Saturday. Day 2.

We woke up in Bend and grabbed some breakfast. From there, we headed up to Mt. Bachelor for some skiing. Its only about a 20 minute drive.

It was a weekend. A holiday weekend. So it was packed. It took about an hour to get a lift ticket and rental skis, then we hit the slopes. The lift lines were pretty long and slow moving too. Conditions on the mountain were pretty terrible. We started on the right side of the mountain which was about as icy as skiing in Gatlinburg. So we tried the left side (sunny side) and found some decent conditions. We made a few runs there and grabbed a few beers at the lodge.

Overall, we didn’t find any powder and not much skiable terrain. It was one of the worst days, in terms of conditions, that I’ve had out west. But, what makes up for it was the fantastic views and more importantly, the chance to spend the day (and weekend) hanging out with my Dad.

I will say that I see tremendous potential in Bachelor. Its a lot of space, the terrain looks promising, there are lots of trees to ski through (my favorite). If there was powder, it might have been one of the best skiing spots I’ve been to. That said, I will be sure to return.

Bend was packed and we couldn’t find any reasonably priced rooms, so we decided we would head over to the Oregon coast on Sunday. We picked Salem as a stopping point.

But on the way we had to pass through Bend. Did I mention they have a lot of breweries there? We stopped in at Crux Fermentation project for an hour before getting back on the road. I liked their beers, and it was a neat environment to have the bar right inside the brewery. There were tours going on and tons of happy people.

We spent the night in Salem, closing out Saturday.

Sunday we had a red eye flight, so we only had about 16 hours from the time we woke up until we needed to be at the airport…

We started the day driving to the coast, to a town called Newport. We tried to eat there but it was packed, so we drove down a little further to a town called Depoe Bay. We stopped there for lunch and a fantastic view.

Chowda! After lunch we also stopped by a park called Boiler Bay State Wayside. Views on the point were pretty awesome. Lots of huge waves crashing into rocks.

We headed up the coast and cut back inland into wine country. Oregon is famous for growing the pinot grape and making some of the best pinot noirs in the country. We stopped by a few vineyards. Yamhill, De Ponte Cellars, and Dobbes Family Estate. All were good and gave extra treats like chocolate, because it was Valentine’s Day.

If you are passing through the area, I would recommend Yamhill. It was the least pretentious (though I didn’t think any were bad), was cheap ($10), and you get to sample a nearly uncountable amount of wines (11 for me I think? Maybe 13? Maybe 17?). My dad bought a bottle so his tasting was free. Really nice people, generous, and worth a visit. their land is beautiful too.

After wine tasting, we went for dinner at a place called Loyal Legion in Portland. They had a fantastic selection of Oregon beers. Greater than one hundred, I believe. We had dinner and tried a beer or two, then headed to the airport for our glorious redeye flight home. Back to work for me.

I reached Oregon. I made it to the coast. I didn’t die of dysentery. It was a successful trip!