Post-Vaccination Vacation: Mai Tai Tom’s Oregon Trail TaleCHAPTER THREE: TWO DAYS IN MCMINNVILLE

Day Three: In The Mix, A Grave Find, Road Trips Are A Gas, Did You See A Shark, A Tuscan Affair, Missed It By That Much, Against The Grain, No … Not That “Q”, Wine Buying Begins & Dinner In A Pod

Our stay at the historic Ashland Springs hotel was a mostly positive one. Our room was a tad shabby with a tub/shower (aka “death shower”) combo (the hotel “needed a little maintenance”). However, Kim and Mary’s room was charming, including a walk-in shower, a lovely sitting area and a terrific view overlooking Ashland. I’d return, but would request a Premium King Room with a view. On the plus side, the location was good with free parking. As for its continental breakfast, let’s just say we found a little bakery in town instead of eating the included meal (again in fairness, Covid restrictions make hotel breakfast a difficult challenge these days). If we return, I’d would definitely like to dine at the hotel restaurant, Larks Home Kitchen Cuisine, which garners rave reviews, but it was closed the two nights we were staying there.

The bags were loaded in the car when Tracy couldn’t find her keys, however she could still get the car opened. After I checked out, Tracy told me the tale, and we surmised they must be somewhere in the car since she could open it without her key fob and without me near the car with my keys. She emptied out the trunk and her purse to no avail. Finally, after nearly a half hour of searching, she found them in her “purse’s secret zipper compartment.” That’s her story, and she’s sticking to it.

We stopped at Las Calles de Guanajuato on our way out of town and ran into Kim and Mary who advised us to grab a pastry and coffee at Mix Bakeshop. It was another glorious day, as we dined at a creekside table. Mix’s baked goods are made daily in its downstairs kitchen, and my rum raisin cinnamon roll was fabulous, as was Tracy’s Egg and Gruyère croissant.

Could someone show this guy rocking his cool Crater Lake sweatshirt some manners?

The plan was to meet Kim and Mary in Mcminnville. While they went to Medford to fill up the car ($3.14 a gallon at Costco), we hit the highway. About an hour north of Ashland, and 15 minutes north of Grant’s Pass, we saw a sign for a covered bridge. A short distance off Highway 5 we arrived at Grave Creek Bridge in Sunny Valley, and learned of the story behind it.  In the autumn of 1846, the first emigrant wagon train from Fort Hall, Idaho, traveled the southern route of the Oregon Trail (known as The Applegate Trail) to the Willamette Valley. At the time the creek was called Woodpile, and unfortunately one of those who emigrated, 16-year-old Martha Crowley, died of Typhoid fever. She was buried 150-feet north of the creek, which became known as Grave Creek.

James Twogood purchased the land a few years later and renamed it Grave Creek Ranch in her memory. Grave Creek Bridge was constructed in 1920, and is the only covered bridge in Josephine County. Oregon has lots of covered bridges, however Grave Creek Bridge is supposedly the state’s “most viewed covered bridge,” thanks to its location just off Highway 5.Nearby was The Applegate Trail Interpretive Center, which was still closed due to Covid restrictions.

We still had about a three hour drive to McMinnville, and Tracy asked me a couple of times how we were doing on gas. Of course, I was oblivious. During a long stretch of nothing, the car gave me the alert that we were in imminent danger of running out of gas. When I passed that information on to Tracy, I got the real “look,” and I guarantee it was not the look of love.  According to sometimes (and sometimes not) reliable Google maps, the nearest gas station was 7 1/2 miles off the highway in Harrisburg on historic Route 99. “Well, I guess it’s time to see the countryside,” I told her. My navigator was not impressed.

Pulling into the small station, I hopped out, only to be reminded by the young woman working there that I was not going to be pumping my own gas. Back in the car I sat patiently, but Tracy was once again looking slightly peeved. “Are you going to pop the lid open so she can actually fill up the car?” I was on a roll. On the plus side, we only paid $3.25 a gallon.  We traveled back to Highway 5, where only a few minutes later there were two large gas stations located on the side of the freeway.  So much for Google maps.

The drive to McMinnville took us off Highway 5 and soon we were in Oregon’s capital, Salem. There was tons of traffic and to lighten Tracy’s mood I smirked, “Maybe they’re having some west coast witch trials here.” We pressed on.

Soon we were passing through the town of Amity. I told Tracy to be on the look out for “Beware of Sharks” signs. I think she chuckled.

After passing some colorful clover fields dotted with bee hives, we arrived in McMinnville at 2:30 at our destination of A’ Tuscan Estate B&B. My business partner and friend Tim had stayed here previously and he touted it very highly. He was right.

The Colonial Style house was constructed in 1928 and was known as The Williams House, since Dr. Williams was the owner. We were greeted by Erin, the innkeeper who showed us to our palatial accommodations (Tuscan Suite) that included a fireplace (photo below courtesy of A’ Tuscan Estate).We were even given some welcoming treats, which we immediately devoured.

