Oregon Weekend & Giveaway Winner

Last weekend was pretty special. Travel Oregon hosted* a bunch of food writers and bloggers for a weekend extravaganza of crabbing, fishing, foraging, rafting, eating, drinking, preserving, cocktail-making, and more. The state has always been on my ‘To-Visit’ list, especially as it’s right next door to us, and this trip was the perfect opportunity to sample a bit of everything it had to offer.

I went fishing and crabbing for the first time, on the Columbia River (which runs between Oregon and Washington), and loved every minute of it. I sampled local beers in Astoria, and, though not much of a beer drinker, found one (the Golden Goose) that was actually delicious. I got to know some really wonderful people, and connected with others who, up till then, were just Twitter avatars within the Beyond the Plate universe. And, of course, I ate really well, from granola to Savarin, cappuccino to Tempranillo, there wasn’t a waking hour when we weren’t tasting, comparing, quaffing, sniffing or talking about food or drink. I’m still processing the memories (and images!) from a whirlwind trip, so look out for a longer post on that in the coming weeks. But I couldn’t wait to dive into the many images from the weekend, so here are a few of my favorites to share.

*Disclosure: I wasn’t paid for the trip, but my meals, accommodation and transport for the weekend were covered by Travel Oregon.

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And now, on to the meat of this post. I picked a winner for the giveaway using Random.org, excluding comments that didn’t answer the question posed. There were 59 eligible comments, and the winner is #53: Francesca Holland. Congratulations Francesca! I’ll be in touch soon on how to claim your prize. Thanks to everyone who participated and shared your stories!