Rock Creek Tavern

Location: Rock Creek Tavern, a charmingly rustic cottage that immediately welcomes you with the rich scent of woodsmoke. Hidden on a rural road between Hillsboro and Forest Park, this place feels like it's from another time and place completely. Which is especially incredible considering that according to the history, the whole thing burned down in 2002.

Fellow travelers: Just me! I was at a job in Hillsboro today so I took the opportunity to check this place out on my way home.

Favorite light: This mushroom light is the first thing that greets you at the entrance of this location. You think, "My goodness! That's unique!" And then when you get inside there are more mushroom lamps!

Favorite art: Did I mention the mushrooms? They are so incredible they count as both favorite light and favorite art. Having said that, runner up is this "Rock Creek Uroboros" painting. What does an ouroboros have to do with the tavern?

Food: pub poutine, chicken fried steak, RC

Passport stamps: Rock Creek Tavern

Other items of note:

• No shakes at this location. Pity.
• When the waitress took my passport, she immediately offered the history write-up. Yes, please! I wish every McMenamins did this.
• They have shuffleboard and a pool table in the loft upstairs: nice and private/quiet.
• Look at the moss on the roof!
• I drove home the back way, over Skyline. Mt Hood was simply stunning today, and the Saint John's Bridge was so pretty I could hardly stand it. I hardly ever approach them from the northwest.

 

Redemption: John Barleycorns

After the false start at John Barleycorns, I finally made it back to get my passport stamp!

But at 5:30 p.m. on a Friday the place was packed with a waiting list a mile long, so I went to Burgerville for dinner instead. So here are some lovely photos of John Barleycorn's patio lights:

Crystal Ballroom

Location: Crystal Ballroom, which includes Lola's Room and Ringlers. A while back I counted Ringlers as its own separate location, but really it counts as part of the Crystal Ballroom Empire. I was really happy that the Crystal Ballroom offers a tour every day at 2 p.m. instead of requiring seekers to schedule and/or buy concert tickets to get a stamp. Plus, seeing the ballroom in the daylight is a completely different experience than seeing it during a concert!

Fellow travelers: Since I was staying at the Crystal Hotel, I caught this tour solo.

Favorite light: The chandeliers in the ballroom were apparently discovered untouched in boxes after McMenamins bought the Olympic Club property in 1996. They are the life's work of an Italian glass artist and are worth millions of dollars each. Two of them are here but one of them, for some inexplicable reason, went to the Highland in Gresham. [edited Jan28.2014: sadly I have learned the tour guide this day was wrong. The official, slightly less interesting, story is here.]

Also, I noticed the bulbs in the Ringlers "virus light" have been replaced with multicolored bulbs since the last time I was there.

before:

after: 

Favorite art: Each mural in the ballroom is a tribute to a particular era of its history:

Food: Since I've already eaten at Ringlers, I didn't eat here again.

Passport stamps: Crystal Ballroom, Lola's Room, Tour a Brewery (I got the Ringlers stamp already)

Other items of note:

• A tour guide should never ask, "Are you all bored or what?"
• Ringlers is the name of the man who originally owned  Ringlers Cotillion Hall (which is now the Crystal Ballroom).
• Lola is the name of the police chief who tried to drive dancing out of Portland and tried repeatedly to shut Ringlers down. Even though she is long dead, she  must be mortified that a dance hall is named after her and her face is featured on a brewery tank.
• Pool at Ringlers is free until 6 p.m. every day with a $6 minimum purchase. 

Crystal Hotel

Location: I've been worried about when I was going to visit all the hotels, so I decided to jump into the new year by staying at the Crystal Hotel downtown. It's a place I probably never would have gone otherwise, but I'm glad I did because I really enjoyed it. Its prime placement in downtown makes it a wonderful place to explore SW and NW. The Crystal Hotel includes the Zeus Café, Al's Den, and Ringlers Annex. It takes up an entire triangular block. Combined with the Crystal Ballroom just one block west, this whole area is a Super Block of McMenamins Fun Times.

Fellow travelers: Michaelmas, Sven & my bike. Michael visited me for dinner the first night, and Sven stopped by the second night to try out the soaking pool.

Favorite light: 

Love the lights in the Zeus Café.

 

Favorite art: The stained glass windows in the Zeus Café always made me happy. Every time I saw them they changed with the light. [Update Jan14: Hey, these stained glass windows are artistic interpretations of the Grateful Dead song "Dark Star"!] 

And I found this both interesting and puzzling: where did it come from? Was this building an old International Order of Odd Fellows location?

Food: I enjoyed everything I ate at the Zeus Café: cinnamon grape soda, spiced cranberry soda, seared salmon, toffee hazelnut pudding, chilaquiles. (Hello, homemade sodas! I WILL be back!) Since the food was going to be the same at Ringlers Annex and Al's Den I didn't bother eating there. But because I was in downtown Portland, I also took the opportunity to explore a couple of other restaurants I had been meaning to go to: The Roxy (old school diner), Chinese Garden Tea Room, Cacao (the hot chocolate pour-over is INCREDIBLE), Boxer Ramen (meh).

Passport stamps: Crystal Hotel, Al's Den, Ringlers Annex, Zeus Café, Soaking Pool

 

This is another location that requires a photo clue to receive a stamp. It turns out they change the clue about once a month.

 

Because I toured the Crystal Ballroom on the second day of my stay, I completed the entire Crystal page in the Passport. It's my first completed page! That meant I was eligible for a "Crystal Surprise": a choice between a leather glass cozy or a plastic tumbler. Instead, I asked for a Crystal Ballroom patch because I wouldn't use the other things.

Also, the soaking pool meant I completed another four experiences, which got me another gift card!

Lodging:

Room 413, right at the intersection of Burnside and SW 12th. My room had a great view of the brewery blocks and the rising moon. Most McMenamins rooms are painted a parchment color, but the walls of the rooms at the Crystal Hotel are a deep rich blue, the color of the sky the moment after twilight finally fades. Each room is named after a song and the lyrics are painted on the walls.

It's a bit noisy as a downtown hotel, but manageable -- much better than I expected near a thoroughfare like Burnside. (And they provide earplugs for sleeping if necessary.)

As usual, the bathrooms are down the hall. In this location the bathrooms also require a key card to enter. So does the soaking pool, a long wavy trench with bamboo-lined walls. The first night I had it all to myself, but Sven & I were not so lucky the second night.

Everything is connected: you can get to the hotel, the cafe, Al's Den and Ringlers Annex without ever leaving the building -- or you can enter each via a separate outside location. 

Other items of note:

• Guests at the Crystal Hotel get free admission to the Mission Theatre about four blocks to the West. It would have been an easy way to get an extra stamp, but it wasn't really showing anything I wanted to see. The Living Room Theater is even closer, but it also wasn't showing anything I wanted to see.
• I never knew Ringlers Annex was three stories. Ringlers should also win an award for the Most Clandestine Table in Portland, tucked under the stairs in the bottom floor.
• Sadly, no milkshakes at the Zeus. 
• This visit coincided with the Chinese Garden's "9 Free Days," so I popped over there. A perfectly beautiful day! I also stopped by Powells. Hard to stay in your room when there's so much to explore!