On Thursday we headed to McMinnville, Oregon. Cute, quirky town in the middle of the Willamette Valley or wine country of Oregon. We drove through lots of interestingly named towns on the way, such as, Happy Valley, Boring, Clackamus and Zig Zag. Visited one vineyard on the way, Sokol Blosser, our new found favorite pinot noir. Beautiful estate and you could see Mount Hood in the distance. In McMinnville, we checked into the Hotel Oregon. Funny hotel that has live music almost every night, a roof top bar/restaurant and a wine cellar for intimate meal or wine tastings. Not every room has a private bath so everywhere we went, whenever anyone found out where we were staying, they ALWAYS asked if we had to share a bathroom. Of course, we had 2 room so we had a private bath for our family. But it was funny to always get asked. Did 2 geocaches as soon as we arrived. Then wandered around the main street area. There were wine tastings, ice cream, a local farmer's market and much more. The girls found a pizza/ movie house and had dinner with a movie that night. H. and I went to the rooftop bar and sampled some of the local microbrewery beers. We ate dinner while looking out into beautiful Oregon countryside and could still see Mount Hood. After we got the family back we went for ice cream at Serendipity. Delicious- ended up here 4 times in a 24 hour period! On Friday morning after breakfast we went to the Flying M Ranch for a horseback riding adventure! Just the 5 of us and a guide did a gorgeous trail ride. M. was "over the moon" excited!!! She had woken up at 6 am to make sure the ride was today! After riding we packed up the car and had lunch on the roof top again. Left McMinnville and went to one more vineyard and 3 more geocaches before going to the airport for the red eye home. Great family vacation. Filled with laughter (and some arguments) and lots of memories! Some of the most beautiful parts of the country that I have ever seen!!
