Late Summer Road Trip 2019: McMenamin's Kennedy School Hotel

During our year of living in Portland, we discovered a chain of very quirky hotels and restaurants called McMenamins. Founded in 1983, the family-owned business has become famous in the Pacific Northwest. Although they are a chain, no two locations are alike.

Our friends from California visited us during the spring of our year in Portland, and they raved about McMenamin’s Kennedy School Hotel, which they visited for cocktails. The location of the hotel was a former elementary school that was built in 1915, it had been abandoned until McMenamin’s renovated it, turning it into a unique hotel with a movie theater, multiple bars and restaurants.

Here is a picture of the Kennedy School in the 1940’s.

And how it looks today…

The entire property takes on an Alice in Wonderland air, as visitors explore the different rooms, passages and multiple levels. The art work that adorns the walls are clearly not original to the school house, as they take on a nightmarish quality. I kept sensing that this would be a fantastic building for a halloween event. It also must be a very trippy experience for visitors who worked at or attended the original Kennedy School.

In keeping with the “school theme” the hotel has a detention bar. The principal’s office has also been turned into a bar, which two of our friends who are retired teachers, really loved.

We parked ourselves in The Boiler Room for the signature cocktail, Ginger Pear Sidecars. The Boiler Room is an overwhelming experience for the eyes: exposed pipes, ornate lighting fixtures, and beautiful stained glass.

Whether you visit the Kennedy School Hotel or one of their other properties in the Pacific Northwest, you are sure to have a memorable experience at a McMenamins! Make sure to bring your appetite for adventure and stomach for a strong, well-made cocktail! Also, if you plan to visit more than one McMenamins Property, make sure to ask for a passport. Each location will stamp your passport, challenging you to drink your way through all of the McMenamins.

Portland Japanese Garden

Last summer, I visited the Portland Japanese Garden with my mother-in-law, Jan, who was visiting from England. I heard that it was a popular place, so we set off early in the morning, intending on arriving as soon as it opened at 10am.

The Portland Japanese Garden is located in Washington Park, a massive area just outside of the city, that includes the Portland Zoo, the International Rose Test Garden, and many museums. It's well-worth multiple visits. We took the MAX train and then had to take a free internal bus that loops around Washington Park. The bus ride took about fifteen minutes and we had a nice conversation with a young woman from a group of Mormon missionaries who were taking in the local attractions on their day off.

We were not the only people who had decided to try to beat the crowds by arriving early. The line snaked around stanchions and the queue was about a hundred people deep. The summer time admission was 16.95 for adults, but Jan got a senior break at 14.50.

After buying our tickets, we had to walk up multiple sets of stairs, though a forest setting to reach the main level of the garden.

Our first stop was the tea room. The tea room is extremely popular and does not take reservations. They do take a list on the same day, first come/first served. We put our name down and we were told to return in two hours.

The Portland Japanese Garden is a magical place, filled with shady nooks, waterfalls, and art. It's beautiful. We took a leisurely walk, ducking into air-conditioned buildings to see Japanese art, including an exhibit on costumes used in Kabuki.

The garden was serene with hillside paths and surprises around every corner.

Koi!

The rock garden.

The garden is not big and two hours was ample time to enjoy it. Although, I can easily imagine getting an annual pass, returning to sit and read in the garden. We saw many people with sketch pads.

We ended our day at the tea house. I had a recent phone conversation with Jan, regarding my upcoming trip to visit her in England. We spoke about all of the things that I wanted to see and made big plans. She said, "I know you're going to want to take pictures of everything, especially the food." Yep. If it's memorable, I'm going to document it.

First, here is the menu for the tea house. We were told that all of the tea is imported from Japan and that it is very special, not something that we would easily find elsewhere, outside of Japan. The tea room had an exclusive deal with a distributor.

Everything looked good and we were hungry. We settled on the "Sencha with Castella" set for two and added two Chikara Cakes.

The Chikara cake is similar to a fruit cake, thick and dense, with nuts and dried fruit. It was yummy and filling, something you'd want to pack for a hike. The Sencha tea was refreshing and it came with a Japanese sponge cake that tasted sweet, like it might have been sweetened with honey. It reminded me of a similar cake that my mom used to buy from a local Cuban bakery in Glendale.

The Tea Room is a must-do. However, you must arrive early and get your name on the list immediately. It's not a large cafe and the experience is leisurely, so the spots fill up fast.

Finally, here is a picture of downtown Portland taken from the garden. I love the mash-up of city and nature.

Lan Su Chinese Garden

On the last weekend in March, there was a break in the rainy weather, so we headed to the Lan Su Chinese Garden in downtown Portland. As members of the Portland Zoo, we had free entry for the month of March, as part of a reciprocal local attraction program. Including the zoo, eight organizations are participating this year, each on a different month. So this means, as an added bonus to our zoo membership, we get to visit seven other local attractions. We saved twenty dollars, as the normal admission price for the garden is ten dollars each for adults.

The Lan Su Chinese Garden is a short, fifteen minute walk from our apartment. It's in the heart of Chinatown. Unfortunately, Chinatown is not a nice part of downtown Portland. It's crime ridden, filled with drug addicts and homeless. A huge part of the problem is many of the businesses are closed and boarded up. It was a ghost town.

Oddly enough, considering it was 10am on a Saturday, we did see a few people in the Darcelle XV Showplace. I think they were rehearsing? In any case, via a sign on the door, we learned that this was home to Darcelle, who in 2016 was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records, as the oldest drag queen still performing. In 2016, Darcelle was eighty-five years old. Darcelle might be the utmost Portland thing I've ever heard of: how fabulous.

In the middle of Darcelle, and not much else, stands the Lan Su Chinese Garden. It's an oasis: one city block of tranquility.

Here are a few pictures from out front. Even though the rain had stopped, it was still cold, and I was bundled up. Spring weather in Portland, is like winter in Los Angeles. I've only adjusted a little bit!

Portland's "sister or twin" city is Suzhou, which is known for its gardens. Over sixty artists came over from Suzhou to help build the Lan Su Chinese Garden. I also learned that China is home to the most varieties of Magnolia flowers. Speaking of flowers, we were given a spring plant guide.

I absolutely loved the beautifully arranged stepping stones.

Here are some of the first plants we discovered in the garden.

In the center of the garden, there is a huge pond with Koi fish.

Dan took this panorama (and all of the other pictures). I love how this shot shows both the garden and the modern downtown skyscrapers.

The garden is filled with bridges, pagodas and waterfalls. It felt like every time we turned a corner, we made a new discovery.

Sprinkled through the Lan Su Chinese Garden, are little rooms with cultural and art exhibits.

As a writer and book lover, I was thrilled to find this basket of children's books. How wonderful is it to promote reading with your child in the garden? Love this!