Memorial Day Weekend Winston Trip; May 23-26, 2008
We had a friend’s wedding to attend on May 25 at the Winston Wildlife Safari, so we made reservations at the Umpqua Safari RV Park. We left work early, hit the road a little after 3 and were hooked up at the park around 6PM. We had a nice drive down with not too much traffic. I kept the speed down on the rig and managed better than 10mpg the whole trip. The Umpqua Safari RV park had a lot of long-term rentals, and a couple of open spots available even on this holiday weekend. It was a well maintained park with large, level pull-throughs, cable, wi-fi, and a full hook-up. We stayed in campsite C4, and the dogs loved walking around the lush grass. On Friday night we ate at a nearby sushi restaurant called Sushi and Rolls which had excellent service, excellent sushi and ribs and very generous servings. Holly ordered a California roll dinner, I ordered a spicy tuna roll dinner, and we also ordered an Oregon roll. The menu featured many “state” rolls with different ingredients. The Oregon roll had fresh crab, asparagus, avocado, and was topped with fresh salmon. The dinner servings came with a generous serving of ribs. We ate what we could, but boxed up enough for dinner the following night.
On Saturday morning the sun came shining in our RV window on my face at 5AM, and woke me up. Luckily I was able to darken the window and get back to sleep until about 7:30. I brought the dogs out for their morning walk at 8AM and then we ate a nice breakfast of farm fresh, free nested, brown eggs that we picked up at the local Ray’s supermarket the night before. After breakfast we took a leisurely drive through the Umpqua valley wine region to Melrose Vineyard, where there was a special Memorial Day wine tasting, barbecue, and live music. On the beautiful drive to the vineyard we saw two blacktail deer and a covey of quail. The Umpqua valley region is an interesting area of many small valleys surrounded by rugged hills. There were numerous horse and cattle ranches in the area mixed with the vineyards.
Although the tasting was scheduled to start at 11AM, we were among the first few people to arrive at noon. This allowed us time to start tasting some wine before the crowd, and to walk the dogs around the immaculate grounds. The winery was located on a hillside with a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside. The dogs loved roaming through the lush lawns. Both Sadie and Lillie rolled around in the grass ecstatically. We found a table near the edge of the pavilion so that Sadie and Lillie could lay in the grass. Although the temperature was much cooler than the 100° heat that we had the week before, the sun was still intense just after noon, and the dogs quickly decided that they liked the shade under the table. Holly and I tried the wine slushys that they were selling at the pavilion and this nice treat was surprisingly refreshing in the sun. The barbecue lunch was very good and we enjoyed this while sipping on wine and enjoying the music. We left at about 2:30PM after walking the dogs around the grounds one more time.
As we were driving from Melrose to the other vineyard we wanted to visit, some threatening clouds started moving in. We arrived at Abacela Vineyard a little after 3. Abacela specializes in Southern European wines, and they had a wonderful open house on the day we visited. Although Holly and I had already eaten lunch at Melrose, we couldn’t resist the generous spread of cheeses, meats, and other appetizers that Abacela had prepared. Abacela had prepared about a dozen wines to taste, so after all the food and wine, Holly and I had had enough after just two wineries. We decided to head back to our trailer. My initial plans were to try my luck at some fishing later in the afternoon, but as soon as we got the car, it started raining. It continued raining torrentially for the next couple of hours, so I passed on the fishing.
On Sunday we got ready for the wedding and made the trip to the nearby Animal Safari. Due to the sketchy weather, the ceremony was indoors, although it didn’t rain this day. The ceremony was beautiful, and the bride and groom took a ride on an elephant after the ceremony. Holly and I walked around and looked at some of the animals before we left. We saw rhinos, élans, gazelles, lions, gibbons, lemurs, wolves, flamingos, a python, and a cheetah. We made a nice gourmet dinner when we got back to our trailer and went home after spending the night. On the way back, we stopped at the K-R drive-in in Rice Hill Oregon to get some Umpqua ice cream which was delicious. They even had a special doggie ice cream treat that I couldn’t resist getting for Sadie and Lillie. There were many things in the Umpqua Valley that we didn’t get around to doing, so we will have to go back again.
A Quail in the Road. Holly, Sadie, and Lillie on the Melrose Lawn.
The Melrose Tasting Room. Holly, Sadie, and Lillie by the Terrace.
The Bride and Groom on an Elephant. A Red Wolf.
Our Rig in Front of the Famous K-R Drive-in.