mcminnville/willamette valley

After tasting at Penner-Ash and Adelsheim, we drove into the town of McMinnville, where we would be staying the remainder of our trip. A couple months before, we booked a flat at the 3rd Street Flats. I loved staying here! It was comfortable, spacious, and clean. Each room has different decor and color palette. We stayed in the flat, Noir. There was a small grocery store a few blocks down where we bought eggs and bacon and some fruit for our breakfasts. It was so nice to be able to make breakfast in the kitchen rather than spend money eating out for the first meal of the day.

Over the next couple days we visited: Sokol Blosser (Dundee Hills), Domaine Serene (Yamhill), Willamette Valley Vineyards (Turner), White Rose Estate Winery (Dayton), and the tasting room at R Stuart and Co. (downtown McMinnville).

Favorite places to eat: lunch at Community Plate; dinner at La Rambla, ice cream at Serendipity; a late lunch on the patio at 1882 Grille; and lunch one day at Crescent Cafe.

We visited several wineries during the day and walked on the historical main street of McMinnville.

Sokol Blosser

Domaine Serene

Domaine Serene

Chabby chic/farmhouse-style shop on Main Street. It almost turned my decor style. Almost.

That evening we drove to Turner, Oregon, about 50 minutes away to attend a pairings dinner at Willamette Valley Vineyards. That was a lot of fun! I enjoyed the couple we sat across from at our table. They are from Houston, and met at work 37 years ago, and have been married almost as long. They travel to Oregon one week a month for engineering consulting work for the nuclear energy industry, so they have extensive knowledge of Oregon wines. 

Helpful for pronunciation. :)

The next day we visited a couple more wineries, took a nap, watched House Hunters, and ate a delicious dinner at a Northwest-inspired Spanish tapas place called La Rambla. SO GOOD. 

White Rose Winery

White Rose Winery

White Rose Winery

R Stuart and Co.

R Stuart and Co.

Incredibly delicious tapas at La Rambla

And then we drove to PDX the following morning, happily shared one more Cointreau Creme Brule donut at the airport (I was a little excited when we spotted a Blue Star Donuts at the airport!) and then, before we knew it, we were touching down at MSP. What a fun trip exploring an area of the country that was new to both of us. As much as I enjoyed trying a new wine region, I still think Napa and Sonoma are my favorite thus far (haven't visited wineries in Italy or France...yet). The laid-back atmosphere in Willamette Valley was nice, but I kind of missed the excitement of Napa, and how it was a little more fancy and special. I also liked the variety of wines we got to taste in California, whereas in Oregon, we mostly tasted pinots, which are good, but I did get a little tired of pinot. I absolutely loved all the evergreens in Oregon and beautiful vistas, and I LOVED Portland. I would go back to Portland in a heartbeat, if anything, just to try more awesome restaurants, donut shops, and amazing coffee. :)

Traveling is exhilarating, but there is truly no place like home. I love giving my girls hugs when we walk through the door, or in this case, they ran out to greet us in the driveway in their socks, much to the amusement of our Uber driver.

This was the longest we've been away from them, and they did SO well. It's so comforting to know that they are a little older this time and supportive of each other, not to mention that my parents are so good with them. (For the record, Brett's parents are good with our girls too, of course). They also got to hang out with their cousin Jack a little, too. Thank you for making this trip possible, Mom and Dad! Thanks for picking Stella up from school, Susie!

Okay, diet starts now.