Oregon's Wine Country - from Independence to Eugene

Wednesday morning: around 25 deg F (-4 C) with an ice-cold wind - not typical for Oregon! We left our very comfy hotel on the Willamette River and drove to Inspiration Garden Project in Mt. Fir Park. Originally, the land was part of a lumber mill, but the land was donated to the city in the early 90's. It is a project of the university OSU, and comprises of a series of garden areas along a creek. Though not too much was in bloom right now, a Chinese Apricot seemed to have been confused and showed her beauty (photo) despite frost. Throughout there are trees, pollinator-attracting plants, an oak savannah, Asian garden, roses, fruit trees, vegetables, and more. What a place in summer!

On to Corvallis, county seat of Benton Couty, with a population of around 60,000 and the location of the Oregon State University, OSU, leading in Forestry and Oceanography as well as in Agriculture. We explored downtown with its murals (below), and, the campus lateron.

More on that university, the city and the county is taught in The Benton County Historical Society’s Corvallis Museum on Main Street. Main focus is the legendary Horner Collection, formerly at Oregon State University. Museum mascot Bruce the Moose greets you in the museum lobby. The collection includes photos,  documents, textiles, quilts, clothing, domestic arts, farm implements, natural history, scientific instruments, furniture and personal possessions. It's not your usual crampy, old-fashioned history museum, but a modern, nicely arranged and informative museum in a modern building. Glad we found it!

Pfeiffer Vineyards - in Junction City, half way to Eugene - used to be the Pfeiffer chicken ranch and sheep farm in the 1940s. It's on a serene parcel of land  at the end of a lush valley in the foothills of the Coast Range - beautiful location (see photo above!). 

Since the Pfeiffer land offered a fertile Bellpine soil, on an ideal elevation, Robin Pfeiffer, the son, convinced his father to grow grapes, mostly Pinot Noir. It became the first premium vineyards in the South Willamette Valley. Together with his wife Danuta, Robin created a winery with a beautiful tasting room (photo below), an event space and beautiful gardens. We had a chance to meet with the GM and the assistant winemaker and got a tour through the winery with barrel tasting and lots of information before we proceeded to a "regular tasting" of their top-notch Pinots (and Chardonnays).

Eugene wasn't far away anymore, a city with about 170,000 population, soon-to-be place of the World Athletics Championships (Track & Field), in July of this year. More on that tomorrow. We are staying at the Hyatt Place at Oakway Center (a modern shopping mall) and in the evening, we still had a chance to see the new part of 5th Street Market in downtown. For the rest, we had another wonderful Oregon dining & drinking experience at The Bier Stein with our good friend and tourism rep Meg. 

 A former hole-in-the-wall bar has grown into a restaurant and bottle shop, with over 30 evolving taps and 1,000 different bottles of beer from around the world. They are to some degree focused on Bavarian food, with bratwurst, pretzels and such, excellent sandwiches, soups, and salads.  It's the widest cold stored selection of beer in Oregon under one roof and staff was exceptional in recommending and describing beers!

Salud! Aguas frescas, cerveza and wine in the Salem area

Tuesday was a convenient day for us: we had a guide/driver who was showing us around the Salem area. Sun was out again, but it was freezingly cold in the morning. First stop: Salem's State Capitol, pretty impressive building, the third one at the location, dating in the late 1930s. Before Oregon became  territory in 1848,  Oregon City was selected as its capital. The first building burned down as well as a second one. The current one is topped by a golden Oregon Pioneer on its cupola (photo below shows the inside, too).

 

 

We strolled through downtown Salem - beautiful historic buildings -, and browsed in Engelhard's Antiques Store before visiting La Familia Cider founded in 2017 by first-generation Mexican immigrants. They produce their own ciders, hard ciders inspired by aguas frescas—fresh fruit beverages popular in Central and South America. They serve e.g. their delicious own Hibiscus and Guava Ciders, in addition to  beers of many local breweries on tap as well as other ciders. Unique product, and, something new, and the owners are very modest, clever people, too.

 

Xicha Brewery in West Salem is another Mexican operated company. Established in 2017 they are the
Pacific Northwest’s only Latinx brewery. What's even more amazing than their crisp, light beers is the high quality, fresh Latin American food, not your typical Mexican food, but highly creative! Before they opened the taproom/brewery they had their own restaurant, Pura Vida, in McMinneville, and now they are  expanding to Eugene. We met with their brewmaster, Matt, too, who had studied in Salzburg got to taste one of their special barrel-aged beers. 

