Blog, Oregon, Portland Travel, Shopping, Travel Tips

North Willamette Wine Trail Weekend April 9 – April 10, 2011

Spend a weekend exploring wine country! Journey to 24 neighboring wineries located just minutes from Portland and experience a weekend full of wine, culinary samples, education and fun! From experienced wine lovers to novice wine tasters, the North Willamette Wine Trail has something for everyone.

On April 9 & 10 from 11am – 4pm, guests are treated to complimentary wine tastings, pairings, entertainment and activities at EACH participating winery. Taste a new release, reserve label or a barrel tastings while enjoying specially paired samples. Then, participate in a variety of activities at each location. In addition, Wine Trail guests receive a variety of discounts and offers from restaurants, hotels and other wine tour partners.

After reserving a ticket for the weekend, guests are treated to the following benefits at EACH participating winery:

• Complementary tastings! New releases, reserve labels, barrel tastings and much more
•Pairings! Paired samples from a variety of culinary collections carefully selected to enhance each wine.
• Activities! Tours, one-of-a-kind demonstrations and hands-on activities

Tickets are $45 and include a reusable wine tote filled with a commemorative wine glass, coupons, discounts and other items. Designated Driver tickets are available for $10 and also include a wine trail kit (water bottle in place of the wine glass).

Tickets are available online and in participating tasting rooms. This event does sell out so reserve your tickets early. We look forward to seeing you on the North Willamette Wine Trail!

Make reservations now to stay at The Grand Hotel in Bridgeport and take full advantage of this weekend’s activities! Call us 866-968-5757 or visit our reservations page.

About The North Willamette Vintners
The North Willamette Vintners (NWV) represents the wineries located in, or immediately adjacent to, Washington County, Oregon. Together this diverse group of wineries shapes the northern gateway to Oregon’s wine country. NWV is dedicated to bring together, through constructive cooperation, the wineries in our region in order to advance the wineries’ mutual interest in increasing consumer awareness of the county’s wine industry through branding, promotional events and activities, and strategic alliances.

By Jeff McRitchie

Image Credit: Travel Portland

Portland, Oregon is one of the most popular cities in the Pacific Northwest due to its wondrous natural surroundings, relaxed atmosphere, and the sheer variety of things to do. Here are five great places to visit if you happen to find yourself in Portland…

Washington Park. Portland is famous for its beautiful rose gardens which can be found in Washington Park. The Park is nestled in the city’s West Hills and you can see the roses in bloom in late spring/early summer. (June is when the city’s annual Rose Festival is held.)

The garden offers some of the best views of the city’s skyline and on a sunny day, you can see Mt. Hood as well. Washington Park is also home to some other attractions including the Hoyt Arboretum (a great place to hike), the Japanese Garden, and the Oregon Zoo which has an impressive exhibit called Steller Cove which features sea otters and sea lions.

Powell’s. No visit to Portland is complete without a trip to Powell’s City of Books. This is one of the biggest bookstores in the world (if not THE biggest) and it has an incredible selection to say the least. The store reportedly stocks over 1 million titles and offers used books right alongside the new ones. The store features a great reading series and carries a wonderful section of gift items including t-shirts, messenger bags, bookmarks, and journals. Even if you’re not a bookworm, Powell’s is worth checking out if only to say you’ve been there.

The Northwest District. One of the most popular areas in Portland is its Northwest District which can be found along NW 21st and 23rd Avenues. This is a neighborhood filled with vintage homes and apartments, great restaurants, boutiques, and even Cinema 21, the city’s premier art house theater. You can find virtually any type of cuisine in this neighborhood (Thai, Italian, kosher, vegan) and if you’re not in the mood for food, there are plenty of coffee shops you can visit instead. The neighborhood is very walkable (a good thing since parking is hard to find) and it’s served by TriMet buses and the Portland Streetcar which can take you downtown and to Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

Sauvie Island. Sauvie Island is to the northwest of downtown Portland, right in the middle of the Columbia River. This island is home to a wildlife preserve, numerous farms, and several beaches that are packed during warm summer days. Sauvie Island is perfect for biking and it can also be a pleasant place to take a Sunday drive. Chances are good you’ll see a variety of birds among other critters and in the summer, the fields are dotted with colorful flowers. Sauvie Island is a beautiful place and definitely one of the city’s best attractions.