Erin inquired if we wanted to eat breakfast the following morning at 8 or 9:30 and since we had reservations at a nearby museum, we chose 8 a.m. The breakfast room looked quite inviting.

The interior of the house is gorgeous with its hardwood floors and antique furniture.Kim and Mary were about an hour behind us (they stopped to eat in Eugene), so we strolled the short five blocks to the main drag of historic McMinnville (3rd Street).

Adjacent to the Yamhill County Courthouse stands the Memorial to Yamhill County Soldiers of the World War. The “Doughboy was originally dedicated to the Yamhill County soldiers of the World War in 1923, but its base now also contains plaques memorializing service members in later wars.”

3rd Street in McMinnville was dead on this Tuesday afternoon. Lots of businesses were closed and many McMinnville restaurants are not open on Tuesday or Wednesday. Additionally, when I tried to secure reservations before we left, many McMinnville restaurants had not opened back up due to the pandemic

We walked the length of the historic section, and a block up to the Granary District. There were spots to eat and shop, but nothing piqued our interest.

Once again, Tracy found some local flowers to focus on with her new IPhone.

All you need is …We walked past the Elizabeth Chambers tasting room which had been recommended by our innkeeper.

At ten minutes after four we entered and were greeted by a very amiable gentleman. The silver-haired man said he would love to seat us, but he could not because they closed at four. He was quite apologetic. As we started to walk out, he asked, “Hey, are you an Aztec?” I wondered how he knew I went to San Diego State.

As it turned out, he was not clairvoyant. I forgot I was wearing an SDSU mask. We chatted for a bit, and he told us his nickname was “Q.” Before I could ask, he quickly added, “The Q does not stand for QAnon.” He proceeded, “It also doesn’t stand for Q from Star Trek or Q from James Bond.”  As he said that, his eyes looked up, and we quickly realized “Q” stood for Q-tip, as his silver hair kind of had that look. We laughed and said we’d come back the following day for a tasting.

We headed back to 3rd Street to check out our restaurant for the following evening. I perused the menu of this delightful restaurant, and I immediately knew what I would be ordering.

By now, Kim and Mary had arrived, and they met us in front of  the Hotel Oregon, which happens to have a rooftop bar that we contemplated going to later on that evening.

We strolled along 3rd Street, and I stopped for a chat with Benjamin Franklin. He laughed and said, “Look, we’re manspreading!” I replied, “Go fly a kite.”

I asked someone how often he goes to this place. “Once in a blue moon,” was the answer.

Well, it was about 5 o’clock and since we were somewhere where wineries and tasting rooms were prevalent, we stopped by the Willamette Valley McMinnville Tasting Room (photo courtesy of WVMTR). The room was spacious and we were seated at a table for the $15 tasting flight. Tracy and I also bought a little charcuterie platter since we hadn’t any food (except for the truffle cookies at the B&B) since breakfast in Ashland.  The wine guy was fun and informative, and Tracy and I escaped with two pinots and two bottles of Grenache.Like Ashland, McMinnville is also laden with colorful flowers, which draws Tracy’s camera like she was a bee. We walked back to A’ Tuscan Estate to freshen up for dinner.

As I wrote earlier, there were not a lot of dining options due to Covid closings, along with Tuesday/Wednesday seemingly being off-days for local eateries, however Erin recommended a place where we made a reservation shortly after arriving in town.

Pura Vida Cocina serves Latin American cuisine inspired from countries like Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Peru, Argentina and Ecuador. There was indoor dining, but we chose to eat in one of its “pods” lining the street.

The food at Pura Vida was terrific. We ordered online from our table, and the restaurant totally deserves its rave online reviews. My Chicken & Veggie Enchiladas de Mole; two hand made corn tortillas, Cotija cheese, sour cream with a carrot mole sauce, mixed greens and beans. turned out to be a scrumptious choice.Tracy’s Mixed Tacos (Taco Misto); Pollo, Camaron (sautéed shrimp) & Pescado (Alaskan true cod) was also a winner.Mary opted for the Sandwich Cubano; roasted pork, ham, pickles, Swiss cheese, and papa bravas, while Kim went for the Tacos Barbacoa (slow braised beef).

The entire dinner was enjoyable, and it was lucky we had to walk for a bit back to the B&B (we took a circuitous, calorie burning route).Back in our room, I changed into the dressing robe provided by the B&B (no photos of me in it, I don’t want to be blackmailed!) and turned on the fire. It was early to bed, because we had that 8 a.m. breakfast call and a short drive to a cool air and space museum, before an afternoon of, what else? wine tasting.

Day Four: Nuts For Oregon, Why Didn’t I See This In Long Beach, Channeling Our Inner Howard Hughes, Da Planes! Da Planes!, Spaced Out, Cracklin’ Rosé, One Tasting Deserves Another & Dîner Dans Le Jardin

I have finally realized that 7 a.m. comes a lot quicker as you grow older. It seemed like I had just finished that mole enchilada while preparing for our three-course breakfast. The Expando belt was going to get another workout.  It was another perfect day in paradise.