross the border south of Lethbridge.


Oct 1.
The next morning was crispy but no snow. We get up early and head home and we beat the snow.