The Portland Art Museum. Finally, the Portland Art Museum is a great place to visit, especially for art aficionados. In addition to their stunning collection of Native America and Asian art, the Museum has a wonderful modern art exhibit that includes 19th century and Pop Art masterpieces. The Museum often holds special events and exhibitions so depending on when you go, you might be able to view work from the Impressionists or the riches from a famous European family. There’s always something interesting to see at the Museum, so check it out.

Those are just a few of the great places you can visit in Portland, Oregon. They’re all enjoyable and there’s something for everybody. Have fun in the City of Roses!

About the Author: Jeff McRitchie is the Vice-President of Marketing for MyBinding.com. He regularly writes articles, reviews, and blog posts on topics related to bookbinding, laminating, paper shredding, and office equipment. More than 2,500 of his articles have been published in thousands of locations on the Internet. If you’re looking for information about binding machines his articles are a great place to start.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com

Here is some recent news to share from our friends at the Washington County Visitors Association that road trippers and wine lovers will love!

Panels Provide a Glimpse into the Rich Agricultural and Pioneer History of Washington County

BEAVERTON, Ore.  – The first two of four new interpretive panels were installed this month along the Vineyard & Valley Scenic Tour Route, a 50-mile driving tour, from Helvetia to Sherwood, through the agricultural and historical region of Washington County, Oregon. Each panel offers a quick lesson about the area’s history, and bridges the area’s history with today’s modern culture.

Located at the Old Scotch Church in Hillsboro, a history of Washington County interpretive panel provides a historical perspective about the earliest settlers in the area, from the Atfalati tribe of the Kalapuya Native Americans, to the arrival of early settlers Joe Meek, Joseph Gale and David Hill. The location is fitting, as Meek’s grave and headstone can be found in the church’s cemetery.

An interpretive panel that illustrates the rich agricultural history of Washington County is at the Smith Berry Barn, also located in Hillsboro. From the 1870s to present day, this panel provides a brief account of some of the area’s earliest farmers, as well as the site itself.

The Vineyard & Valley Scenic Tour Route is an experiential tour through Washington County’s rural countryside, with opportunities to stop at the various attractions along the route: wineries, farms, pioneer settlements, wetlands and natural habitats. The route officially was launched in April 2009, and several projects have enhanced the site, including the installation of crop signs, created with the assistance of the Oregon Agribusiness Council.

Two additional installations of interpretive panels, which will explore the area’s natural and viticultural history, are slated for completion in 2011.

About the Washington County Visitors Association

The Washington County Visitors Association (WCVA) serves the region’s tourism industry by actively promoting Washington County, Ore., to travelers outside of the Portland Metropolitan area as a tourism destination for leisure, business and sporting events. Washington County is scenically situated between Portland and the Oregon Coast, and spans 727 square miles. The destination includes the growing communities of Banks, Beaverton, Cornelius, Durham, Forest Grove, Gaston, Hillsboro, King City, North Plains, Sherwood, Tigard, Tualatin and Wilsonville. For more information about the WCVA, visit www.yourwaytoplay or www.visitwashingtoncountyoregon, or call 503-644-5555.

Article by Jeffrey Meier

Are you ready to get started on the travel journey of a lifetime this holiday season but feel as though you are forgetting something important? Don’t fret! All you need are a few holiday travel tips to make sure you stay on the right track. Whether you’re going to spend time with your family, or are taking everyone on a fun getaway, it is important that you plan well. So to help you out I am providing some holiday travel tips that will make your vacation time with family and friends a breeze.

Find Out Peak Travel Dates One of my top holiday travel tips is to find out when the peak travel dates are – then avoid them like a plague! Peak travel dates have two problems associated with them:

1) plane tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals, and more tend to be more expensive, and

2) everyone else will be traveling on those dates, hence the name peak travel dates.

