Sweet!

I was hoping someone would Take Charge and Plan Something (and if you want to, you still can!) but meanwhile my plans thus far are

(A) chill out at SFO for a couple few hours Friday evening
(B) fly to JFK
(C) cab to Washington Heights
(D) shower? Coffee? IDK
(E) brunch?
(F) at some point visit the library at Lincoln Center
(G) other meals/beverages/cultural attractions probably
(H) Hamlet at the Armory at 7
(I) drinks after unless I am too tired?
(J) sleep
(K) get out to JFK however is feasible at way too early on Sunday

I’ll put my cell # in my profile, or FB messenger should reach me, or I think I have other ways of being contacted that I am forgetting

I wish it had been last weekend, -t! Have a blast!!

Hi, EJ, Erin, and I had a mini-F2F at McMenamin's Edgefield in Troutdale, OR, on Sept. 29 & 30. I will post photos on the B'ftas FB page.

It's such a great place for a F2F. It's 10-12 miles from Portland airport/ PDX (depending on route). It has hotel rooms with bathrooms, without bathrooms/shared bathrooms, and hostel rooms. It has a winery, distillery, brewery, golf course, orchard, gardens, vineyards, 3 or 4 restaurants, a tea house, an amphitheater with A list performers, glass blowing studio, ceramic studio, a library, a full service spa, an outdoor spa/hot water soak that's hundreds of sinuous feet long, several bars, a movie theater with first run movies (and older ones sometimes) and it's a boatload of fun to just hang out there, with so many options for many different inclinations and tastes.

You can get a big white bathrobe, even hostel guests, and wander around the grounds all day and all night in your bathrobe with a drink in hand if you want.

It's super arty. The art is the # thing I love about the place, and all their hotels. The McMenamin brothers have a full time historian as well as about a dozen artists employed full time honoring the history of the places where they have hotels, and making inventive art all over the place. The website does not describe it. If I had to name a type of art, I'd say it's kind of like Grateful Dead posters, sort of. But not all of it. A lot of it is honoring the people who lived in the buildings before.

My first post recommending it in this thread was #9396 on July 28, 2013. Second was Feb. 10, 2014, #9969. I'm thrilled that EJ and Erin volunteered their opinion that it was a great place for a F2F without my prompting, even! Take a look at the photos on FB.

Scads of people have weddings and retirement parties and the like so it would have to be booked for 2023 or possibly even 2024. There just isn't anything like McMenamins places outside OR and WA and people from there take them for granted. It's where they'd go after the soccer game or for a work group birthday party. As an outsider from Calif, there is nothing like them anywhere else, and they are all pretty great IMHO. Edgefield is the first, and the biggest. Here's the link to all their historic hotels: [link]

I've stayed at: Crystal Hotel, Hotel Oregon in McMinnville, Grand Lodge, Kennedy School, Olympic Club, and been to but not stayed in the Gearhart Hotel, White Eagle Saloon & Hotel, and Old St. Francis School in Bend. The newer ones, Kalama Harbor, Anderson School, and Elks Temple in Tacoma, I have not seen. Edgefield is the best IMHO.

Thank you for the info, Java! Sounds like I need to put this on my list.

I love the work that the McMenamn brothers have done in Portland.

I should keep that in mind, as I've been thinking about a trip up that way.

I swear I remember you recommending it all those years ago. It sounds super neat.

Thanks, Brenda.

Laura, it's a must in my book. It's fun to stay there during a concert, & can be a rewarding challenge to get a room at the same time. Here's the 2023 concert schedule: [link]

David, the Crystal Hotel is adjacent to the Crystal Ballroom, still a music venue, where the dance floor is mounted on springs so dancers' legs don't get tired as quickly as flat floors. All the rooms are decorated with musical artists info. Soaking pool underground in the basement. The attached restaurant is called Al's. It's about 2 blocks from the Portland Whole Foods.

Though I now prefer the NW Hostel, by Hosteling International. So Easy to get there from airport, & easy to get around by light rail, I've stopped driving there. Nicer feeling re walking around NW by yourself on a late summer evening for a cone at the original Salt & Straw.

Salt & Straw! I could NOT remember the name