DAY-18 Oktoberfest, The Vineyards & A Little Football

Day-18: Sunday, September 20, 2015

Starting Location: Best Western, Wilsonville, OR

Interim Location: Oktoberfest, Mount Angel, OR
Interim Location: Dundee Hills Wine Region, Dundee, OR

Ending Location: Best Western, Wilsonville, OR

Today would be a most relaxing day with our travels limited to a small geographic region south and west of our lodging in Wilsonville. We met around 10 AM and drove over to the Biscuits Cafe a local breakfast favored spot discovered in Jack's restaurant research.

We had to wait about 15 minutes but heh if we'd gone somewhere else it would have taken more than that amount of time. Anyway the choice was great. We were seated with for three of us, backs against the wall.


We ordered omelets, pastries, avocado eggs Benedict and even corned beef hash and eggs, a local special, all of course served with "biscuits". For a drink I had ordered a hot chocolate as the waitress had assured me that theirs was "the best in Oregon".  As drinks arrived out came the cup of chocolate, it was like a volcano of chocolate exploding and flowing over the sides of the cup. With one taste I was convinced, yes this was likely the best hot chocolate in Oregon, perhaps in the world. Not only was it thick and flavorful with whipped cream drizzled with chocolate, it was only $2.59 and even better was the fact that it was a bottomless cup (aka "free refills" including the whipped cream and drizzle). Enough with the chocolate, it was great! The food was equally good and also served in great quantities. I don't think anyone cleared their plate and we could have taken food home but choose not to since we would be on the road. Great restaurant, a winner, we might go back.

Sheila and Jack had heard of an Oktoberfest celebration in Mount Angel, OR about 30 miles south of our lodging (yes, Greg did note that it was still September not yet October). With a consensus we headed south and arrived in Mount Angel around noon. We parked our car and boarded the transportation into the center of the festival. Our transport was not a limo, a premium class train or anything like that, it was a passenger cart pulled by a shiny new John Deere tractor. It was a nice open air ride with nice people, all very close, sitting on wood seats or standing against a rail.

We were dropped in town and established a rendezvous place and time allowing for about two hours at the festival. After "pit stops" we were on our way anxiously looking for the "Weiner Dog" racing and other things German. Along the way we passed any number of vendor stands selling arts, crafts and food, did I mention food, if not, I will mention it later.

We arrived at the "Wiener Dog" race track and after walking around the paddock took seats alongside the rail at the track. For our race their were four entrants, decked out in racing silks. Greg choose the red-silked dog and I the orange-silked dog. After a brief wait the race was on, my dog never left the gate, Greg's ran at full speed to the end of the track resulting in my owing Greg one shaved ice, his choice of flavor.

Pat and Jack ventured through a "Classic Car" show and looked in on a mass (in Spanish) at the hilltop church.

We continued walking through the town of Mount Angel and arrived at the town center where there was more food. There was everything fried (oreos, twinkles, potatoes, dough, beignets, etc.), buttered corn-on-the-cob, ice cream, sausages of a wide variety, fish tacos (yes, even in Germany you can order fish tacos), baked potatoes, fudge and of course drinks including beer. We saw people in long lines to buy food and many of those people were eating other food as they waited. So yes, this place was about the food. All that said, amongst the six of us not a bite was eaten and not a drink taken, Greg didn't even get his shaved ice.

By 1:15 we had had enough, it was a great celebration and a great people watching opportunity. For Mount Angel this is a big deal; this was the 50th anniversary of the festival and over the four days they expected to entertain and of course feed, over 350,000 people.

Recognize the guy in the red shirt on the left? He's clearly too tall to be Nick, guess it must be Jack or Greg.







On the way out we did stop for the 1 PM Glockenspiel show in the town center. By 2 PM we are back on the road and headed west to wine country.





















Our first stop was again in the Dundee Hills region, this time at the Stoller Family Estate Vineyard and Winery. Our reason for stopping was to see a big time wine operation and specifically to see the operation partially funded by the regular Pinot Noir orders from Chris and Denny for their home wine cellar. We went into the tasting center but I think we had had our fill of wine, we just looked around. This place was big and glitzy and we know from past experience in Scottsdale that the quality is good. We didn't come away empty handed though as we took a few pictures and Diane discovered the eternal tap of Perrier Water. This is a nice place and will be on our itinerary for a future trip.

Diane Discovers the Source of Perrier

"Hanging at Stoller with a Space for Two"

From Stoller we ventured into Dundee; no small feat as the five mile trip took over twenty minutes with Sunday traffic being intense. Our target was the Bella Vida Vineyard where we stopped briefly for an accounting check on yesterday's purchases.


Lastly we passed by the Baptista Maresh property again and in a few minutes arrived at the Lange Family Estate Vineyard.







Several years ago Sheila and I had visited Lange and in addition to buying wine I had purchased a ball cap for no other reason than liking the logo. The Lange family uses fishing fly images for their labels and during the earlier visit we had shared fishing tales and had pictures taken with the owners. Somewhere along the line I had lost the cap, perhaps in St. Petersburg (the Russia type) but having vowed to never return to Russia I had crossed it off as lost forever, thus the need to return to the Pacific Northwest, to Oregon, to the Dundee Hills and to the Lange vineyards. Mission accomplished, I have my new cap and a couple of bottles to go.

We returned to Wilsonville via the "horse farm" highway and arrived at the hotel around 4 PM.

Pat and Jack went to dinner with another past Navy associate who they had known in Spain. They dined tonight at the Stonecliff Restaurant in Oregon City.

For Diane, Greg, Sheila and I this was a quiet night chowing down on veggies & dip (no hummus permitted in my room), cheese & crackers, pop corn, trail mix infused with more M&Ms and two bottles of wine, a Sauvignon Blanc and one of yesterday's purchases, a Gris-Ling from Bella Vida Vineyard. We watched the Packers do in the Seahawks, not sure if the game provided enough points for me to prevail in Fantasy Football but we'll see tomorrow night. On the other hand Sheila dominated with her FF team over another family member, life is tough in the FF-NFL.

That's it for the night, tomorrow will be a day of travel, with Pat and Jack remaining in Portland before heading home on Tuesday and with Diane, Greg, Sheila and I headed south to Crater Lake and the famous Prospect Historic B&B.