Morning brought the sound of what we thought, at first, was a woodpecker pecking away for an early breakfast. It turned out that the "pecking" sound was, in fact, the sound of pine cones dropping from old-growth trees onto cars, trucks, campers, etc. This being the Hoh Rain Forest, it was also damp...so our departure was delayed an hour or so to let the tent dry out a bit.
At mid-morning, we headed out towards McMinnville, Oregon for a few days of wine tasting and great meals. Just outside of the park, we stopped for a light breakfast at the "Hard Rain Cafe", a nice little place where we had a pretty good burger the afternoon before. The Cafe had a little gift store, and it was there that I discovered one of the great works of modern literature (see photo).
There wasn't really a "direct" route from the Olympic National Park to McMinnville, and my Garmin Navigator took us on an interesting trip over small, winding back roads through heavy old-growth forests in both Washington and Oregon. Two hours or so into Oregon, the forests gave way to the broad rolling plains of the Willamite Valley
While scenic, this particular route was much slower than expected and, as a result, we arrived in McMinnville too late to visit any wineries.
We did have time, however, to enjoy one of the best meals of my entire trip at the Joel Palmer Restaurant in nearby Newburg. The chef there is a third-generation restauranteur...his father and grand father owned a restaurant in Reading, Pennsylvania called "Joe's" where I once had dinner over twenty-five years ago. All three generations share a love of wild mushrooms, and that was reflected in the menu at the Joel Palmer House. The highlights of dinner were a great wild mushroom soup (dark and creamy), a perfectly-cooked filet with a porcini mushroom/red wine/veal stock reduction sauce, freshly-picked chanterelle mushrooms braised in white wine, and a rich beef Stroganof packed with slices of wild mushroom. All of these dishes paired up great with the two major local wines...Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir. The Pinot Noir, in particular, was spectacular...a 2005 from Sineann Winery produced from grapes sourced from the Hood River Valley in northern Oregon. Dessert was a large scoop of blackberry ice cream made with fruit picked from the chef's own farm. All in all, about as perfect a meal as I have ever had.
1 comment:
I cannot wait to read this book. I hope that you picked up a copy. ;-) Laurie
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