After the best night's sleep of the trip so far, in the creepy old hotel, we headed back into Oregon for breakfast and a couple of hikes. We had a big breakfast in Hood River at Egg River Café. After fueling up we made our way to Horse Tail Falls on Historic Route 30 (Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway). Horse tail falls was beautiful and visible from the road, but the long, steep hike leading up the mountain rewarded us with the upper falls, known as "Pony Tail Fa...

New Mexico is the oldest wine producing region in the United States. They started growing grapes in the seventeenth century because Franciscan fathers required wine for Mass. There are 19 wineries here, and some of them make really good wine. We stopped at Casa Rodena first, a small boutique winery 10 minutes from downtown Albequerque. Its a gorgeous winery with a well landscaped lawn set up where you can sip wine next to the vines that it came from. They grow Ri...

Mostly driving today but we did stop for dinner in Amarillo, Tx. Amarillo used to be a big truck stop town since its the only sign of life for miles and miles of desert, but it's grown into a little oasis of steakhouses and chain hotels. It's famous for this restaurant, Big Texan Steak Ranch, that's famous for promoting a free 72 oz steak dinner if you can eat it in under an hour. It's a bit of a tourist trap though so we headed off the beaten path a little into...

We rolled into Memphis around noon for some Tenessee BBQ and to pay our respects to the King. Lunch at Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken. For $6, a plate enough for 2 with the best fried chicken I've ever had, baked beans and coleslaw. Oh, and fried pickles. Todd was very excited to be able to order a 40 oz Bud light...when in Rome. We were in food heaven and did well. Then of to Graceland. Despite the fact that it's now a museum and decorated in tacky 70's styl...

We arrived in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York around 3. Green rolling hills laced with grape vines that slope down into the lakes is our view. There is a winery every mile it seems so our first stop was Lamoreaux Landing, Wine & Spirits 2010 Winery of the year. The tasting room had the most amazing view of the vineyards and lake below. The Finger Lakes are famous for their cold weather grapes like Riesling, Gewürztraminer, and Cabernet Franc bu...