NW Oregon Trip – Who’s In?

Wow… excellent feedback from everyone as usual! The one thing I want to clarify is that I know that I won’t be able to hit all of the places that I’ve listed. I also know I won’t have time to stop at all of the places that you’re all recommending. I’m really using this thread as a way to gather some true local knowledge so we can make better decisions when we have to choose A over B. I know my opening comments were pretty wordy but one key thing that I’ll add when I post the next leg of the trip is this:

“Obviously, we will end up lingering in some spots longer than others so we’ll just knock less exciting stops off the agenda.”

With that said, here are my thought and responses to your feedback about Day 2:

@beertunes @Strangestbrewer @shelby415 I think you all nailed it: “drop a couple targets each day”, “drop some things”, “don't be afraid to slow down.” I’m hoping that we can strike a decent balance by enjoying our time at a few key places while trying to grab a beer as time allows.

@itracy63 Thanks for following along. I enjoy reading East Coast road trip agendas when people post them and I always want to find out what they actually end up doing. We’re expecting a relatively brief stop in Newport but we’ll at least walk around for a little while.

@John_M The breweries that I listed in Eugene are just the ones that appeared to be within walking distance of the place we’re staying at. We don’t actually expect to hit them all. I just threw all the names in here so I could see what people thought. I don’t think I’ve tried beer from any of those places so the feedback on this thread is really helping me figure out what places to ignore. I’m going to make a note of all the places you’ve listed. In particular, Sam Bond’s sounds like a great stop! Plus, I agree that if we make it to Tidal Raves, we can skip Fisherman’s Market. Izakaya Meiji looks like a great alternative for sure. I would love to make it over to The Bier Stein as well but it will definitely depend on my wife’s input… I know she’s looking forward to walking to as many places as possible and I’m not sure if it will be possible given all of the other amazing recommendations that you’ve provide… truly appreciated!

@andy712 I’m definitely into saisons and I will gladly look for Alesong’s Touch of Brett Mosaic… just read about it and it sounds great.

@NedStarkravingmad I appreciate the suggestions for the wine country segment of the trip! I’m not sure if we’ll make it out to McMinnville but I’ve added those places to my ever growing list of places to consider.

Thanks again everyone… It’s so great to have all of these recommendations! I really wish we had another week to be able to stop and enjoy even more of these places.

 

@John_M It looks like we're staying near Sladden Park... about 2 miles from the Bier Stein. We actually looked at Sam Bond's website last night and there is a Sam Bond's "Garage" less than .5 miles from our Airbnb. It is right near Izakaya Meiji and she thought it sounded like a pretty fun place... some live jazz and free Bingo on the night we're in town. Have you ever been there? Just wondering if the experience is comparable to the tasting room that you mentioned (which is about 1.7 miles from our home base). Thanks as always!!!

 

Excellent. I think that gives us more than enough info to keep busy on day 2. Here's what we have in mind for Tuesday. We know we won't be able to hit all of these places so we'll just skip the less exciting stops depending on your feedback:

Tuesday, 7/25 Eugene > Sunriver > Bend Ale Trail
Morning Coffee: Wandering Goat Coffee >
Late Morning (9-12): El Paso Taqueria (Snack) > Skinner Butte Park > Dee Wright Observatory >
Early Afternoon (12-3): Sunriver Brewing (Lunch) > Lava River Cave > Newberry Volcanic Monument >
Late Afternoon (3-6): Lava Butte > Cascade Lakes Lodge > Boneyard > Craft Kitchen (Snack) >
*Sunset Beer (6-8) / Pub Crawl (8-10): Good Life > 10 Barrel > Drake Park > *Crux > Silver Moon > Deschutes (Dinner) > BBC >
Final Stop: McMenamins Old St. Francis School

Recap: We’ll spend a little bit of time around Eugene before making the drive (2.5 - 3.0 hours?) to Sunriver. We don’t have any planned stops so we’re open to suggestions along the way. Looks like the quickest route is OR-58 to US-97 but we might opt to take the scenic route (OR-126 to OR-242) with a stop at Dee Wright Observatory. Thinking about grabbing lunch in Sunriver and then checking out the Lava River Cave and / or Newberry National Volcanic Monument. From there, it’s pretty much all about the Bend Ale Trail… walking as much as possible. We can definitely use suggestions for best places to eat in Bend and maybe a good place to sit outside for a sunset beer. Most importantly, we would love to know about any can't miss beer!

 

@beertunes We will probably decide that morning (depends on when we wake up) if we can make the trip down to Crater Lake because it obviously looks amazing. The High Desert Museum looks like a great option as well. I would love to do one or the other so we will see how the wife feels. Also, thanks for the heads up regarding the Trail Maps. We are hoping to hit 10 of the places but we know we won’t be able to hit them ale.

@John_M Thanks again for another great option along the way! It looks like the Brewer’s Union opens at noon so if the timing works out that looks like a nice pit stop for sure.

@sharpski Thanks a lot for the Bend / Sunriver thread! I read through the previous thread and the most recent thread to make sure I had the "Must-Hit" places on my radar. The other stops I picked were based on proximity to our hotel or our route into Bend. I’m sad we’re going to miss Ale Apothecary but I think the other places should keep us pretty busy.

And thank you so much for the heads up on Silver Moon. I completely agree that the sequencing needs to be tweaked… I think it will all depend on our route into Bend. I will definitely take another look at the order. White Water is another great option to have but it looks like we will have to be wary of our timing since a lot of those places close at 10 on Tuesdays. Plus, Cascades East Transit sounds like an amazing idea... it will be nice to be able to walk to a few places and to have that as our fallback plan (I'm almost sure we will want to use it)!

 

@shelby415 Thanks for the bottle shop tip! I was actually having a hard time deciding between Crux, Deschutes, and Bend Brewing for dinner. There's a good chance that we will just grab something small at each of those places so we don't need to decide.

@beertunes Had to read it... Looking like Crater Lake vs. McKenzie Pass will be a game-time decision! I really wish we had more time... we're definitely going to miss out on some amazing places.