Easter in Oregon Wine Country

We didn't have much planned for Easter, so we decided to take Kendall and drive out through Oregon wine country. We had a Cellar Club shipment to pick up at Sokol Blosser. It was a very showery day, so hanging out at the vineyard and drinking wine wasn't an option today. Here are some pictures from some of our sunnier visits.

Looking out at Archery Summit winery taken last fall

We drove out to Carlton to visit the newly opened tasting room of Noble Pig and J Wrigley Vineyards. It's a great little cottage filled with wine, of course, and lots of wine-related things. I saw a cute wire barrel into which you can put your wine corks. It sure beats putting them all in a basket for the cats to get into and leave all over the house. (Not that that ever happens at our house.)

We came home with a 2008 Noble Pig Pinot Gris, a 2008 Noble Pig Pinot Noir, and two Reidel pinot noir glasses with the Noble Pig logo on them.

Here's Kendall checking out the new tasting room. As you can see, it was pretty wet out.

I'd never been to Carlton before. It has a number of tasting rooms and reminds me a lot of Sonoma, CA from a long time ago. Dundee seems to have dropped the ball and has missed the opportunity to transform into a cute, wine country destination. Carlton looks a lot more promising. If you're ever out here, it's worth the drive to check out the little town and its tasting rooms. I look forward to visiting again when it's not raining so hard. Then we can walk around town a bit.

Cathy, from Noble Pig, also writes a great food blog that's worth following. She comes up with some of the best recipes. One of my favorites is her Reuben Dip.
 
Hope you all had an enjoyable Easter no matter how you chose to spend it.

Keys Dogs - Part 2

After the success of finding dog friendly places during the first couple of days in the Florida Keys, I was feeling pretty good about my decision to pursue pictures of dogs we met in the Keys. However, as the week went on, we found we were leaving the condo complex less and less, which meant fewer dog pictures. Toward the end of the week we did make it down to one of our favorite places, The Lorelei, in Islamorada. There were lots of local Keys dogs hanging out with their owners.

There were dogs in boats.

Hanging out at the bar

I had to throw that last picture in there, because that's what the Florida Keys are all about - sunsets.

It's Read to the Dogs Day

Kendall and I are headed off to the Beaverton Library today for their twice-monthly Read to the Dogs Saturday.

The program at the local libraries in the Portland area are similar to the program started by the Intermountain Therapy Animals group (from where I borrowed this logo).

We have four readers scheduled to read to Kendall today. The kids get to choose their books or they can choose from a box of dog-related books that we set out. If you have kids of reading age and live in the Portland area, check with your local library to get your kids involved. It's fun for the kids and for the dogs.

This is the second time we've done this. The first time was a lot of fun.

Happy Aloha Friday

It's Friday, and it's Earth Day . Can it get any better than this? We're participating in An Island Life's Aloha Friday blog event. The event involves posting a question on your blog. Here's my question:

What are you doing for Earth Day?

We have a number of events scheduled at work today. I rode my bike to work, brought in some t-shirts to exchange, brought my lunch, and we're going up to clean up garbage from the area around the building.

I look forward to hearing what you're doing today.

Keys Dogs - Part I

While you were all on the virtual vacation last week with us, we were off soaking up some real sunshine in the Florida Keys. Since we've gone to the same place a number of times before, I decided to focus my photography on dogs we met in the Keys. It started off pretty good. We went to the Pilot House in Key Largo for Happy Hour and ran into these two little guys.

Shakespeare looked right at home

It's nice to see so many pet friendly places

Hanging out at Happy Hour

Sophie from CT. She just had a haircut because she was so hot

 We headed down to the World Wide Sportsman one morning and was surprised to see this Doggy Cart. I've never, ever seen anything like this. Have you?

I have more Keys Dogs pictures for you later this week.

While we were off in the Keys, Kendall was hanging out with her buddies Jen and Buffy. Kendall had a great time, just as if she were on vacation herself. We're lucky that we have someone who will watch Kendall in her home when we travel. Usually we take Kendall with us, but I don't want her to fly. What do you do with your dogs when you travel?

The Final Stops on our Virtual Vacation

Hope you've had fun on our virtual vacation as we travel around North America looking for sunshine and warmth to help us mentally escape the rain, snow, hail, and cold weather in the Pacific NW. Today we're off to two final stops. We're headed right by Levonne and Gingee in CA. Maybe they'll join us.

First stop - Crater Lake, Oregon

 

I know, I know. We were trying to avoid the Pacific NW, but it isn't always rainy and cold here. I find Crater Lake to be one of the most majestic places I've ever visited.

Now, one last stop on our virtual vacation.

Last stop - Alaska

I couldn't resist including Alaska in our virtual vacation. While it isn't always warm, it can get quite sunny.

At least it didn't look like this during our visit.

Here's to keeping warm and dry until spring finally arrives for good.

Where Shall We Go Today?

I hope you had a great time on the first stops on our virtual vacation. Let's head off across the country looking for some more great sunny, warm spots to escape the rainy weather in the Pacific NW.

First stop - Colorado

It's not quite as warm as it was in the Bahamas, but look at those skies!! Now that's sunshine for you.

Jump in the car, we're headed off to Sin City. We'll be on our best behavior, though.

Second stop - Las Vegas, NV

Hmmm... No sunny pictures, but it sure is nice and warm. The lights at night in Las Vegas are really what shows off the beauty of the town. It's very colorful.

I promise more sunshine in our next two stops. Be sure to come along for the rest of the trip. You'll be surprised at where we're headed. Hope you're having fun.