La paese di vino con miei genitori

If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes. That's what they say out here, and that's what we did. There were big scurrying clouds and bouts of sun this morning when I went to pick my parents up at their hotel on the water front. A little drizzle, a little sun.

Highway 99W is just a mess going into the Willamette Valley off of I-5. It's just an urban sprawl nightmare. My father confirmed my own suspicions about drives: bad drivers are everywhere. He used to complain that people in SC couldn't drive, and I tended to agree with him. But people in Oregon can't drive either, and he just said, "Bad drivers are everywhere." So true. Pokey drivers in the left lane, talking on their cellphones; people not pulling over and stopping for emergency vehicles; people who don't use a turn signal; people who speed up and brake as if their car won't function in non gas/brake mode.

We finally got past the bumper to bumper traffic of 99W and turned up to my favorite winery, White Rose. We sampled 4 pinots there, all of which I enjoyed. We talked to a very knowledgeable gal, who informed me that one could go into the wine business without much formal education or credentials. She just said that you need to be curious, read a lot, and ask questions. These are all things I do very well. My second life as wine connoisseur may be taking off.

The second place we went to was Sokol Blosser, which I had never been to before and enjoyed quite a bit. We sampled 6 wines: Pinot Gris, Pinot Rose, White Blend, Pinot Noir, a pinot blend, and finally a white/muscat desert wine. I liked them all, and we ended up buying the Rose and Pinot Noir for further investigation. I also found a new wine term for "Talk to me Vino": steely backbone. Niiiiice.

We sat out on the deck in the sunshine and more or less had the place to ourselves until about the third tasting. Then a group, most likely from Texas showed up. They were loud and brought a child with them, which only slightly damaged my serenity. We could look out over the country and see rain showers sprinkling intermittently between the sun breaks, and the panorama was amazing.

We left and headed for lunch. Our first choice was a place called "Tina's," which I think Mac, Kat and I wanted to stop at a few years ago. Just like that occasion, Tina's was closed so we opted for Dundee Bistro, which is overpriced and less cozy. Oh well. I had the pizza and a 15 dollar glass of wine. Redonkulous.

We decided to take another route to get us back on I-5 quicker and thereby avoiding the mess of 99W. 219 South ended up being a fantastic choice, as we cruised through farmyards and over the Willamette River. We did get stuck in bumper to bumper traffic back into Portland, but I think that's because it was rush hour, raining, on a Friday afternoon. It seems the clouds that skirted us in the valley got stuck on the West Hills, and it was just dumping rain. Not very pleasant to be stuck in traffic, but I'm enjoying the weather now that I'm safely back in my snug little apartment. I also got news that I will be moving into my condo a week and a few days from today! Hooray!