Carlton, OR - food, friends, wine and wind!

Jeff and Vicki Weiss are incredible people and the most lovely hosts - we are blessed with their friendship.  Vicki is the hostess with the mostess - my tummy has been happy and full! Wonderful meals, wine and conversation. Oh and Jeff made homemade bread for breakfast! 

I was introduced to burrata  How have I missed this wonderful taste sensation?

McMinnville, Oregon has gotten  “covid creative”.  They closed down their Main Street to traffic and have pop up bars and street restaurants in the evenings. 

We visited some fabulous wineries and the views were  spectacular.

Our beautiful weekend ended with a bit of drama! Hot, dry weather and high winds are never a good combination. It's even worse when the winds are potentially at historic strength. The local weather man called it the wind event of the century. 

The National Weather Service placed Northwest Oregon under a critical fire weather warning due to the confluence of high temperatures, low humidity and rare easterly winds that hit near 35 mph!  Smoke quickly blew in from area fires that you could smell and taste. 

But on a sweet note, Vicki made a crisp with pears and apples from trees growing in their yard. 

Carlton Farmhouse - Oregon

We are taking a break from the travel trailer for 4 nights to stay with beautiful people in their lovely 1890’s Farmhouse. Thank you Jeff and Vicki Weiss! We always look forward to visiting.  

Cost of first two weeks

We have been gone exactly 14 days with 8 states visited.  This is a post for people wanting to compare RV life vs traditional vacations with flights, rental car, hotel, eating out with sight seeing. We do have a monthly $220 per month travel trailer payment- not included. 

I have no idea which is better but we have loved towing our own stuff and home. Mark says towing has been pretty easy. No big issues yet. We haven’t worked to minimize our campsite fees like most people who look for state parks or corps of engineers sites. We went for convenience. 

Gas - $543.40

RV campsite fees - $534.92. 

Food out - $86

Grocery store- $112

Attractions and activities (we have a national park pass - which is not included) $164

Souvenirs - $ 22

Tip - $20

Hardest Host (free camping but they ask you to purchase from their small business) $46

AT&T - we have gone over our data plan for the month) $15

Wine - not included (smile)

Total - $1,543.32. 

Comment - what do you think? 

The best smelling soap ever! Pure gold

We were at a really nice winery called Reverly and  had a great tasting and lunch. We enjoyed their wine - a bunch... as we were getting ready to leave we both went to the restroom both Mark and I commented on how great the soap smelled. So... we looked it up because we “thought” we might order some -  $125 a bottle FOR SOAP!!!. Who does that? LOL! But they did have free shipping! Mark commented about it to the host and she said - isn’t it great but the cost is pure gold! No kidding!!!

Visited Saviah - nice wines. We enjoyed the stop.  

The next winery was Foundry. We bought one bottle of everything we tasted. Super yummy. Wine + Art is their theme. 

Our last stop was Tranche. Lovely wines and a nice stop. Done day drinking! 

98 degrees and air conditioned truck seats .,, who knew?

It is a dry heat but still freakin hot! Had no idea our truck had air conditioned seats until my buns and back started to cool! 😂 I was like what is this lusciousness??? Mark figured it out.  Even with the heat this day did not suck! 

 Walla Walla has a beautiful downtown and the wineries are gorgeous but the overall town is a bit gloomy. 

We visited four wineries today- the super star was Caprio Cellars. A must visit if you are in Walla Walla. As we walked up to the door, they greeted us with glasses of bubbly. Complimentary tasting and small bites. I had a scrumptious fried eggplant and Mark had a summer salad made with fresh plums. Yummy wines . 

Canoe Ridge was also a stand out. Wine tasting room manager has a newborn and lack of sleep was evident. Complimentary cheese and olives and he waived the significant tasting free because of so many errors but it was a fun stop and we enjoyed talking to the people around us. 

Basel has a beautiful building and average wines. 

 

Isenhower Cellars was a pleasurable stop with good conversation and ok wines. We bought their Vin Gris.  All and all a great day.  

Walla Walla, Washington- A place of many waters

The drive from Idaho to Washington was definitely interesting and unexpected. We thought it would be green and lush like Idaho. Not so much. Vast farm land and very dry.

We saw at least 15 large dirt devils. 

We pasted the area where the Snake River and the Columbia River join. Looked like a huge lake. The air is filled with smoke from California and Washington wildfires. 

Started seeing trucks and buildings full of onions. Walla Walla onions are sweet, the state vegetable, and can only be grown in the Walla Walla valley. 

Our first stop was a large production winery called Waterbrook. Super nice staff and a very tasty brut. So pretty!  We will hit up some smaller wineries over the next couple of days. 

Got settled in a really nice small RV park called Blue Valley. Paved sites and pristinely clean. 

Mark even worked out today. Me... not so much. 

Coeur d’Alene - big pine trees and deep blue lake with a cherry on top!

Only 100 miles from the Canadian border, Coeur dAlene is a beautiful slice of northwest  Idaho. We took the scenic byway around a portion of Lake Coeur d’Alene. 

We had lunch and a nice tasting at a local winery. I bet that comes as a surprise to everyone... NOT... smile. 

We walked around the very quaint downtown area. Dog treats just waiting for a passing pup, cool sculptures everywhere and good beer. 

I took a picture of this sculpture because it reminded me so much of my mom. On one of her first fly fishing trips, she hooked a rock - which she had made into a fun necklace. 

The cherry! Meeting my step sister, Suzette. She warmly welcomed us into her beautiful home for a wonderful backyard BBQ with her entire family! It was great to meet her husband, 3 children and 4 grandchildren. Suzette recalls us meeting when we were six. I don’t have a memory of the meeting but it was great getting to know each other as adults. 

We had dinner our second night at a wonderful restaurant with outdoor seating to watch the sunset. It was a lovely evening and I look forward to keeping in touch with Suzette and her family. 

We stayed at a real nice campground called Blackwell Island. It is on the water with a beach and swimming area.