 

Last stop: Left Coast Cellars, one of many wineries in the area, in one of Oregons newer AVAs (wine growing regions): Van Duzer Corridor. Unfortunately, didn't meet with somebody to talk to or didn't get a tour, but, at least, we got a chance to taste some of their wines. 

After a visit to "Second Chance Books" on Main Street Independence (below), we shared one pizza and had a beer at Independence's Gilgamesh Brewery before we called it a day.

Independence, Oregon

We were driving out of Portland in the rain on Monday, after having picked up our rental car at AVIS – this time an old-fashioned-looking, boxy, heavy Lincoln 300. First stop on the way: Bauman's Farm & Garden, a family operation started in 1895. They have orchards, produce their own cider and other fruit products, sell fresh fruit and veggies, have a bakery, a café and a nursery. 

 

Independence is located about 17 mi. southwest of the capital of Oregon, Salem, about midway between the coast and Portland. We stay in the newly opened, modern The Independence hotel, directly on the Willamette Riverfront, with gorgeous views (see pics below, taken in the morning and in the evening). Comfy rooms, fully equipped with kitchen, and, with a balcony. 

 

 

Town is small, about 8,500 people, but interesting and features historic architecture, plus a couple of interesting stores and restaurants along its Main Street, among them another brewery, Gilgamesh. Downtown is located along the Willamette River. 

The town was founded by pioneers who migrated from Independence/Missouri around 1845. A little later, a gentleman by name Henry Hill claimed land to raise stock. The town eventually thrived as a shipping point for agricultural products and lumber - until the 1950s. Also, the city was known for its hops production until the 1950s, and, for a big festival called the "Hops Fiesta". There are still buildings left dating into the early 20th century, and, the newly designed river promenade with an amphitheater and many festivals are a draw for weekend visitors from Portland, Eugene and other parts of OR. 

 

Former gas station transformed into a brew pub,,,

 

City of sports, food carts and beer

Portland has many nicknames: the "City of Roses", of beer, of sports, of Benson bubblers - the iconic bronze drinking fountains (photo below, on right), which were donated by a businessman to reduce consumption of alcohol. 52 "true" Benson Bubblers can be found throughout downtown.

 

Our Moxy Hotel (pics below), conveniently located in the middle of downtown, was very nice, hip and unique, and though the rooms - we got a nice corner room with lots of windows - are rather small, they are cleverly furnished, show a nice color scheme and funny decoration! Good price-value ratio, too.

 

We had explored downtown and The Pearl still on the evening of our arrival day, and, of course, had to visit Powell's - the probably largest and one of the best assorted used & new book stores in the U.S.A. - or the world?

Out to the Division and Hawthorne Districts in the Southeast of town (photos below) on Sunday morning by bus - Portland also has a great streetcar system (pic above) - for a food cart tour. 

Hawthorne is known for its old store fronts and vintage stores (photos above), thrift shops, little bookstores and unique cafés and mom&pop places, as well as murals. Adjecent Division neighborhood, along Southeast Division Street is also one of Portland’s dynamic neighborhoods.

I think, nobody can really keep track about the real number of food carts in Portland, several hundreds. A large number of them are parked permanently - other than in many other US cities, where food trucks are constantly moving around. This is called "food cart pods" in Portland and you'll find them at every corner, smaller or larger.

 

Portland’s food cart scene is legendary and sort of started the whole thing. We had a tour with "Around Portland Tours" - the owner and guide Sarah on photo above - and enjoyed several delicious, partly award-winning bites at different pods. Started out at Stumptown Coffee, a legendary - and one of the first - single origin coffee roasters in Portland and ended with a color-wise frightening, but good-tasting green drink/smoothie. All herbs and veggies and fruit,,,

 

 Weather wasn't really appealing, had a bit of sun in the morning, then hail, rain showers and it cooled down when we took the bus and streetcar for our tour at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum and a quick walk along Division and Hawthorne Streets to check out a couple of vintage stores.

The Portland Winterhawks are part of the Western Hockey League, which consists of 22 member Clubs with 17 based in Western Canada and 5 in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The game of these young guys was much more fun than a professional NHL game, fast, agile, but also energetic. Fists were in action, too! Winterhawks won 9:1.

 

Ended a long day with a beer at Backwoods Brewing on the way back home to the hotel,,,