Oregon, you really are beautiful. The moment we hit Oregon radio, I got a lot of messages about why Oregon was so awesome, but all the things they mention don’t compare to the natural beauty. It is spectacular. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t go check out some of the cool not nature things 🙂
Willamette Valley
The Willamette is all about the wine tasting. We were on route back to the coast so didn’t get to go for a heaps. But Al worked his usual magic and found a selection of pet friendly wineries for us to test.
Oregon is a cold climate area (like Orange in Australia) , which means, stacks of white and Pinot, with no heavy reds. So we all had our roles:
- Al: designated driver. Chief of delivering us to wineries and getting us safely to the coast
- Kevin: puppy. Chief of sniffing and ensuring no danger got in our way
- Jill: wine taster. Chief of acquiring wine
- Google: navigator. Chief of plotting routes and stopping Jill from directing to more wineries.
Oak Knoll Winery
This place is super cute, the staff were wonderful and the wine really affordable. I stayed away from the Pinot, and tested out their whites. All nice, easy drinkers and under $20. I love a good, unpretentious Winery. Plus, they has puppy school in the grounds!! What a great idea.
Blizzard Wines
Practically across the road from Oak Knoll, this is a natural next stop. They have a great patio for you to sit out while tasting. You go inside and set up your tasting and they’ll bring things out to you. They specialize in Pinot & Chardonnay. Nothing majorly grabbed my attention, with the exception of the champagne. I may have been too excited about it actually being champagne, so, despite the guy telling me the price as $30 less than it ended up being, I bought a bottle. Annoyingly, they still charged me for the tasting, despite the fact that my 1 bottle was the price of 2 other bottles. That sort of thing bugs me.
David Hill Winery
This one I could have stayed in for ages. They are perched up on a hill, with 360 degree views. Inside & outside tasting. Nice helpful & friendly staff. Plus yummy cheese & cold meat to purchase to make your own picnic. Basically, everything you need, and the wine was nice. If we hadn’t had to get on the road, this would have been my afternoon.
Tillamook Dairy
This place is a megalith! I don’t think I mean this in a good way. Heaps of people had said we needed to make sure we stopped off here. I have never seen such a huge cheese place! And the people. So many! It was ridiculous. People were queued forever to taste the cheese. Not me though, there was no way I was doing that. I did however just randomly buy some cheese. I didn’t think it was anything special, and I think most of it could be bought from a super market easier.
Pelican Brewing Company
This place was our refuge after the carnage of Tillamook Dairy!! A chance to sit down away from the mega crowds and have a nice cold beer. You can sit outside with your dog, which we needed. There was an odd smell outside (I’m guessing a by-product of all the cows near by) that stopped us from staying longer.
Yachats
This coastline is gorgeous. Al found a great little dog friendly motel (Deanne’s Oceanfront Lodge) for us that was just out of town but right on the beach so @kevinfromfinance was in his element. A beautiful beach for us to wander along, and a stack of dead crabs for him to roll in 😂😂😂 Things he did not appreciate: having an ocean bath to try and get rid of some of the stink.
Luna Sea Fish House
This is apparently the best fish & chips in the area, but sadly I didn’t get to test it. We did however, go in for breakfast. They have heaps of outdoor tables and are dog friendly. I’m not someone who can stomach a seafood breakfast so just had a normal one, but Al enjoyed his seafood omelette.
Bandon
I think you could stop at every town along this coastline and be happy. I found the fish & chip shop in Bandon on the top 10 list and there was so way I was doing a Coast drive with out some!
Bandon Bait Shop
The trick here is to walk past the mega queue of people and head down to the bait shop to order yours. Apparently, it’s way better, and the wait is way less!! It was good fish! No option for a grilled fish though, which is my preference. I’m not sure why Americans haven’t worked out that fish and chips needs proper chips, not fries, but they haven’t. This little place is well worth the stop.
There’s a little oyster place next door that looked cute, but way too many people when we were there. So instead, took a little walk around town and inevitably found a brewery 😂
Bandon Brewing Company
This is a nice, comfortable little brewery that is putting out yummy smelling pizzas. Pizza is the perfect thing for a brewery to have as a side hustle.
Brooking
Last stop on the Oregon Coast for us was Brooking, where we found a great little brewery nestled into the back of what I think was an industrial site.
Chetco Brewing Company
This is the sort of place you’d make your local if you lived in the area. Great space, dog friendly and good beers. plus they had local good trucks that came in, everything you could want!!
From the looks of it they also house the local running clan. Not bad, hey!
There is way more of Oregon for us to explore. Why is it a trip like this always makes your to do list bigger, rather than smaller?
Jilltopia 