Over a week ago now, Robert and I took a short getaway to Oregon. We flew into Portland, saw the city with a friend, ate lunch at a brewery, and then drove to Eugene to stay at King's Estates Vineyard. It truly was stately with creamy yellow stuccoed buildings all tiled roofed and maticuloulsy well kept. There was a beautiful reception hall and gourmet restaurant surrounded with alfresco diners, herb gardens, and edible flowers. All this was set on a hill amidst acres of vineyards stretching up and down rolling hills and winding driveways flanked by those tall and skinny iconic Tuscan shrubs.






Because of Robert's position, King Estate's made complimentary accomodations for us at their private guest house. I wish I would have taken more pictures because it was probably the most romantic place I have every seen. The little arts and crafts cottage was built into the base of a hill under the shade of a massive sequoia tree. It was stocked with all sorts of wine and micro brews and all organic snacks: bread, cheese, chocolates, etc. They had a gourmet dinner from their restaurant waiting for us. The entire back of the house was french doors that opened to the view of a mirror pond--truly stunning.






During our travels, we went to Eugene's Saturday Market.



Eugene Market had all sort of great local produce, artisan bread, great coffee, chocolate bouchon--yum.



Eugene Market had more tye-dye than one person could possibly wear in a lifetime and lost of little handmade wares. I found these odd little tchotchkes particularly interesting.  



We also visited Archery Summit winery and stayed there. They make only Pinot Noir, a grape growing in particular popularity because of the movie Side Ways. {It's a funny but unexpectedly depressing movie.}



Robert--the master wine swirler.



Roses are often planted as an indicator species on vineyards; they often signal a problem before it could become evident in the berries. Plus, it is in keeping with tradition and they are pretty.



We also hiked Silver Falls which was lovely and peaceful. There are 9 waterfalls, and we could walk behind most of them.






We concluded our trip at Cannon Beach. Robert and I spent our first 5 years of married life in Holland, Michigan; as newlyweds, we used to spend our free time walking the beach and talking about the future. Cannon Beach was beautiful simply to walk the beach like we had before, talk and dream about the future.



This is "Hay Stack Rock" on Cannon Beach. I felt it was a misnomers. There is very little Hay Stack-ish about it to me.






A beach comber took this picture for us. It was very underexposed, but still nice to capture a picture of Robert and I. Our thin Houston blood wasn't quite prepared for the midsty 60-degree weather that evening, but we made a fire and watched the sunset. The next day we flew home.