Roseberg, Oregon in the Umpqua Valley

Fri, Sat, Sun - Oct. 29, 30 & 31

We set up camp late Friday afternoon in Roseberg, Oregon at the Douglas County Fairgrounds and Umpqua Park. We were camped right next to the South Umpqua River, so I went for a walk on the bike path along the river.

There were three other campers in the campground, so it was nice and quiet. When we woke up Saturday morning there was a horse show going on at the fairgrounds, a cross country meet in the park and motorcycle drivers training in the parking lot next to us. Wow!

So we walked the bike path to check out the downtown. I took this picture when John said, "Look, Kelley Forney's for sale. Isn't that where the Klampett's moved to when they struck oil?"

In 1959 a truck carrying two tons of dynamite and four and a half tons of ammonium nitrate exploded downtown leveling 8 city blocks creating a crater 52 feet in diameter and 12 feet deep. 14 people died and many were injured.

Happy Halloween, everybody! Guess where we are going trick or treating...

Here's a clue. This is the Henry Estate Winery.

Yes, the Umpqua Valley Wine Tour. It's almost as good as chocolate.

This is at Julianna Vineyard.

First we drove to Myrtle Creek over this bridge to see a couple of the covered bridges that Oregon is known for. At one time they had over 300. Now there are about 50 left.

The Neal Lane Bridge is one of the shortest in the state at just 42 feet long. Built in 1939, this one lane bridge still carries vehicle traffic over Myrtle Creek in a residential neighborhood.

The Horse Creek Bridge, built in 1930, has been moved to the Millsite Park in downtown to preserve it and is only used for foot traffic.

This was our first winery stop. The Pyrenees Vineyard & Cellar is brand new this summer and what a beautiful setting, right along the South Umpqua River.

Abacela Winery overlooking the town of Winston. We also stopped at the Wild Rose Vineyard near Dillard.

Melrose Vineyard. We also stopped at Delfino Vineyards, Becker Vineyard, and Palotai Vineyard & Winery. At Palotai I bought a bottle of Bulls Blood Wine after the gal pouring the tastes told me this story. According to history, Suliman, the Ottoman leader, had a force of 100,000 and was preparing to attack a group of about 2,000 Hungarians. Realizing they were about to be slaughtered, they figured they might as well break into the wine casks and enjoy their last night on earth. So the wine was flowing everywhere and they got rip roaring drunk. When the superstitious Ottomans saw them the next day staggering around as if in a trance, all covered in what appeared to be blood, they got spooked and decided it was a bad omen. So they retreated and the Hungarians survived. So the wine is a blend of several different grapes that has supposedly been handed down over the centuries.

On the way home we heard a song on the radio called "You're the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly". We looked at each other and started laughing. It seemed funny. Maybe it was just the wine. Later we heard Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty singing "I'm Getting Fat and Sassy". We decided it is definitely our new theme song.

Cheers,

Tarra

P.S. I got my days mixed up, so the post about Crater Lake before this one should have been after it.