Wine Country in the Springtime

So, I got the chance to drive up in Oregon's wine country (aka, the hills behind Newberg/Dundee) and was surprised by how many wineries now make their home in Oregon. I recall driving up 99W through Dundee in the early 80s and seeing Argyle Vineyards reform a Victorian era farmhouse into a tasting room. As a kid, I thought they were nuts! I'd heard of Napa Valley wines, but who in the dickens had ever heard of Willamette Valley wines?? Not me, for sure!

Well, fast forward some 20-odd years and the hills of Oregon's Willamette Valley are strewn with grape vines. A friend's nephew will be getting married at one such vineyard atop one of the many grape planted hills outside of Dundee, and we drove up to get a look at the site. I have to say I was very surprised by not only the amount of vineyards, but with the meticulousness with which they are kept. The rows of grapes are perfectly trimmed and wired, not a stem out of place.

And the views of the valley below are quite breathtaking. We happened to pick one of the few sunny afternoons we've had this Spring, and were witness to a beautiful sunset, and some spectacularly sunny views of Portland and the Cascade range. Unfortunately, my camera isn't equipped with a bad ass lense to capture those faraway sights, but I was able to snap a few shots of the grapevines and sky.

On the same trip, we also stopped alongside Hwy 99W, just before you turn off to Hwy 18, at a little rundown shack which apparently used to be a roadside stand. It has been abandoned for many years, and I'm sure would make a barnwood frame-maker a very rich man! This shack happens to sit next to a beautiful, lush field of green grass, and as we passed, I noticed the sun about to set over the hill behind the field. So I had to stop and take a picture! As we wandered along this field of grass, I noticed that there was a "perfect shot" through one of the openings in the little shack. When you walked through the building, you came out to this perfect scene of golden light across this grass field. My camera certainly did not capture the absolute majesty of this...but it gives a good impression of what I saw that evening.

After that, we drove back toward Newberg (the "back" way) and my friend showed me the Lafayette Locks. In all my years of living in Oregon, I'd never even heard of them! There isn't much left these days, just some cracked cement and a few nearly submerged wooden pilings. But apparently, this was quite the busy place when they were still logging the area. She said the river used to be filled with logs, and they'd work them downstream (Yamhill River).

Today, it looks like a great river to kayak on, but it's awfully stinky right in that area. I suspect there is some sort of agri-pollutant entering the river nearby, as there was a lot of white foam along the edges of the river. It's a shame that such a healthy-looking, beautiful river is probably not too safe to swim in any longer. We humans sure know how to wreck a good thing, don't we? At least I was only taking a picture...