Wednesday, May 30, 2018

McMinnville, Oregon

More of Oregon's Bikeways

Holiday weekends can make finding a place to stay challenging. We found a cute private campground, Old Stone Place, that worked great for us in wine country for the Memorial Day weekend. The location in farm country gave us plenty of choices of routes for our short three day stay.
 We had ridden the southern section of the 132 mile Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway and decided to add the northern section that was pretty flat though Hops, blueberry and hazelnut farms. The traffic was minimal on this Sunday morning and saw more cyclists than cars on the roads.
 It seemed that a person should hop at the hops farm.
So I did.
Let's go to the Hops...

Every bike ride is a mini holiday.
Returning to Champoeg (sounds like shampoo eeg) State Park. Next time we pass this way, we will have to add the middle section of the 132 mile bikeway out of Salem and cross the river by ferry in Buena Visa.

Dayton, OR 

A person never knows what might be around the next corner while wandering the back roads.

We came across this RV park with vintage trailers in Dayton that rent for $135-175 per night. A group of friends had ten trailers for the weekend to celebrate one fellow's 40th birthday.

Each trailer comes with two townie bikes and outdoor furniture. The insides were beautifully redone and lights on the trees are said to be quite nice when lit at night.

 
The cue sheet for our 22 mile loop ride indicated a stop at a local winery was in order. Who are we to argue?
 
Who doesn't love a tire swing on the edge of the vineyard? 
 
 
The winery was ready for the Memorial Day holiday crowd as we found a seat.
Plenty of games.
 
The loop ended in downtown McMinnville where we stopped for lunch at the local brewery. Are we sounding like lushes? First a winery, then a brewery.
 




 

The sun came out as we head towards Sisters, Oregon.

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