Oregon!

It began with beer, actually. We landed, went straight to McMennamen's (sp?) for a fantastic lunch and brewskis, as they say. Frank and Patrick enjoyed the flight...both the airline and the flight of beer.

And then, on to the grape!
After stopping at Cooper Mountain Vineyards (it was wonderful, I must say), we headed off to Ponzi which was equally gorgeous and delicious. We were in awe of the trees!
We hit a couple more wineries then headed back to Tom and Dorian's home, our lovely hosts. Dorian grew up with Lisa and Frank, so there was a lot of rekindling old stories, which I love to hear.

The next day we hit Lange, which is aMAZING. Tom and Dorian actually gave us a case of Lange Pinot for our wedding, and it was truly the gift the kept on giving. Well, T&D are friends with the Lange family, so Don Lange (grey in the hat) gave us the tour!
Patrick enjoying the beauty :)
The whole group...

Still at Lange...they have this amazing view...truly breathtaking!

On to the next stop! This is the next winery...I honestly can't remember what they were all called...just delicious. We'll call this Delicious #6.
And the view. Breathe in...say, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
So that night, we went to what we thought was a private tasting with heavy hors d'oeuvres. No. It wound up being about an eight course private dinner in the barrel room of Laurel Canyon Vineyards. Dorian had won it at a silent auction a couple years back, and we got to reap the benefits! We tasted new wines with every course. This is how it looked before our tour...
Laurel Canyon is one of the only vineyards that still makes the wine in their facility instead of having some other company do it. So this is where they dump the grapes in:
This is the pressing machine. It gets rid of skins and does fancy stuff. I was just impressed with the whole set-up!
So, this is where they make the champagne. Custom champagne. Wineries will have them make custom champagne, anything they want in it. I was ready to call it a day just after seeing this! How WONDERFUL. I LOVE champagne!

This is Bartleby, the head winemaker. :)

So back to the dinner. She had candles all the way up all of the barrels on the wall.
It's a little fuzzy (hello, photoshop), but I LOVE this photo of Lisa:
The whole gang...
The owner told a hilarious stories about these barrels. They were made by blind people who put the titles on upside down...okay, it was funnier in-person.

The next day was Gorge day.
We stopped to see these falls - they were amazing! I couldn't get the whole thing in the photo...it was incredible!

Lisa and Dorian...

Frank and Patrick (I LOVE this photo):
I kept thinking of Curious George all day but can't imagine why....

Check out the cutest lunch place ever. It was so off the beaten path, situated right in the forest. Absolutely incredible.
Whenever he sees a tractor, he hops on.
We headed into the town and saw the windsurfers and kite surfers...we stayed for a couple hours - it looks like so much fun!
Back to Tom and Dorian's beautiful home. Their deck was party central.
Boy and his mama. :)
Last day, downtown Portland. Behind me is Powell's Books, which takes up a full city block. I got some collector Agatha Christie books there!
The whole gang right before we headed back to the airport!
We had the absolute best time. The weather was perfect, we had tons of wine, and it was all so relaxing. I have nearly 500 photos, so this is the basic recap...but...I'd say we're going back soon, so you'll see more then. :)