Weekends in Oregon

June 22-23

So, there is something about living in Oregon in the summer.  It kinda rocks.  Random weekends are worth mentioning.  At the beginning of the summer, we bought Curious Gorge, which may as well be a hiking bible for the National Scenic Area in which we currently reside.  On this particular weekend, we decided to try some lesser known hikes mentioned in the book on Saturday.  The early hike was Shellrock Mountain 1872 Wagon Road.  There is actually the oldest road in the gorge right off I-84, and no one really knows it’s there.  You have to park on the eastbound side of the interstate, just after exit 51 and hop the guardrail to find the trail.  About a half mile in, sure enough, there is the old wagon road, built circa 1872.  Switchback up the hill and you can walk along and sit on the old road.  Just below is the freeway, where everyone blowing by is oblivious to the old road.  Never saw another soul on the hike, but just watching the world, and river, go by while sitting on top of the old road. [...]

Lost Lake

Outdoor Vino from Naked Winery- obviously!!

I am not sure if you googled "Lost Lake Oregon", but Oregon has at least 19 lakes with this moniker. This Lost Lake is probably the most known, I'd imagine. There is a small resort here that charges you $7 for parking for the day. The lake is about 21 miles southwest of Hood River, located just north of Mt. Hood and provides spectacular views on a clear day. There's some fishing available for brown, brook, and rainbow trout and kokanee salmon. There are no motor boats allowed. We saw quite a few paddlers as well as some aluminum hulls powered by oars and arms. The resort has some of these available to rent and some rustic cabins and a general store. We did not stop by the general store even out of curiosity. Despite being further "inland" from the Columbia River, it was still quite windy and gusty. We started out very chilly and quickly warmed up in the sun and with the exertion of human power. We clung to the northern half of the lake because it was the sunniest (widest area). Unfortunately the view to the south was still very cloudy and only the base of Mt. Hood was visible. We did notice that every time a cloud covered the sun large gusts of wind would arrive, which at least made it predictable. [...]

McMinnville

Matt planned a really fun winery weekend to celebrate my birthday. I was very grateful to get out of town! We went to McMinnville and stayed at the Hotel Oregon and toured 3 wineries: Youngburg Hill, Yamhill Vineyards, and Amity. It was incredibly foggy all day, but it made beautiful hoar frost. 

The itinerary: Text from Grape Escape Winery Tours with italics comments from us. We are not expert wine tasters and we didn't take notes, so I will put down my amateur comments for what I remember.  [...]