Alaskan Sea-Duction: 2015

Wine and Volcanoes

So Kay approaches me: I can’t find anyone to go with me to the winery, would you go? Those that know me, know I am not a wine person and going to wine tastings is almost like pulling teeth. But I am a loving husband (I was actually threatened cement tennis shoes) so I agreed to take her. Besides it would get off the boat and dock.

The winery is called Ayoub Wineries. It is located near Dundee OR. Kay wanted to take me out to lunch before we went up the mountain so we ate lunch at Red Hills Market. I must admit the pizza we had was quite good and cooked in a wood fired oven.

Up the mountain to the winery. Actually it was at a house that is in the middle of grapes. We arrive a little early (our appointment was at 1 PM) and other folks were there already tasting wine and sucking down cheese. The owner Mo, is from Beirut Lebanon and now lives in California. He actually commutes every weekend to the winery. He is a small winery when compared to others in the area, but Kay states he is one of the best.

So here I am among the “wine snobs” as they are having a good time talking about the wines and Mo telling them what is the difference between the half dozen bottles he had opened. Kay also brought back a bottle she had because it was “corked” (have no idea what that means, but it makes for sour wine?). Now came the scary part, buying. It came Kay’s turn. She wants two of these one of those and I bottle of MoJo. This bottle must have gold in it as it is $75! Kay won’t let me tell you how much she spent, but it was between $198-200…..

As I was loading the cheap box holding the expensive wine, my face must have been a little red. Kay says to me that the bottle she traded was for celebration when we make around the horn (Columbia River Bar to Puget Sound) it to San Juans. OK….She then says the other bottle (Mojo) is for when we cross the Canadian/Alaska border. Mmmmm Give me a good cigar and a good scotch for that.

We were leaving the winery and I stated we had not been on a road trip in a while. Kay said where do you want to go? I said she had been wanting to see central Oregon, so we decided to head east and up and over. Besides it has been raining for a week or so on the west side, so we might get lucky and clear the rain. We headed for Bend OR. We had a great time going through the pass and saw where all the forest fires had been this past summer. Along the way we decided to go to Crater Lake National Park. Found a Target to get a tooth brush and undies. Then it hit me. This was the first of November, is the north entrance to Crater Lake open? The last time we went it was June and only the south entrance was open as there was still 20 feet of snow on the rim road.

Kay lucked out. Sunday was November 1^st and the north entrance would close at 5 PM! How lucky are we? No central Oregon is flat high desert with lots of open space and pine trees. Kay found a great café in Bend called The Victorian Café. Wow what a great place and Kay says it is the best omelet she has ever had. Who says last minute road trips aren’t fun?

As we traveled south we saw ranches, resorts and small towns. But we kept climbing in altitude, but it was sunny and cool at 45. We then started up the north rim access to the park and started to really climb. The outside temperature also started to drop with clouds and wind. When we made the rim it was blowing snow and 50 mph wind. The lake was also under a thick cloud cover. Did our luck run out? The drive around the rim is only about 29 miles, so we thought our road trip was done. We stopped by the gift shop and grabbed a drink. We looked outside and the prospect of seeing the lake looked grim. We decided to keep driving the rim road.

As we started we were at the south entrance at the ranger station. Mailed some post cards and away we went. As we climbed back to the rim, we could see blue sky! Really? Alright! We hit the top of the rim on the south east side and the lake revealed its wonder and beauty. We could see Phantom Ship formation and the tip of the Island. The lake is a deep blue in color and very deep. We stopped at every pull out. The wind was strong but was blowing from the south to the north. As we made it to the north east corner as we pulled into a pullout. I couldn’t open my door! The wind was blowing up from the lake and crater rocking the truck back and forth and was a little scary. Big huge waves on the lake below. Another ½ mile up the road and the sun disappeared and the wind howled and thick heavy snow! We were experiencing the mountain making its own weather! Kay got hungry so we went back around the east side to the gift shop and café. Had a spicy bowl of chili while it was snowing outside.

As we headed home we had to go through a pass to make it to the west side of the mountains to Roseberg OR. The road we were on follows the head waters of the North Umpqua River. Along the way were these great water falls. We stopped at a few. The best was Watson Falls. You had to hike up to it, straight up a valley for about a mile. The falls drop 900 feet over volcanic rock into this amphitheater! Wow well worth the wet hike.

We soon hit I-5 north and headed home. What a great weekend! Yes even the winery…