Last Days

Norbert and I agreed that we’d both really like to come back to McMinville, even if we don’t visit the aviation museum again. Who knew it was such great wine country around here? It will definitely up for consideration when we get the chance for an adult holiday again. Coincidentally we happened to be in town for their annual Turkey-rama festival. I had been told that it was the time when the ‘wine meets the beer’ in the town in a bit of a culture clash and I was looking forward to seeing how that all worked out. Alas all the celebrations seemed to be over by the time we drove through; better luck next time.
There are approximately 80-odd wineries in the area, as well as all kinds of fruit trees and crops. Definitely a rich agricultural region in some transition I‘m sure..

On route to Portland for our last night, we made a stop at the large outlet mall outside of Woodburn and did some last-minute tax-free shopping. (Gotta love Oregon!) The boys were generally unimpressed, having achieved their own personal mother-lode yesterday - the highly-coveted Airsoft guns. Everyone on their next paintball outing will be jealous, at least until they nail them with their own paintball ammo.

Norbert picked up his own mother-lode in Portland - a new racing bike to replace the bike that went A.W.O.L. off the back of his bike carrier while traveling up the Coquihalla. The boys and I waited patiently for a long long long time while the adjustments & transactions took place, and we made our way to our hotel for the last night in strange beds. Pie at Shari’s and a good brisk walk (Norbert and I only, of course!) finished the evening off, Tomorrow we blaze our way through Washington and hopefully arrive home at a reasonable hour. Alex will say goodbye to all of us on Wednesday and travel back to Kamloops. Before much longer our California adventure will be just so many good memories.