An outing to check out changes at the Port of Kalama and beer and Pizza afterwards.
Kalama and Beer
Lyle Eagles, Schreiner Farm, Catherine Creek, Fish Hatchery and Backwoods Brewery
Out for a road trip to the East end of the Gorge on a day with no rain or wind just cold. We started at Balfour-Klickitat by Lyle to spot some eagles and then went further East to Schreiner Farm to see some exotic animals. Then it was time to start heading back to Portland with stop at Catherine Creek to see how the flowers were coming along and then another stop at Spring Creek Hatcher to see if the fingerlings were in the raceways and they were. We got there right at feeding time so we saw the water bubble up as the little salmon popping up for lunch. Finally we went to Backwoods for Pizza and beer.
Memorial, Molalla Parks
We wanted to do a get together after the holidays but weather and injuries prevented us from doing a walk or a hike so we did a little scouting with lunch. Lori, Jeanette and I first headed down to Wilsonville to do a quick check of Memorial Park. The Park offers some trails and could work into a longer hike with connecting over to Boones Ferry Park. Next we were close to where Jeanette planted a tree and placed a remembrance marker for her decease husband and wanted to show use where it was. The area had changed a lot so it took us a while to track down the spot. From here we are off for one of Lori’s favorites a car ferry ride across the Willamette River. This lead us to the Molalla River State Park close by the ferry landing. After a quick drive through the park and seeing it would not work out for future outings it was time for lunch at the Backstop Bar & Grill in Canby. So a day low on walking in the rain but high on poking our noises into places and having a good social time.
Pfrime Brewery tastings
Pfrime is a very popular brewery and hard to get seating. We have tried several times to go after a hike and found the line just to long. This time we went so we were the first ones in the door so we were sure to get a seat. It also turned out to be a very stormy day so sampling beer was a better choose then getting soaked on a walk. We ended up getting two flights of tasters and we found the good, the bad and the really good (a barreled age brown). By time we left there was a line waiting to get in. A fun day to have before heading into Christmas.
Durant at Red Ridge Farm
This time we were off for a visit to Durant’s to explore the property and have a tour of the Olive oil making process. This outing was planned by Lori as she had been to the place before. We got there early to give some time to explore before our official tour began. We parked by the wine sampling building and check it out first. From there the path goes through the garden plant section and on to the gift shop. We were to start our tour from the gift shop so we checked in early. We had some time to kill so we walked down to the lavender and flower garden and then returned for our tour.
It turned out that Lori, Jeanette, Sylvia and I were the only ones to show for the tour so we got a private tour. The feature part of the tour was the Olive oil processing area. We were a few weeks early this year to see the crush but it was quite so we could walk around the equipment. After the tour of the Olive oil processing we moved on to the sampling. After an explanation of what there was to sample we left to sample the olive oil and vinegar as much as we wanted. It was a fun time sampling and blending olive oil and vinegar to make different combination. The ladies found several the liked and made their purchases. Then it was off for lunch at Murryhill Taphouse.
