Is it greedy of me to want such a communique on a monthly basis? I am NOT old and I can pack a bag in under 5 minutes. In fact I’ve got a bag packed RIGHT NOW and just because it’s full of wine dribbled clothes, squeaky cheese, and tiny bottles of shampoo doesn’t mean I’m not ready to go. I’ll be in the car.

Bagpipe Man whisked me away for a fabulous birthday weekend which kicked off right outside of town in the vineyards of Dundee. I’ve heard people speak of this “Wine Country” before but have steadfastly refused to believe it existed in Oregon. Wine Country is in California and also France, while Oregon is where hazelnuts and grass seed come from. Who knew this was a mere half hour from my house?

We went to Sokol Blosser winery and sampled their autumnal flight amidst golden leaves and intermittent rain showers. The tasting room is a cute little angular building halfway up a hill overlooking the vineyard. It has huge bay windows and a deck which I will go out on next time I’m there which will be soon because my bags are still packed.

From Dundee, we traveled down the road a little further to McMinnville and checked into Hotel Oregon.

I LOVE this Hotel! Our room on the fourth floor was slightly larger than a queensize bed and smelled like woodsmoke. It was right downstairs from the conveniently located rooftop bar, but sadly rather far from the bathroom. Even though I spent a bit of time in the middle of the night stumbling around in a scratchy bathrobe looking for the toilet I am still enamored of Hotel Oregon. There’s a bar in the basement too, although that one’s really cold.

McMinnville is rather charming. We checked out Panther Creek Cellars, pet a really cool dog who was hanging out there, and met a woman in town for a cheese making workshop. We ran into her again at the tapas place we went to for dinner and ended up becoming best buds for the next two hours. The bartender told us about a bar where the wine industry people hang out, down an alley past a dumpster, and we were lucky to have our new pal with us because apparently the wine industry people like to drink wine that costs $44 a bottle. It was nice to split that bill 3 ways. Then it was time to head back to our cozy room because all those little sips of wine were making me sleepy even though I am totally NOT OLD.

Stay tuned for Day Two.