McMenamins! — Unruly Skoolie

I'll skip to the present and say we've made it to the holy grail, our northern most goal (this trip), Hood River, Oregon. It took us five glorious weeks to get here and we are thrilled about landing. The trip north through Oregon varied from old industrial wastelands to rolling green farmland to old growth forrest and snow-mountain studded paradise. We make it to Bend, where we were to stay for a few days and immediately were pleased with the beauty, the high vibe and of course, the beer. If the Sierra Nevada Brewery is Skeets' happy place, the Deschutes Brewery might be mine. All this marvelous water everywhere makes for some pretty sublime beer drinking.

Jack White at Edgefield leading into the secret room on our floor

We decide to find a room for the night and we step into McMenamins Old St. Francis School because it's right downtown and within budget. We had no idea what we were getting into. This is a great article about these two wackos who started the place: https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2005/0815/061.html

McMenamins Old St. Francis School is filled with historical photographs, paintings of the nuns who ran the joint, and an extensive and grossly impressive collection of gorgeous concert posters and psychedelic art. There are secret rooms in every building that hold mystical art installations and even a small hidden pub in one of them. Pubs, breweries, a movie theater and Turkish bath-style soaking room fill in the gaps here at the old school and I'm in heaven wandering the halls discovering the thoughtful nooks and crannies and drooling over the art decked walls.

The photos, of course, do no justice (because I suck at photography mostly) but they'll have to do.

May our lives be a little more... unexpected.... and filled with crazy art.

The Broom Closet. Hint: There's a full bar room hidden somewhere in this room. I die with pleasure.