Corvallis, Oregon

Labor Day weekend had me on the road to Corvalis, OR, to visit my sister and her family.  I flew from Duluth, to Minneapolis, to Portland, then took the HUT shuttle to Corvallis.  Same coming back.  Flights and shuttles all ran smoothly and on time, good weather coming and going.  Yay!

I arrived in Portland/Corvallis Thursday afternoon about 330p.  Karen and nephew Fin picked me up, grabbed some groceries, and made our way to their apartment.  The evening was spent relaxing and catching up, with a tour of her community garden.

Friday we picked up Karen's friend and headed to the Coast for the day, specifically, Cape Perpetua.  We did a little walking, saw some massive sitka spruce (massive to this Midwest girl where most trees don't get much bigger than 80' tall and 15" diameter.  We had a picnic lunch atop the Mt. Perpetua, then walked around the coast viewing the Devil's Cauldron and the blow-hole.  Tide was coming in so lots of frothy wave action. 

Base of a Sitka Spruce...this is one very large tree.

Looking south along the coast from Cape Perpetua, point in the far distance has a lighthouse.

Tide coming in.  Sploosh!

The blow-hole; wave action pushes water up through a gap in the rocks.

Saturday morning we did girly things - yarn shopping, wandered downtown Corvalis, then pedi's.  The afternoon was spent working in my sister's community perennial garden which she had just acquired.  A much neglected 400 sqft plot of land - full of 4-5' high thistle, fennel going to seed, some kind of yellow flower, and grasses when we started.  We conquered all but about 1/8th of it over a couple days.  Alas, no before/after pics.  Lots of scratches tho...

Sunday morning was more gardening, then a trip to "wine county", which in Corvalis is everywhere.  Stopped at two wineries just outside of Philomath, and unfortunately, I can't remember the name of either.  I'll have to come back and post.  Since I don't have a way to share the wine (which was really good) I'll share some pictures:

First Winery. Not the customers I think they wanted to attract...(center)

Second Winery - barn is their "showroom".

A quite delightful Pinot. 

And this was the view...

And Monday, after a bit of school supply shopping for Finny, we drove to the top of Mt. Mary and enjoyed this view of Mt. Hood.  Mt. Jefferson and the Three Sisters are off to the right just behind the spruce tree.  So we are standing on the backside of the Inter-coastal range looking east to the Cascades. 

Mt. Hood in the distance.

After a picnic lunch atop Mt. Mary, we heading to Bellweather Wool Company and some fiber!  The lovely lady who owns this bit of heaven in the valley raises Wensleydale sheep, has rescue alpacas, angora rabbits, chickens, turkeys, and the usual assortment of dogs and cats.  She cards and spins her own yarns in the upper levels of the barn and sells on-line and to local retail outfits. 

Bellweather Farm

fuzzy fuzzy alpacas

A 6am shuttle had me up very early on Tuesday morning.  Two hours back to Portland, flight back to Minneapolis, then a jog back to Duluth where I was on the ground by 630pm.  My sincere thanks to my sister and her family for a fantastic visit!