This afternoon Ann and I enjoyed another new experience. I had a Living Social coupon for a free winery tour, wine tasting and smoked salmon tasting so we drove to the Hillsboro area (about 20 miles from downtown) to check out the Helvetia Vineyards. Pictured here is the C1909 farmhouse where we did the tasting. The winery is down the road where we had an opportunity to do a barrel tasting of juice from 2009 and 2010.
We learned that there was a Gem and Mineral show at the Rice Museum close by so we drove over to check it out. It was an interesting experience seeing how rocks can hide beautiful colors and designs inside their shell. Outside the museum there were rock and jewelry vendors with things for sale and the museum had an interesting gift shop.
We had forgotten that Hillsboro was hosting an air show so while we were browsing at the rock show, we suddenly were entertained with precision jets flying overhead.
Ann and I both agree, however, that the most enjoyable part of the afternoon was driving by an Alpaca Farm with about 150 animals and many babies. The little white guy in the photo is only two days old. We talked to a worker at the farm who told us that Alpacas sell to people all over the world with prices that start at about $35,000 each. A few years ago the owner sold a stud for over $200,000.
On the way home we stopped at a local dive called the Helvetia Tavern - probably NOT a good idea because we're both being careful about calories and the giant burger and onion rings were way too much even though we shared.
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