Spruce Goose, Oregon National Dunes
September 11
Leaving Portland behind us, we meandered toward the Oregon Coast, our final destination the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. We entertained some vague ideas about stopping along the way as we traversed Oregon wine country, perhaps sampling some of the famed Willamette Valley’s famed pinot noir or finding that perfect wine country café for a lazy afternoon lunch.
To our dismay, wine touring in Oregon felt seven times more pretentious than we expected, and well, frankly, I’m too cheap to pay five bucks to taste a bunch of wine that may or may not be all that taste-worthy. Stops in Dundee and McMinnville confirmed our worst suspicions: our brows weren’t high enough nor were our noses long enough for this swirling, swigging and swerving crowd. A little despondent, but pleased have the ordeal behind us, we decided to stop our silly wine tour and make for the beaches.
First though, we saw something intriguing in our AAA Oregon Tourbook. Along state highway 18, near the fringes of wine country something called the
Evergreen Aviation Museum and Winery beckoned to us. Something they liked to call the “Spruce Goose.” Ok, we’ll stop and see if it looks any good. (Editor’s note: Aaron feigns ignorance here. As soon as we saw “Spruce Goose,” he immediately knew it was the famous largest wooden sea plane ever built, and he questioned my American citizenship when I said I’d never heard of it.) Maybe they’ll give us discounted admission with our holocaust museum badges.
Right alongside the road we discovered the Spruce Goose in its giant glass case. Such a strange and delicious combination. The Evergreen Company owns a massive aviation museum–in the middle of a vineyard. Inside a voluminous hanger/greenhouse, scores of historic planes are nestled about Howard Hughes’ birch behemoth. Sunshine warms your skin as you walk through this vast glass hanger, gawking at a ridiculous wooden float plane and reveling in the story of a wealthy aviator with something to prove. When we finished our unscheduled tour of the hanger (gratis, thanks to a friendly WWII vet who waved us through we he saw our museum ID’s), we chatted at the wine counter and sampled a half dozen vintages, also free.
We learned that Evergreen owns the Spruce Goose, is growing their aviation museum like a rabbit colony and in addition to making a few tasty wines, harvests thousands of acres of hazelnuts. In fact, I reckon you didn’t know this: Oregon produces 99 percent of all hazelnuts grown in the U.S. I expected to find a Nutella plant around the corner when we left the museum with bags of chocolate-covered and roasted hazelnuts. No such luck.
Leaving the Spruce Goose behind us, we continued to wind our way on backs toward the Oregon coastline. Arriving on the coast near sunset, we searching for a place to make camp. Several depressing RV campgrounds soon crushed our hopes of a night perched high on a solitary sand dune. Evening drew on. We became more despondent as every camping ground we saw was jammed full of RV’s within spitting distance of each other.
Somehow, we stumbled across a state park campground--not two miles away from several completely full facilities–-nearly deserted. Best of all, the sites where well-wooded and set among the
sand dunes.
Parking our car at a site, we bolted down a trail towards the rapidly setting sun. We crested the dunes just as the sun began to dip beneath the sand and waves.
But this fine view was not without cost. Alyssa suffered a minor asthmatic moment from our mad dash up the sandy sides of the dunes. So we took it easy and turned in early after our a campfire feast. We had a long road in the morning: a dune hike, drive to Crater Lake, see Crater Lake, drive to California. What would tomorrow hold?
