18.12.31 December in McMinnville

McMinnville is in the center of the Willamette valley wine country, and I spent a fair amount of time early in the month getting to know some of the literally hundreds of wineries in the area.  My park ranger friend, Chonteh, came from Silver Falls for an overnight with me and we visited Pinot Vista, a McMinnville tasting room,  for live music at night, then went to Rexhall Winery together on her way back home.



I got invited for lunch to a home in Sheridan from a fellow RV traveler whom I met at another music venue a couple weeks back.  Jeanne 

and her husband, Carl are both artists and their home was like a living art gallery - unusual wall hanging made of natural materials, and beautiful/unique tile work in the bathrooms.  They left in their new trailer for a road trip to snow bird land in Arizona in mid-December.  I'm not looking forward to leaving here, but the idea of warmer weather is very attractive - I had to buy a a heating element to protect my water hose from freezing.

Christmas season came unbidden and quickly as usual.  The kids were excited to have their first Christmas together in their own home, and enjoyed decorating.  The transformation was gradual and beautiful. The live tree, and living room lights came first,  and once Lupita arrived from Cancun on Dec.15, the hand made ornaments and corona ( Christmas wreath)  construction went in to full swing.  Lupita brought manger scene figures and used local tree branch cuttings to finish it off.

Lupita watched Mateo one evening so Eric, Clau and her brother, Sergio could come with me to the weekly open mike music session at Willamette Valley Winery tasting room.

The Friday night before Christmas, I hooked up with Chonteh again, this time in Salem with her friend Leon, 

and we went to a Christmas open house at the local textile mill heritage center museum where I got to try my hand at a loom,

and then we all went to a local cider house to hear a one man band McDougall share his original music.

Eric's birthday was a fun day - they invited three couple friends 

to a local brewpub where we had a large table in a quiet area for a birthday lunch on Dec. 22.

Christmas Eve and Day were quiet and delicious at home, 

with Mateo as the main attraction.

After Christmas, we took a two night road trip to the coast and stayed in a nice AirBNB house plenty big for all of us.  We played board and card games, and ate well, and had a nice hike through the woods

 to the beach on a beautiful sunny day.

And to the beach again on a not so sunny day. 


I learned that a high school classmate lives here in McMinnville, so I contacted him and we three had a nice get to know you lunch at Pura Vida in downtown McMinnville.  

One of the joys of travel for me is connecting with people alaong the way.  I have not had the high school crown on my list in the past, but after this pleasant lunch, I will think more along those lines as I move around in the future.

Lupita left when we returned from the coast, Sergio is leaving on Jan ! and I am heading south on Jan 2.   I'll leave you with some Mateo photos - he is SO CUTE!

First trip to the pizza parlor

First Christmas

With Abuela Lupita

Happy in the morning



And Mateo’s dad is pretty cute, too!  This is on his 33rd birthday.  We agreed that we will be sad to say goodbye, but happy that this lovely family time existed in the first place.