Los Angeles: $69 Airfare Escape to Oregon!

ALERT to all our California guests: $69 fares from Los Angeles, California to Medford, Oregon....only if you book your plane tickets through Horizon Air before May 7, 2009. This Horizon Air web link gives you all the details. Wow.

Oregon Rafting Company Serves Up Local-Sourced Foods

We LOVE healthy, local-sourced food and it shows in all the menu items we prepare for our White Water Warehouse guests. All the dips, dressings, and salads are loving homemade--with many of the ingredients coming for our own Willamette Valley organic farms. Even the smoked Salmon that we offer our guests is caught by our owner (Bob Meister), smoked and packed by him as well! Served next to artisan cheese and crackers coupled with a fine glass of Oregon wine--shared with old (and new) friends at the end of a long day of rafting, kayaking, and/or hiking--life just doesn't get any better.

So folks ask what sets us apart from other rafting companies and I guess it just comes down to this. We are passionate about what we do and what we offer our guests--in every aspect of our business. We don't just send our guides down to the local mini-mart to mass purchase and pack food items. We oversee each and every morsel. So if the devil is in the details, we've got that one down. Even each tiny clove of garlic that we use in the dips and salad dressings is from our organic gardens...

Call our offices today and experience the difference....1-800-214-0579 or email us at: fun@whitewaterwarehouse.com We'd love to show you "the difference."

Crater Lake Webcam

OK, so this is one of the shortest blogs we've done in a long time. Came across a coolacious Crater Lake Webcam  site that updates every 15 minutes. Check it out, friends! Just-so-ya-know, Crater Lake is the headwater for Oregon's Rogue River and White Water Warehouse's Rogue River rafting & kayaking trips.

Photo credit & copyright, Rob Robinson.

Earth Day 2009: Keeping It Green On The River

We are committed to Earth Day at White Water Warehouse. Here are some simple but useful suggestions for keeping it “green” while on your river trip…

FOOD:
1.) Use pita bread pockets for your sandwich bread. Nixes the need for plates or forks.
2.) Pack bulk water containers and fill individual water bottles from the container. Stops the use (and landfill waste) of individual plastic bottles.
3.) After each meal, use trash bags to separate your composting materials, from your recycling materials, from your burnable materials….and then just keep adding to each bag until the trip is over. Once home, you can recycle or compost the items.

TOOLS:

1.) When bathing in the river, use bio-degradable soaps like Dr. Bronner’s. This company makes more products than ever…obviously, their traditional soaps but even shaving creams and body balms. Website is: www.drbronner.com

2.) Use a batteryless flashlight for your midnight stroll to the groover (bathroom). You can also buy batteryless radios. This company even makes a batteryless flashlight with built-in mosquito repellent—now that is a product for the green river camper! Website to find these beauties is: www.duraproflashlights.com
3.) Use re-sealable and re-usable containers for your sauces and dressings. Easy to clean and can be used tons of times before eventually recycling them. www.rubbermaid.com
4.) Just read that cigarette butts are the number one litter problem in the universe. If you do choose to smoke, bring along a small, metal container to store used butts in until there is a convenient place to trash them at the end of the trip.

TRAVEL:
1.) At the end of the river trip, have a van/trailer waiting to pick up the rafts and the guests. That way, everyone goes back to the put-in site together. Saves on multiple vehicles going back and forth.
2.) Dilution is the solution to pollution. Government agencies say not to hesitate in urinating in the river…their preference to urinating on the river’s shoreline. Remember, the same doesn’t go for your 2nd bodily function…that duty commands a groover or an outdoor toilet. There is nothing worse than leaving behind a toilet paper “garden” in a pristine environment.

Fishing Fanatics Check This Out!

Oregon Fishing: Love to fish and--even better--love to fish on wild & scenic rivers? Look no further than our good friends at Noah's River Adventures. These folks have been running Oregon's wild and scenic Rogue River forever. They are fun, knowledgeable, experienced boatmen and excellent fishermen. Got it all in one neat package.

The fishing "S" trifecta of Salmon, Steelhead, and Sturgeon could be yours on this incredible adventure. Think about this. Fish all day on a protected, incredibly scenic river then relax at the end of day in rustic lodges as you and your fishing buddies mull over the day's fishing exploits.

Cost is $1525 plus 5% Federal use fees/taxes for a 4-day adventure. $1295 plus 5% Federal use fees/taxes for their 3-day adventure with costs based upon double occupancy. Call Hugh at 1-800-858-2811 to book your trip or check their website for availabilities.

Photos copyrighted by Noah's River Adventures

Get Your OREGON Grin On!!!

White Water Warehouse presents this cool little slide show showing the happy folks that travel from around the globe to hike, raft and kayak on our Oregon Rogue River adventure trips. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Rogue River Rafting - A Raft Meets the Rogue

Rogue River Rafting: Check out this cool video that our guests took last year on one of our Rogue River rafting trips. White Water Warehouse owner, Bob Meister, can be seen below navigating one of our rafts through the "sneak route" around famous Rogue River Rainey Falls.

Rogue Creamery Remains True to its Heritage

Oregon Cheeses: In this ever-changing world there is something comforting about the Rogue Creamery's 79-year-old philosophy of slow and steady. The old adage, "The more things change, the more they remain the same" holds true for this cheese industry pioneer. Rogue Creamery has produced award winning cheddar cheeses for over 75 years and blue cheeses for over 50 years inside its unassuming location in the very tiny town of Central Point, Oregon.

While its location is unpretentious, its contributions to the cheese world are enormous. At the World Cheese competition in London in 2003, Rogue Creamery won "Best American Cheese" for its Rogue River Blue Cheese and shocked the world. Frances Plowman, Marketing & Merchandising Director for the Creamery, talks about what this award meant. "We had won many other awards over the years but none this prestigious. What this award allowed us to do was to work towards exporting our cheeses into the international market. While that process took about 3 1/2 years to complete, Rogue Creamery was the first American company to be allowed to export raw milk cheeses overseas. This really opened the door for many of our fellow food artisans to begin exporting their quality products as well...which makes us happy."

Like many of the artisan food makers in southern Oregon, Rogue Creamery is constantly fostering partnerships with their fellow food makers. Look no further than their wonderful tasting room to find dozens of local producers featured there. And the recent 2009 Oregon Cheese Festival held in March at the Rogue Creamery drew over 3,000 folks interested in tasting and purchasing the cheeses from 14 different cheese makers, 10 wineries, and several breweries. "We are excited by the turnout this year. And by the fact that we were able to come together to showcase all these incredible local-sourced food and drink artisans and the unique people who make them," said Plowman.

Asked about new products and Francis is a bit hesitant. Remember their motto: slow and steady. "We don't come out with lots of new cheeses. Our focus is on quality. Our latest creation is called Touvelle (named after a local park) and is a combination of Gouda and Jack Cheese. Great melting qualities. While some folks may not see this as the most perfect application for this cheese, it is really wonderful on pizza or in mac & cheese because it melts so smooth."

You can visit Rogue Creamery at 311 N Front St in Central Point, Oregon. Or call them at (541) 665-1155 or visit their on-line store.


Photos copyrighted by Rogue Creamery