Will the Real Pumpkin Please Stand Up

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Timberline Lodge

Having picked up a car in Portland, we had 3 days to tour the region before heading back to France. Based on recommendations from fellow paddlers, we decided to stay at Timberline Lodge at the south side of Mt. Hood. The Lodge is a historic monument, one of those gracious vacation retreats built by the WPA. The building materials were sourced locally and even the rugs and drapes we made on site. The rooms were lovely, the setting spectacular, and we had one of the best meals we have had in a long time at the restaurant. We decided to finish the fine meal with a whisky (they pride themselves on their selection) but much to the chagrin on the bar staff, they we out of the Lagavulin we ordered. To make up for that transgression, they gave us a degustation of 6 whiskies for free. Let me clarify 6 whiskies each for free. This was a great segue to our trip to Scotland.

Catch Up - Rogue River

We did so much travelling this year that I need to go back and recap some of our adventures. I already put up quite a few photos from our trip to Spain on Petillant at http://www.flickr.com/photos/petillant so I won't revisit that trip (at least not now). After Spain we went to the US to visit family and go rafting on the Rogue River in Oregon with friends. We flew into Portland and took a couple of days to get to the river, tasting wines along the way. The rafting trip was for 5 days in which our group of 9 played, floated, ate, and camped along the river which had mostly category 3 whitewater. It was a great trip with beautiful scenery and wonderful weather.

The adventure company that we used for the trip is called OARS http://www.oars.com/ and this is our second vacation with them. In 2007 our same group rafted on the Green River in Utah. That too was a great trip but the water in the Rogue was much more exciting. OARS supplies all the boats, gear, tents, and guides who do all the cooking and make sure everyone stays safe. The guides are knowledgable about the geology, flora, fauna, etc of the region so discussions on the rafts are very interesting.

After 5 days on the river we were ready to taste wines on the way back to the airport where we rented a car to spend another few days in the region. Stay tuned for my next post from Timberline Lodge.

Our House in Preggio, Italy

We are just back from 13 days in Umbria. We rented this house in the hills with friends and spent our time visiting a region of Italy little known to us. It had been 21 years since our last visit and much had changed. We flew from Bordeaux to Bologna on Ryan Air for only 7 euros! We had great food and wine. The weather was kind although there was fog most mornings. In the little town of Preggio there was a cafe which was a short walk uphill from the house and served a great morning cappuccino. All in all a good stay.