Live Oregon

Sel's Brewery

Canyon City’s Sel’s Brewery opens the bar just once a year

by Joni Kabana Oregon is full of spirited breweries, but have you ever heard of a bar operating just one weekend a year? Head to Canyon City the weekend of June 7 and 8, when the old stone Sel’s Brewery will swing open its barroom doors and let you down a pint inside this astonishing old historical landmark. Thanks to a band of brothers—the Whiskey Gulch Gang established in 1922—Sel’s Brewery has long been the gathering place for the annual ’62 Days celebration, commemorating the year gold was discovered in the area. Get ready to kick up your heels to live music, run in the Gold Rush Run, cheer for the bed race, and witness the annual staged hanging right in the middle of town. Pull up a chair next to a local, and you might even hear a story or two about this fascinating little gem of a town.

Paddleboarding in Brookings

Oregon’s Best Places to Retire

written by Lee Lewis Husk Retiring with visions of sitting on a beach sipping Mai Tais? Well, maybe not in Oregon, where you’re more likely to be pulling on a wetsuit to wade into the surf or rubber boots to walk the dog. Oregon isn’t Florida or Arizona, but it does have considerable appeal to those no longer tethered to a paycheck. Whether you’re a 45-year-old techie escaping Silicon Valley, an urbanite fleeing traffic or a rural boomer seeking great health care facilities, you’ll need a place to retire and call home.  We’ve found six towns that may tickle your retirement dreams. In selecting this list, we considered the availability and cost of housing, weather, proximity to airports, health care, cultural and recreational amenities, and the history and vibe of the place. Brookings Sun Worshippers, Camels & Cacti Not Found Here With 50 inches of rain falling between November and…

Face Rock Sate Scenic Viewpoint

Sand labyrinths at Face Rock State Scenic Viewpont

photography by Joe Kline When the tide is out, Denny Dyke’s work begins. He designs, draws and decorates labyrinths in the sand along the Oregon Coast, mostly in Bandon at Face Rock State Scenic Viewpoint. What started as a walking meditation turned into a public art installation—this year, Dyke and his team of volunteers will create more than forty labyrinths in the sand, inviting the public to walk through the circles and waiting for his creations to wash away as the tide rolls in.

Freeland Spirits

Women and Whiskey at Freeland Spirits

Freeland Spirits sets out to do distilling differently written by Sheila Miller Freeland Spirits started with a Texas grandma, a whiskey night and a dream. That dream is now a reality, thanks to the hard work of founder Jill Kuehler, distiller Molly Troupe and farmer Cory Carman, who have combined to create a woman-owned and operated distillery that cheers “equal opportunity drinking.” Kuehler has a nonprofit background focused in food and agriculture. Up until a couple years ago, she was running Zenger Farm in Southeast Portland, a spot that educates thousands of kids each year about how food is grown. But she’d always had a soft spot for spirits, and was interested in their “terroir”—how grain from different places could influence flavor. When she became friends with Cory Carman, one of the sisters who owns Carman Ranch in Eastern Oregon, it all started to click into place. “Anytime she comes…

Spokane

Northwest Destination: Spokane Rising

Spokane is the right jumping-off point for outdoor adventure and sophisticated city life written by Cara Strickland If you’re looking for an outdoor enthusiast’s paradise, you’ll find it in Spokane. Five ski resorts, seventy-six lakes and five national parks are within driving distance, a river runs through the city, and the Centennial Trail offers 37 miles for hiking and biking with a mountain backdrop. If you’re feeling a little less extreme, you can stroll through one of Spokane’s many parks, including the crown jewel, Manito Park, which boasts 90 acres of gardens, a conservatory and a duck pond, plus two playgrounds for your little ones. Bring a picnic and enjoy the rose garden or get some zen in the Japanese garden. Just a couple blocks away, you’ll find Rockwood Bakery, a staple of Spokane’s historic South Hill neighborhood, known for its freshly made, decadent baked goods and quiche. Just down…

Professional Freeride Biker Carson Storch bombs down mountains for a living

Carson Storch talks biking and brain trauma written by Mackenzie Wilson Two broken collarbones, one snapped wrist, a couple cracked ribs, bruised organs and one major concussion later, Carson Storch considers himself “lucky.” The professional freeride mountain biker has been going big, crashing hard and doing it all over again for nearly half his life. “Freeriding is pretty similar to any other high-impact sport, like football for instance, but the difference with us is we’re going fast and we’re hitting dirt,” Storch said. Freeriding by nature is unpredictable. Riders choose a route or a “line” down a steep mountain and hope to make it to the bottom unscathed. At 25, Storch is still in his prime, but he’s taking preventive measures to stay at his best both physically and mentally. “I think brain health is kind of a focus of our sport now—it’s pretty serious at competitions nowadays,” he said….

A Wine Country Modern Farmhouse

A Wine Country Modern Farmhouse

A design duo crafts a distinct farmhouse for wine lovers in the Willamette Valley written by Melissa Dalton DEEP IN THE DUNDEE HILLS, up a curving gravel drive past a grove of moss-covered oaks, sits a farmhouse with a tomato red door. The home’s silvered board-and-batten siding and standing seam metal roof evoke farmsteads of old, but that’s about where the resemblance ends. This one has a decidedly more contemporary shape. “We wanted to take the idea of the modern farmhouse and flip it on its head,” Matthew Daby said. The residential designer teamed up with interior designer Angela Mechaley, both of m.o.daby design, to tweak tradition in unexpected ways. Picture a classic American farmhouse, and the image that comes to mind most likely includes a pitched roof, front porch, and double-hung windows. Pretty? Yes. Practical? Not for this particular plot, which has a dramatic grade and straddles a driveway…

The Art of Goat Cheese

The Art of Goat Cheese

A second-generation goat cheese maker dishes written by Sophia McDonald photography by Eugene Pavlov Does anything epitomize spring more than baby goats frolicking in a farmer’s emerald green field? This has been a familiar view for Patricia Morford with Rivers Edge Chèvre since 1958, when her father brought home the family’s first goats. Jack, Stripes and Pinky had a specific job—eating the blackberries that had overrun an apple orchard. They stayed with the family long after the vines were gone, however, and ended up being the inspiration for Morford’s career as a farmstead cheesemaker. Long before she wrapped her first log of chèvre, Morford was known for her outstanding goat breeding program. “I just kind of fell into making cheese because I had such good milk genetics and I was interested in producing food,” she said. She started making cheese for her family around 1970. By 1990, she had decided…

Best Places for Scrumptious Pizzas

Best Places for Scrumptious Pizzas

written by Jen Stevenson HEY NEIGHBOR A popular newcomer on the Eugene pizza scene, chef-owner Calen Willis’s cute bungalow-bound pizza shop near the university turns out 12-inch, hand-tossed, wood-fired pies ranging from a classic margherita to the pancetta, pepperoni and housemade fennel sausage-topped Carnero. Start with wood-roasted asparagus or a crisp fennel, grapefruit, parsley and pickled onion salad, try something off the craft cocktail list, or take your pint of Oakshire stout outside to the heated and covered outdoor porch. 1621 E 19TH AVE. EUGENE www.facebook.com/heyneighborpizza   MONTESACRO PINSERIA Okay, so Roman-born pinsa isn’t technically pizza, but they’re very close cousins. Made with a blend of rice, soy and wheat flours imported from Rome, this lively Pearl District pinseria’s light, chewy flatbread is layered with everything from broccolini to burrata to bottarga before being blistered to perfection in the oven. Pair the smoked buffalo mozzarella and ’nduja-topped Infernetto with a…