If possible, plan your vacation time at work a few days before the peak travel period so that you can avoid the rush. And also try to plan coming back a few days after – that way you can almost always guarantee reductions in prices, reductions in holiday traffic and reductions in headaches.

Do Your Comparison Shopping It is important to stay abreast of holiday travel tips that help you find the best deals for your money. That starts with finding flight specials and continues with locating vacation destination deals. If you are going to visit family for the holidays and are not in need of a hotel room or transportation when you arrive then flight costs are all you will need to take into consideration.

There are plenty of websites that give great holiday deals. Shop around with the major travel search engines such as Expedia and Travelocity, but also look at Cheaptickets.com and others for great rates. Also, you will be surprised to find that many airlines will have great deals if you search their website directly. And if you want the best comparison shopping experience, I recommend using SideStep.com. They use a side-by-side comparison of every flight special, sorted by price. I have found the greatest success using their services.

If you are traveling to a destination that does not include free room and board, then one of my holiday travel tips is for you to comparison shop for great all-inclusive package deals. You can find great places to stay during that holidays that have 3- and 5-night vacation packages with meals and activities included. Also, you will want to try to get a car factored into the price if you need one for your trip. The more specific you are when planning and the earlier you book, the better your results will be.

Plan Your Connecting Flights with Great Care This is one of the holiday travel tips that will reduce your stress level significantly. I say this because I know the feeling of sitting in the airport waiting to board the first of two connections when you hear the airline attendant politely (and nervously) inform passengers that the flight has been delayed for an hour or more due to a snow storm in “Sock-It-To-Me,” Kansas.

When you hear the news, your thoughts quickly shift to your connecting flight that is probably scheduled to depart on time – 30 minutes after this flight is supposed to land. You know pre-boarding begins 30 minutes prior to take off to ensure the flight leaves on schedule. And that’s when questions like “What will I do if my flight doesn’t land before the other flight takes off?” and “Are there additional flights available?” begin to rush through your mind. And of course, the final thought will be, “Why didn’t I schedule my connecting flight for a later time?”

This anxiety can be avoided by choosing connecting flights that allow for an hour and a half or more of layover time. I know that when you make the choice to find connecting flights as close as possible to the time your first flight is to land that you are simply trying to get where you’re going quickly and want to avoid boredom in the airport. But usually one and a half to two hours isn’t that long when you consider that it takes time to exit the plane, find the connecting flights departing gate, which could be in another terminal, then get settled before it is time to board the second plane. Besides, if you allow yourself the extra time, you are almost guaranteed the promise of making your connecting flights – a promise that is more than welcome during the busy holiday season.

Plan Your Packing In Accordance with Current Airport Security Measures. This is one of the holiday travel tips that actually sounds unfair – and trust me; I used to feel the same way too. But after enough hassles at the airport security station, I finally gave in and realized that I couldn’t change what I couldn’t control. So now, instead of fussing at the ways airports are trying to ensure our safety, I simply plan ahead by packing my belongings in accordance with their security measures.

One way to do this is by making sure to pack all of liquids and gels that are larger than 3 ml in the bags I plan to check. The airport has signs up everywhere that let you know that you cannot carry liquids and gels through the security checkpoint; these items include lotion, toothpaste, baby oil, aerosols (hairspray), perfume bottles, bottled water, and much more. If you carry them through the checkpoint they will find and confiscate them – you cannot stop this from happening. So to avoid the drama, why not simply pack them away and happily greet them at the baggage claim at your destination? You are allowed to carry liquids and gels 3 ml and smaller in a zip-top, clear bag, so you are not completely left out in the cold. And by sticking to the rules, you, your family, everyone in line behind you, and airport security will be much happier.

Remembering this helpful holiday travel tips will definitely help make vacationing during this holiday season a better experience. If you are in need of additional holiday travel tips, remember the last time you traveled and all of the challenges you faced, then apply them to the holiday season. By doing this you can assure yourself that you won’t be faced with any unwelcome surprises.

Jeffrey Meier at Jam727 Enterprises at http://www.thearticlehome.com blog offers even more detailed information on a wide variety of topics.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeffrey_Meier