Great Wines and Great Views

Coming up from Crescent City, we stopped in Roseburg at Twin Rivers Campground.  It was one of the best campgrounds we’ve stayed in and it made the 4 day stay very pleasant.  It was right in the middle of the wine trail and Crater Lake was an easy day trip.  We helped Deb's dad load Skype, which made talking to him easier.

 

 

 

This was right outside our campground - Dave especially liked it!

Thursday we did the Umpqua Valley Wine trail.  We met several couples at wineries who were also staying in our camp ground.  The wineries had good reds, but very little pinot.  The most unusual wine we found was at Melrose, a baco noir.  It was heartier than a pinot and a little unusual, so we bought 3 bottles.  Melrose also had a great gift shop and Deb got a decanter ½ price.  Hillcrest was the oldest in the valley and also had a distillery.  The owner gave us a tour and we commented on how it, too was fenced off from the winery.  This she told us was a federal regulation.  She also showed us her open top concrete fermenters.   The Cabernet that we bought there was blended with a wine made with partially dried grapes and was like a “lite” port:  not quite as sweet and without the added alcohol.  At Henry Estate, we were served by an unemployed (except by Henry!) college student with 2 degrees.  Later when we explored “downtown” Roseburg, we could partially understand, as the town is fairly depressed.   We have become really spoiled and have come to “expect” to be served by the owner or winemaker, LOL.  With his lack of enthusiasm for the wines, we ended up buying some funny napkins!  At Delphinos, the owner told us how they were transitioning from commercial yeast to natural yeast and we did several side by side tastings.  We bought a bottle of the “natural” tempranillo.  At Glaser, we were impressed with the tasting room right on the river.  The owner/winemaker also made limoncello, but with vodka and lemon juice.  It was not nearly as potent or tart as Dave’s.  But, he had also made the vodka.  We bought a Grenache there that he opened just for us.

Distillery at Melrose

 

After all this tasting, we went into Roseburg to find some food and wound up at a tasting room for Draper Brewery, a small nano-brewery (50 gal. batches).  We got a cheese, cracker and apple plate.  We asked about where we should go to watch the Falcon/Panther game on Sunday and Applebee’s and the bowling alley got mentioned twice.  This should be interesting!  Roseburg seems to have an image problem.  We went to the grocery and then settled in for the night.  Dave catalogued all of the wine, while Deb grilled salmon, scallops, and mushrooms over the great fire Dave built!

Friday we picked grapes at Reustle (see separate blogpost).  While tasting there we met Gayla and Chuck and discovered that they were also at our campground.  We decided to do a “pot luck – bring your own thing to grill” supper and really had fun talking with them and comparing camping and winery notes.  They are from Scottsdale, but sold their house in June and have been living in their 25 ft. pull behind trailer.  They are headed back to Scottsdale for a few months, but are looking for the next place they want to live!  Before supper Deb visited the Master Garden adjacent to our campground and was really impressed with all of the different areas.  She took many pictures for Rosa, our sister in law who is a Master Gardener.

This was a human sundial in the garden

 

Saturday we did a day trip up to Crater Lake.  We got started a little late,  (translation:  worked on the blog, read the paper, ate a leisurely breakfast) but really enjoyed the ride up there and back.  The road follows the Umpqua River for about 30 miles and we could see fly fishermen in the crystal clear river.  We stopped at Toketee Falls and Deb was very proud that she did the “very difficult” (per the Forest Service) hike to the falls.  The hiking stick that we bought at Mystery Tree proved invaluable and though her ankle still causes her to limp, she is going along pretty well, if slowly!  The rim ride around Crater Lake was spectacular and worth the drive!  That the lake is 2000 feet deep is almost incomprehensible!  Formed by a volcano, it is crystal clear and was bright blue on this great sunny day.  Pictures barely do it justice.

This wood stave pipe was as tall and old as David!!

Whirlpool above the Falls

Deb made it!!

First view of Crater Lake

 

Part of taking pictures, is asking folks to take a picture of us together, and taking pictures for other folks.  Sometimes it works out and sometimes......

Dave photographing a couple at the Falls

And this guy seemed to be a good photographer

 

We thought about our friends back home and hoped their wine tour was going well.  We also got emails from Diane Restaino and realized that it was raining for her 50’s Party.  As I write this, we are indeed in the bowling alley's bar and have been uploading pictures during time out's of the Panther's game.  It is a nailbiter!! .....and a disappointing loss.