We spent much of our last full day in OreKing Estate winery, south of Eugene in some rolling hills. We’re not drinkers by any definition though we sometimes will enjoy a bit of wine. (And beer — see below.) Our goal, however, was merely to have a nice lunch in a nice setting, and we achieved that.

This winery is supposed to be the jewel of Oregon’s wine industry, and not having any experience of the other wineries in the state, we took that on faith. (Actually, our innkeeper couldn’t recommend it enuf, and she keeps an excellent inn.)

So thence we proceeded, and we had a wonderful time. The food was good, though the portions were “dainty” and the $12 cheese plate included only three pieces of cheese. Aside from that, though, all seemed right with lunch.

We also gave a try at a “flight” of wine, which was a small sampling of six wines. The hope of the restaurant, of course, was to entice us to buy a bottle of whichever wine we particularly liked. That didn’t work out for them — they kept filling my iced tea (unsweetened, of course) so who needed wine? But we did buy a bottle to give as a gift to some friends who are wine aficionados.

We could have taken a tour of the winery, which was highly recommended, but we had plans we had to return to Eugene for (our son-in-law needed the car), so we didn’t linger. But we did take the long way back and wound through the hills (that you can see in the photo atop).

On Wednesday (which has already passed as you read this), we have a day of traveling including a four-hour layover in Salt Lake City. Getting through security is such a time-consuming process that we aren’t going to try to get out of the airport to see the sights. (I faced the same dilemma when I had a five-hour layover in London, but that began at 5:00 a.m., so it was even less likely that I could have seen any sights.) We’ll get home close to midnight. And then work again the next day.

Solstice story - Some years ago a friend of mine had invited a bunch of his buddies to his house to help him build an extension on his garage. I was invited as well, but my skills were more in the beer drinking area. Anyway, it happened to be Solstice, and I made a comment that it was the longest day of the year. His other friends thought about that a moment and then commented that of course he would invite his buddies to provide free labor on the longest day of the year. True story.

Missouri calendar:

• First day of Summer/Solstice: longest day of the year.

Posted by: Roundrockjournal    Source

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