Sampling Southern Oregon

If you go to Costco simply to graze on the food samples, you are going to love Southern Oregon. Since the early 1900s, the area has been famous as a top fruit producer and was home to some of Oregon’s first wineries. Today, the Rogue River Valley produces 10,000 acres of pears and is the headquarters of fruit distributing giant Harry and David. There are also dozens of local artisan food producers, wineries, and organic farms that contribute to this region’s reputation as a gourmet Garden of Eden.

Begin your tasting tour in Grants Pass. When you reach the downtown section and the huge banner sign proclaiming, “It’s the Climate!” roll down the car window and sniff the air. If conditions are right, you should get a strong whiff of freshly popped corn and who can resist? The source of this enticing aroma is Blind George’s Popcorn located in an old-fashioned newsstand on historic G Street. Started in 1922 by George Spencer, who really was blind, this tiny shop’s popcorn has become a Grants Pass tradition. You can sample an amazing array of flavors from banana to jalapeno cheese, but the plain, old-fashioned buttered popcorn is hard to beat.

Also located in Grants Pass is Cary’s of Oregon, producers of superb English toffee…think Heath Bar only a thousand times better. Cooking maven Rachael Ray chose it as her favorite snack food. The toffee, based on a family recipe, is available plain or with various combinations of dark and milk chocolate, hazelnuts, and almonds. The small retail room offers samples, as well as one-pound bags of seconds at a discounted price.



Applegate Valley

 From Grants Pass, Highway 238, follows the Applegate River south and east towards Jacksonville through some gorgeous countryside. Sunset Magazine described the Applegate Valley as “wine country the way it used to be,” an acknowledgment of its idyllic setting and rural ambiance. The Siskiyou Mountains protect the region from coastal influence and create a unique grape growing region much warmer than the Willamette Valley. Heat-loving varietals like Cabernet, Syrah and Temparnello do quite well here. More than a dozen wineries in the valley welcome visitors and offer an opportunity to sample wines.

Be sure to visit Schmidt Family Vineyards, a new winery with a spectacular tasting room. Designed in the craftsman style, it resembles a ski lodge with its stone fireplace, soaring ceilings and wooden, open beams. The grounds are filled with herb and flower gardens; a large pond, and beautiful landscaping make it a perfect place for a picnic.

If you have worked up an appetite after all this wine tasting, and are adventurous enough to try a rustic, out-of-the-way roadhouse, stop at the McKee Bridge Restaurant and Store, south of Ruch, along the Applegate River. Extremely popular with locals and fishermen, the restaurant has been serving its famous fried chicken and big, hearty breakfasts for over 70 years. Just outside the restaurant is the McKee covered bridge with a pretty, shaded picnic area along the river.

In Jacksonville, you will find Gary West Smoked Meats. Here you may sample an assortment of hickory-smoked steak strips, jerky, and sausages made from a recipe that traveled over the Oregon Trail. This is not your gas station jerky, but flavorful and tender strips of beef, buffalo, or elk meat seasoned to perfection.

In nearby Central Point, are two culinary gems located next to each other in a nondescript industrial area. The first is the Rogue Creamery where milk from grass-fed, local cows is transformed into international award-winning cheeses. Their famous blue cheeses as well as cheddars and curds are available for tasting in the small retail store. Next door is Lillie Belle Chocolates. Jeff Shepherd began concocting chocolates in his own kitchen using organic berries from his farm. Today, his homemade artisan caramels, truffles and bon bons come in a variety of unusual flavors. Not only do they taste great, but they are artistic masterpieces almost too pretty to eat.

Blue cheese and chocolates!

Down the road in Phoenix, a little north of Ashland, is Rising Sun Farms. The owners started raising organic basil and creating fresh pesto sauces over 25 years ago and now offer a variety of cheese tortas and vinegar drizzles as well. Their retail store showcases these products along with a wine-tasting bar.

This is just a sampling of the food scene in Southern Oregon. There are many more artisan food producers, wineries, farmers’ markets and restaurants to enjoy. Check out this web site for links to these and other edible delights: http://www.oregonwineandfarmtour.com./

Where the Columbia Meets the Pacific

Most major rivers spend a leisurely time reaching the point where their waters empty into an ocean. Like the Nile, Mississippi, Danube, or Ganges; they meander through a complex of channels and waterways, depositing their sediments and creating vast deltas, rich in nutrients and wildlife. Not so for the Columbia River. It heads full bore into the Pacific Ocean bringing the force of 1300-miles of accumulated water and debris into an ocean not as placid as its name suggests. Here, at Astoria, this dramatic meeting of river and sea has created one of the most treacherous bars in any ocean. Since 1792, nearly 2000 ships have sunk in the area and thousands of lives have been lost, earning it the title “Graveyard of the Pacific”.

The story of the river and its rich maritime past is told at the Columbia River Maritime Museum located in Astoria along Highway 30 on the east side of downtown. Look for the building with a roof shaped like a giant wave. Considered one of the best maritime museums on the West Coast, it is the official maritime museum of the State of Oregon.

Inside, interpretive exhibits trace the area’s maritime history from fur-trapper days to modern Coast Guard rescues. The hands-on, interactive displays allow you to take a spin at piloting a tugboat, walk across the deck of a WWII Navy destroyer, view a Coast Guard rescue operation, and observe real-life river traffic from floor-to-ceiling windows. Also interesting is a look at the importance of the salmon canning industry which attracted workers from all over the world to Astoria. At one time, there were over 30 canneries in town and nearly one-third of the population of Clatsop County was Chinese. A good worker could clean and gut a fish in eight strokes and 45 seconds.

A new exhibit installed this year is “Crossing the Bar: Perilous Passage” and explores the infamous entrance to the Columbia. During winter storms, waves can crest as high as 40-feet and it takes special skills and knowledge to navigate in these waters. Videos taken by the US Coast Guard and Columbia River Bar Pilots are displayed on widescreens, and the effect is so realistic you may need a dose of Dramamine to keep from getting seasick.

Berthed alongside the museum and included in the admission is the US Coast Guard Lightship Columbia. This ship served as a floating lighthouse at the river’s entrance between 1950 and 1979, when she was replaced with a mechanized buoy. The ship’s interior is unchanged since its retirement and you are free to walk through the living quarters to get a good flavor of life onboard, a world described as “a long stretch of monotony intermixed with riding out gale force storms.”

Across the street from the maritime museum in the old city hall is the Heritage Museum. Like many seaports, Astoria has a salty past and all its dirty laundry is on display in a second-floor exhibit called “Vice and Virtue in Clatsop County: 1890 to Prohibition”. There’s no sugar-coating of local history here as you learn about bootlegging, prostitution, drugs, and political corruption. A reconstructed Astoria saloon offers an opportunity to spin the roulette wheel; it’s all legal and G-rated. On the first floor, exhibits provide a look at the area’s tamer side including a display of artifacts from Clatsop and Chinook tribes as well as the Scandinavian and Asian immigrants who worked in the shipping and canning industries.

If all this salmon business has made you hungry, hop on the Astoria Riverfront Trolley and head downtown. There is a trolley stop in front of the maritime museum, and for the grand sum of $1 you can travel in style in a 97-year old, restored trolley car. While there are several good seafood restaurants in Astoria, for something totally unique and tasty, try the Drina Daisy on Commercial Street which serves up traditional, ethnic dishes from Bosnia. The cuisine, a blend of Mediterranean/Greek and Eastern Europe is well-prepared and presented. Selections on the wine and beer list include an assortment of difficult-to-find delights from the former Yugoslavia.