Rain and coffee.

Nancy's posting for the first time today.
It rained on and off today until late afternoon when a more serious storm rolled in. Between showers we managed to get on our mountain bikes and ride a couple of miles down the road for lunch and coffee and escape home before it started really pouring. Sorry, no photos.
A few of my observations about life up here:
1. Oregonians are very serious about coffee while being quite independent about it. Even the smallest hamlet has at least 2 or 3 drive-thru espresso stands. The vast majority are privately owned. We only have one Starbucks within 10 miles, but probably have 20 espresso places of various types, most have drive-thru capabilities. We haven't had a bad cup yet.
2. Oregonians are also very serious about wine. We stopped the other day at a very rural roadside market. The shelves offered the basic necessities, a few frozen dinners and quite an extensive wine selection, mostly local, oh, and of course, espresso.
3. I thought I would miss big city grocery stores. Both local markets have my Pasadena Von's beat by a mile! Up here they have twice the selection of tortillas and greater variety of fresh produce not to mention other things, oh, and of course, espresso. So much for my preconceptions.