Our Oregon Road Trip, Part 1

We Gotta Get Out of This Place

A few months ago we introduced you to Lily, our new Boston Terrier puppy.  She’s now six months old and full of energy. And honestly, we had forgotten how much energy a young puppy has. 

There are some things that Lily hasn’t learned – like how to ring the bell on the back door to let us know she needs to go out.  But one thing she learned very early was what it meant when we said “Do you want to go bye-bye in the car?” 

Asking that question usually results in a few spins, some excited leaps, and a dash to the back door that goes into the garage.  

We like a good car ride, too. As we got into fall, and the summer heat went away, we were ready to get out of town and do a road trip.   We spent some time trying to figure out a destination and route that would be doable in our electric car, but the infrastructure in the rural areas here is just not adequate.  So we traded the little Hyundai Kona for a newer Honda CR-V Hybrid.  No more range anxiety or hours spent worrying about finding a functional charging station.

But where should we go?

We kicked around several possible destinations, including

• Missoula, Montana.  This was our first choice, but hotel and AirBnB prices were more than we wanted to pay.  (Our friend Nancy in Portugal is reading this and thinking “he really is a cheap bastard!”.) 
  
  
• Seattle.  We’d been there before, enjoyed it, but wanted to go someplace new.
  
  
• Portland.  Same as Seattle – been there, would like to go back. but not this trip.

Then we started researching the Oregon Coast.  Whenever we mentioned this to someone we knew, they would get a dreamy look in their eyes and talk about past trips, maybe that they took as a child, that were wonderful.  We were sold. 

Once we settled on the destination and a rough schedule, Mary found us a place to stay – a VRBO rental in Rockaway Beach, Oregon.  It was about 8 hours from Lewiston, but we figured we’d do a leisurely drive and enjoy the scenery along the way.  

For this trip, we used bringfido.com as our travel guide.  Since we were taking Lily on her first road trip, we wanted to visit places where she would be welcome.  

Heading Out

Our trip began on a beautiful Saturday morning in early October.  As we drove west, the familiar fields of the Palouse seemed to glow under a bright blue sky.   

The terrain changed as we went further west.  After about 2 ½ hours, we turned south to follow the Columbia River.  Shortly after that, we crossed over into Oregon and entered the Columbia River Gorge.  This was new territory for us and once again we marveled at the grandeur of the terrain.  We followed the Columbia until just before we reached Portland.  

First Stop – Sunshine Mill Winery

Before we left home, we had searched bringfido.com for dog-friendly restaurants along our route.  We picked the Sunshine Mill Winery in The Dalles, Oregon as our first stop.  (The town name rhymes with “The Gals”.  We asked a local.)

It wasn’t always a winery

The Sunshine Mill Winery is located in a former flour mill.  It is an imposing building – “the only designated skyscraper in the Columbia River Gorge”, according to the winery’s website.¹

The mill was built in 1911.  It was the first building in The Dalles to have electricity.  For many years it was owned by the Sunshine Biscuit Company.  They milled local wheat for Hydrox cookies and Cheez-its until the late 1960’s.  In 1996, the Sunshine Biscuit Company was purchased by Keebler who then sold the property back to the city for $1 and the promise to never use it as a mill again.

The building sat unused until 2009, when James and Molli Martin purchased it to house their two wineries – Quenette Winery, a small-batch winery, and Copa da Vino, which makes single serving wines in plastic cups.

A creative renovation

In addition to the wineries, which are housed in the large towers beside the main building, the Martins converted the lower level into restaurant and event space.  Thick concrete pillars hold up a low ceiling in one area.  Machinery from its prior life is still on display. 

There are numerous small dining areas, all brightly decorated and furnished mostly with vintage furniture donated by friends, family, and neighbors.  One commentator called the decorating scheme “Grandma’s bomb shelter”.

The food was good, too

We ordered glasses of Quenette wine and a cheese board. Mary had a glass of Nirvana, a blend of Pinot Gris, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. I had the Pinot Noir. Both were delicious and went well with the cheese board. It came with five gourmet cheeses paired with dried bing cherries and dark chocolate served with toasted artisan bread, spiced nuts, grapes and cornichons. Simple and satisfying.

Lily got her first taste of “people food” – a bad habit we had vowed we wouldn’t start.  But what the hell, we were on vacation.

Westward, ho!

After our visit to the Sunshine Mill Winery, we got back on the road and were in Rockaway Beach by 5:30pm. It was a long day of driving, but one we’d been looking forward to.

We’ll have more on what we saw on the Oregon coast in our next post.

Until next time,

Mary and Mike

The Cook and The Writer

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1. We hesitate to argue with that designation, but there are other grain elevators of similar height in the region.  Then again, they’re not home to wineries and restaurants. ↩︎

Have you been to a restaurant in an unusual setting? Leave your recollections in the comments below or via the Contact Us form.