“If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.” – Katharine Hepburn

I’m always excited to meet with small business owners in Oregon and talk about what makes them so passionate about their endeavors. I’ve had the opportunity to meet with some great people in the wine industry. However, after doing a few print interviews, we at Tesla Trips realized it’d be more fun, interesting, and informative for the visitors to our blog if we began conducting video interviews. For the next short while, we will be taking a brief hiatus from interviews. When we begin again, we will be conducting only video interviews. This will be our final print interview.

Back in February, I had the pleasure of sitting down with David Barringer, the co-founder and owner of Naked Winery, a staple in the Gorge for their approachable wines and welcoming atmosphere. Even on a cold February morning, the tasting room downtown was more than inviting. Located right in the heart of downtown Hood River, Naked Winery is very accessible, always busy, and always fun. It is one of the social hubs that makes up downtown.

“I’ve been lucky. Opportunities don’t often come along. So, when they do, you have to grab them.” – Audrey Hepburn

In a previous post, I mentioned a parent teacher association that was raffling off a new Tesla Model S. It’s been one of our most followed posts. We at Tesla Trips are excited to announce that we are offering an auction package on the International School of Beaverton’s 2013 auction list. The International School of Beaverton’s auction is to raise funds for purchasing 35 new iMacs for the school. The event’s site went live on Friday and will be going on through mid-May. The auction will be on May 11th at 6 PM at Rock Creek Country Club. Some other great auction prizes include a two night stay at the Great Lodges on Mt. Hood, VIP Blazers’ Dance Game Experience, and a summer date night package on the Portland Spirit. Tickets for the event start at $30 for an ‘Auction Ticket’ and include dinner and one drink. If you have more questions about the auction or want to donate, email FRISBauction@gmail.com or call 503-307-2436.

We will be announcing more partnership auctions in the future.

P.S. if you haven’t yet, check out our new instagram page.

Chase

“Drive Free”

“If GM grew like the computer industry has, we’d all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 MPG.” – Bill Gates

This Wednesday in Portland the Oregon Entrepreneur’s Network and Drive Oregon are teaming up together for a special event! The theme of the event is highlighting entrepreneurship in the electric vehicle space in Oregon and highlighting the companies that have already made amazing innovations in the space.

License plate or personal philosophy?

Yesterday, while taking a break from trying to setup a new GoPro, I jumped on Twitter. I happened to come across a local Portland blog reviewing cars. I looked around and, before long, did a search for “Tesla” on the page; I came across the image at the top of the screen. I saw the original picture a while ago. I’ve always loved it because it’s a very active way to promote the advantages of an electric vehicle.

Tesla Model S Walkthrough Video

Tesla Motors just posted a video that visually goes through the components and advantages of the vehicle. The video is also broken down into smaller ‘bite-sized’ videos highlighting certain focused aspects of the car.  I would have embedded the videos directly into this post, but unfortunately that is not currently a possibility. Check the links for the actual videos.

We’ve received questions from guests about how spacious a Model S is, specifically the rear seats, and I’ve generally compared it to some of the other larger luxury sedans, like an S-Class Mercedes (Mercedes and Tesla have more in common than you’d think…).  Tesla Trips is participating in some upcoming local events at which you’ll be able to see the spaciousness for yourselves.

“We didn’t start the fire…” – Billy Joel

Electric Vehicles have just as many myths behind them as the JFK assassination, Roswell and Elvis… combined. That could be a slight over estimate, but it’s not far off. One area that has created a lot of rumors is how an electric vehicle behaves in an accident. While there are all sorts of great safety designs built into Electric vehicles (plus not having ~15 gallons of highly flammable fuel in them helps too), the myths persist. I just came across a great video that highlights the safety features of electric vehicles. It’s designed to educate first responders for what to do in the event of an accident involving an electric vehicle.

Fill ‘Er Up with “Gallons of Light” Video

Just came across this gorgeous “homemade” one minute ad for the Model S. The video is from Jordan Bloch’s blog. He has a couple of other great things on the blog, and all of us at Tesla Trips can’t wait to see more from him in the future!

Model S, the best PTA raffle prize ever?

I came across an interesting post on the Tesla Motors Forum pages. There is a PTA in Washington that is offering a Model S for a school raffle. At first this seemed too good to be true…

Model S Vs. Chevy Volt Drag Race

American startup Vs. American goliath. Electric power house vs. Eco marketing contraption. Motor Trend Car of The Year of 2013 Vs. Motor Trend Car of The Year of 2011. I think you can guess how this ends… I am wondering where all of the engine rumbling in the video is coming from though? Because I’m pretty sure it’s neither of these vehicles…

Thanks to the tesla Motors Club for the original link and video

Chase
“Drive Free”

“The only source of knowledge is experience.” – Albert Einstein

 

At Tesla Trips we like to focus on not just good wine, but how you enjoy wine. We know there are other wine tours out there (we have Google too…). However what really makes us and our friends stand out are the experiences. This isn’t a “as you look to your right you can see…” tour. Tesla Trips is immersive, customizable, and most importantly, fun! As the title of this post suggests, the theme of this interview turned out to really be about experiences. Not to just create something entertaining and memorable, but an atmosphere for learning more about wine as well. One of our favorite wineries that creates rich experiences in the Gorge is Phelps Creek Vineyards. I sat down with Becky Morus from Phelps Creek Vineyards recently.