Edgefield Visit

McMenamins is a slightly obnoxious restaurant franchise, but a simply delightful bed and breakfast franchise. The ubiquitous brewpub has locations all over Oregon and Southern Washington, most of which are tiny pubs populated by inexperienced servers, cigar aficionados, tourists, and the type of girl who really like Ruby, a light raspberry flavored ale.
However, the 2 brothers who head up the empire also renovate old properties, like a Masonic Temple, an old Catholic school, and an insane asylum.

Last week Rob and I went out to Edgefield, the property that had been an insane asylum at the turn of the century. Now it's the modern-day hub of the McEmpire, housing their brewery, their winery, a golf course, a spa, a soaking pool, a movie theatre, and about 6 different bars.

Note: I did not take the above picture. I found it on the Internet.

First though I made us breakfast.


Cornmeal almond waffles with blueberries from Sauvie Island, organic maple syrup, and orange juice. Mmmmm.


After we got checked in--an hour early-Yes!--we headed down to the wine tasting room. I tried a flight of whites and Rob stuck to the reds. The Viognier and the Riesling were my favorites, and I don't remember what Rob liked. The Merlot, maybe? Regardless, the palete-cleansing oyster crackers were delicious, and the wines were a perfect treat to start the stay.

Later that evening, we tried to watch a movie, but realized that after sampling wine, beer, and whiskey all day, Wall E wasn't really the movie for us. We headed down to one of the bars instead to drink some tea and play shuffleboard.

The tea was delicious, and a much needed break from all the spirits! I can't remember who won at shuffleboard, but it was probably me, right? :)

We hit up the soaking pool after that, and I don't have any good pictures because it was so steamy. They don't allow glass in there (for obvious reasons) so the bottle of champagne Rob bought had to be poured into two 20 oz plastic pints. Not quite as romantic, but better than a foot full of broken glass, I guess. The soaking pool's attached tea/cocktail bar was closed, which was a bummer because that's what I was looking forward to the most, but it was so unbelievably pretty out there--this huge warm pool with tropical plants surrounding us, and the moon so bright overhead... quite wonderful.

After the soaking pool, we showered and headed up to the golf house/distillery bar. I had a Terminator Stout, Rob had their Hogshead Whiskey, and we shared a cigar. Actually 2. I had never had one before, and it was pretty nice! I wouldn't want to smoke them all the time, but I definitely enjoyed them.

We strolled up to the golf course later to have a look around...




Then headed back, weary from a perfect day.

In the morning, I drank tea and read the complimentary paper at the Black Rabbit Restaurant's bar area, while Rob got a massage. We then had breakfast, bought a bottle of whiskey to take home, and headed back from Troutdale to real life.

A wonderful mini vacation.