Sundown in the Willamette Valley

Sunset from Willamette Valley Vineyards
July 17 ,2014

Last evening, I sat in my suite watching the sunset fall on the Willamette Valley. The mountains, silhouetted by the setting sun beyond, remained in my sight for a very long time as the light slowly left the sky.

And then they were gone.

Howe awesome it was to sit and watch the sun put the exclamation point on a fantastic day. I remembered the multitude of things accomplished and learned mostly about wine making and viticulture. 

Sunset in the Willamette Valley

There was a lot of wine drinking and sampling to see the results of the process, but last evening was about the sunset.

Taking a page right out of our Key West vacation book, at the end of the busy day we Chris and I celebrated with our own sun down party. 

It was a celebration of vacation and all of its associated activities. We actually did not travel during the day, but stayed in one place and got an in depth education and immersion into the wine industry. Sounds like work, but it wasn't.

With the ending of the day, we marked the last full day of our vineyard based portion of our vacation. Chris noted this morning, usually on vacation we walk the beach in the morning--the past mornings we have been walking the vineyard.  There is something satisfying about walking a vineyard in the morning and checking out the grapes--or wine on the vine.

And the day was over, as was the first chapter of our vacation.  On to the next part.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Turner, Oregon