Hey kids, this is the way it goes.  Half the fun is going to these places is that they are often beautiful and a joy to experience.  Sure they sell stuff that’s often quite nice as well, but if it was just about the product, we could save the time and gas and walk two blocks to the store.

Our final visit this trip was Sokol Blosser.  I still love the name.  I don’t know what it means, but it sounds like some kind of sumo-wrestler Norwegian death-metal band.  “SOKOL BLOSSER!!!! OOOOOOOAAAOAOAOAOHDOFAHOFHOAOAOAOAOAOAOA!!!!!”

Here’s the deal with Sokol Blosser.  They’re all Pinot.  Joyce and I find pinot to be somewhat bland, on the whole.  Other people enjoy them, but to me the Sokol Blosser  $15 general red is a better deal than their entry-level $70 pinot bottle.

Their new tasting building — gorgeous, except it’s so new it actually stinks of pine wood.  This is where we should have some science about how scent affects taste, you’ll just have to google that on your own time.    Let me tell you this – the view up there is awesome.  Joe-Bob says, “Check it out!”

How did we get here anyway?

Here we are pulling into The Vintages “RV Resort” with Betsy Rose, our 1961 Shasta Airflyte reissue camper.  She’s brand-new, built in 2015 but 95% true to the 1961 design.  The Vintages is fun because they have a whole selection of vintage trailers to rent.  Quite fun!

We were directed to The Four Graces as a good place for a picnic.  It’s unclear which Graces they are referring to, perhaps these?  In any case, we picked a poor time to arrive, hot and hungry just as the place was overrun and packed to the gills by someone’s bachelorette party.  About 500 women yammering away at each other loud enough to drown out a Disaster Area concert.

Having been spoiled by being virtually the only visitors at wineries for the last so many visits, we almost fled for safety immediately BUT some kind person had given us secret cards good for free wine.  Being smart shoppers we of course, were staying.

That was a poor way to start the visit, but I have to hand it to the staff for being troopers.  They herded the hens outside, kept their cool and didn’t seem to break a sweat.  So, good work, team!

This is how we roll.  With picnic supplies.  GUH!

Ok, this place is another Pinot Noir winery, so their wines didn’t make an impression on us, but we know how to have fun either way!

Hey kids!  While you weren’t looking we had a winery experience.  Went out to pick up our wine club stuph from Maryhill.  The place was cray-cray crowded.  Mmmmm not much of an advertisement for being in their wine club, really.  Anyhoo… after the mob scene we headed over to Marshal’s Winery – the exact opposite experience.

Our buddy Mr. Marshal was a welder in the Navy, met his wife in the Philippines.  Spent years as a long-haul trucker.  Looked around one day and decided that maybe the 100-year old grapes on his place maybe could also make wine.

Not fancy.  Down-home, as they say.  Comfortable.