In between sips, check out these options in McMinnville

McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Picnic by the lake on the grounds of a Trappist abbey. Wander through fields of lavender. Tour a museum housing the world’s largest flying boat.

Fall is the time when the sunlight turns rural Oregon’s hills and valleys into paint-by-numbers pictures. There’s lots to do besides sip wine.

Here are a few ideas:

Champoeg State Heritage Area: Oregon celebrates the 150th anniversary of its statehood next year, and there’s lots planned in the former village of Champoeg, where pioneers voted to form the state’s first government in 1843.

Learn a bit about the early life of French-Canadian fur trappers by visiting the Butteville general store. A paved bike trail connects the store with the Champoeg Visitors Center. Stop here for information on hiking trails along the Willamette River. Take a tour of an 1860s kitchen garden planted with pioneer staples such as Red Broom corn and Virginia Dare grapes.

Tip: Rangers harvest the garden’s produce for seeds to replant or sell. They sometimes allow visitors to pick a few things in exchange for a small donation. See www.champoeg.org

Visit a monastery: Wander the grounds, attend services or pick up fruitcakes and fudge at two Catholic monasteries within a few miles of each other.

Eight Brigittine monks, members of an order with roots in Sweden, make and sell fudge and chocolate truffles at their farm in Amity. Their special Christmas fudge, a chocolate cherry nut variety, is sold in 1-pound blocks for $10.

Call (503) 835-8080 or see www.brigittine.org.

Thirty-five members of the French Cistercian order live at the Trappist Abbey of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Lafayette. They make fruitcake and honey, and label bottles for area wineries. The monks invite visitors to stroll forested paths named for the saints or picnic next to the lake.

Call (503) 852-0107 or see www.trappistabbey.org.

Red Ridge Farms: This herb nursery in the Dundee Hills makes a restful stop between visits to the wineries. There’s a picnic area with wooden tables and chairs, and drinks and snacks are for sale in the garden shop. Wander through the lavender fields or shop for medicinal herb plants.

Call (866) 828-4372 or see www.redridgefarms.com.

The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum: A new space museum is open next door to the aviation museum where the main attraction is the Spruce Goose, a wooden transport plane built during World War II by the billionaire Howard Hughes.

Call (503) 434-4180 or see www.sprucegoose.org.