Day 1: Portland, Troutdale
We left home at 9 am for Portland, Oregon
as we had made reservations at McMenamins Edgefield for tonight and weren't
sure where we'd end up tomorrow.. It was partial clearing with temperature in
the low 70's as we drove on I-5 past Tacoma, Olympia, St Helens & Vancouver.
It took three hours to get to Portland
and we went straight to Rocco's Pizza for some of the best pizza we have eaten.
We went to Powell's City of Books after
lunch, which is just kitty corner from Rocco's. This is one of the best new
and used book stores in the nation that carries just about any book you want.
I find more books on Canada here than when I am in Canada. The store covers
one complete city block and is divided into 8 rooms -- each a different color.
If you can't find something, their staff is very helpful and they also have
free maps of the store. We spent $50 on eight books and we were here for about
an hour.
We left around 2:00 and went downtown Portland to the Ira Keller park and
let the kids play in the park water fountain. This is a cool park where kids
of all ages can play in the water and there is also grass to sit on. The park
is located on 3rd & SW Clay St. There are many other things in Portland to
do including Washington Park Zooupon the hill and Oregon Museum of Science
and Industry (OMSI) on the other side of the river. There is also Waterfron
Park which is a nice clean park along the river where they hold their Blues
festival every July 4th. Ther is also the originall Nike town store, where
it all began and you will see all kinds of sporting shoes, pictures of athletics,videos
and the best part is when you can order a pair of shoes that are brought up
from the basement by a special elevator. Portland also has a great mass transportation
system if you just want to stay in town for the weekend.. We have came here
from Seattle by train before and spent the weekend in town. A nice weekend
getaway.
We
found highway 84 headed east easily but got caught in Friday afternoon's rush
hour traffic. McMenamins Edgefield is located in Troutdale
at exit 16. We were kind of surprised how close to the highway this place
was. This is marketed as a former poor farm/retirement
home sitting on 38 acre estate, which has been renovated to include a brewery,
distillery, pub, winery, several bars, artist studio, gardens, vineyards,
movie theater, golf course, hotel and restaurant. The hotel or main lodge
is three stories and has about a 100 rooms and the Black Rabbit Restaurant
and a gift shop. Each door has a unique painting on the outside. The rooms
have no phones, TV's or bathrooms, and our sparsely furnished with an oriental
carpet, table, dresser, bed, nightstand and closet large enough to be a bathroom.
There two men's lavatories and two women's lounges on each floor, equiped
with shower rooms.We booked their Hammerhead Package which was $149 and included
one night in the lodge, and dinner and breakfast for two at the Black Rabbit
Restaurant. The problem with the package is that you had to order one of their
most expensive meals to get your money's worth. We thought if you got a package
you would get a little more than what you actually paid for. I guess the package
was really meant to be used as a gift certificate.
We
checked into our room, made dinner reservations at the Black Rabbit and inquired
about the movie playing tonight at the Power Station Theater. We walked around
the grounds, checking out the gardens and vineyards and had a drink at the
Distillery, which was a small bar serving hard drinks. We finally went to
the winery for a wine tasting as they let you taste 6 wines complimentary
and then there were 12 more you could taste at 5 for $1 each.We bought a case,
including their pinot gris and white reisling (1998 and 1996 Select Vineyard).
After drinking the equivalent of 2-3 glasses of wine, we went to dinner and
had prime rib and game hen with stuffing. Serevice and food were ok butnothing
fantastic. After dinner we stopped at the Little Red Shed, a tiny little bar.
We went to bed around 11 pm. The lodge was kind of a
noisy building. I presume because it is not carpeted and was build around
the turn of the century. We could also hear and see the highway from our room.
The furnishings and oriental carpetting were pretty tacky. For the price I
thought they should have had nicer furnishings or bathrooms in each room.
There was noy much to do here but eat and drink. We were glad we tried this
place for one night but wouldn't do it again.
200 miles today