First Night of the Dirty Thirty Weekend

Our week was about to get off to a very strong start. We made it to our hotel in time to take advantage of Happy Hour.

Before this trip even began I would say there was an unsaid expectation that we were going to do our best to make it down to Portland in time for Happy Hour. It was never made into formal plans, but as much as we said we should take our time in the morning and not rush ourselves out the door, we got ourselves ready within a certain time-frame in order to get there in time to bask in all the glory that is Happy Hour.

I, for one, am excited to see this trend surface in North America. I remember being both impressed, and a bit confused, seeing the Happy Hour specials when I was in Europe. I was impressed to see drink specials, but I was also confused, wondering how many people would take advantage of drink specials so early in the evening.

It should be mentioned that Happy Hour starts significantly later in Europe, my guess would be because of the long hours they tend to work (especially in Germany) but even so I still thought it was early in the night. This was back in the day when I was still a party animal and didn’t even start to consider hitting the clubs until 9 or 10. But life has a tendency to change, and change it did.

When Happy Hour started to become a thing in Vancouver I had already graduated out of my bar star days, and was much more interested in after work drink specials than I was about late night and early morning jagger bombs at the club (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5QJ9i_o5vo).

Anyway all I am really saying is that I have learned to appreciate the Happy Hour lifestyle and was excited to see what our hotel had one to offer J.

After checking in to our hotel, we dropped off our stuff in our room and did a quick wardrobe change. The hotel room was…..rustic. It was what we have come to expect at a McMenamin’s establishment. It shared a similar décor to places we have stayed in the past and on top of that it was especially old…it kind of reminded me of my Grandparents old house.

It was no 5 star resort but that is neither what we expected nor wanted. It was a perfect room for what we anticipated using it for. It was inexpensive, it sat atop a saloon and its proximity to downtown Portland was not to be topped. The haunted past was a merely a bonus J.

We left our room rocking some fresh and stylish threads (how could we not, we are hitting the town?!) and had yet to see any ghosts. We slipped in just before the end of Happy Hour, maybe there are ghost down there?! There were not, but there were drinks and good food!!

Our first order of business was an order of two Ruby Ales, our McMenamin favorite! With that being taken care of we gave our attention to the food menu (http://www.mcmenamins.com/997-white-eagle-saloon-happy-hour).

We had intentionally avoided stopping for lunch on the way because we intended to do our eating once we arrived at our destination. Stopping along the way would not only eat up some valuable time we could have spent driving, but also would have taken away from the appetites that we fully planned on indulging once we arrived.

After a short chapter of strategizing we determined the Cajun tots and hot dogs were what we were about. The hot dogs were tasty but not really anything rave about. The tots were a different story. It was the beginning of a long lasting relationship with the tots.

We loved them the first time and the second and third. I would like to say that we only ordered them three times during the weekend in Portland but in all honesty I cannot, in good conscience, say that for a fact.

I know that they were the first item that came to mind when we were in a snacking mood and they were also the first suggestion that we gave to our friends when they asked for a good recommendation. Tater tots are not usually anything amazing. They are consistently satisfying, but rarely sought after as anything special. I think what made these tots special was the Cajun seasoning for one and the dipping sauce was the deal sealer. It was impeccable!

As for the drinks, we gave the beer menu our attention as we finished what was left of our Ruby Ales. What we decided on next was the Berliner Weisse, a seasonal sour that was still a part of the line up following the Oktoberfest celebrations that are a big deal at Edgefield (as we experienced last year) and in all likelihood the other McMenamin establishements as well.

I was a bit hesitant at first. I was still new to the idea of sour beer. I know that it has been growing in popularity as the next trend in the micro-brewing scene, but the closest thing to a sour that I have had experience with would be the really cheap beer that I used to drink when in University.

But I was up for an adventure and I decided to give it a chance. I am glad I did! It took a few exploratory sips to acclimatize my palate but a few sips was all it took for it to distinguish itself. It was not in the same league as Colt 45, the beer so strong that downing a six-pack is like drinking nine regular strength beers. Really it was a terrible comparison because Colt 45 is not even actually beer....it’s technically malt liquor lol, pure class in a bottle J.

The Berliner quickly became a favorite and continued to be that way for much of the weekend. This might have been partly because of it being on special, but that was only part of it. It was not my favorite type of beer, but it climbed its way up the charts in a substantial way! It took some getting used to but if you give it a chance you will be happy you did!

After our appetites were satisfied and our thirsts were quenched (for the time being) we turned our attention to where the evening was headed next.

Luckily for us in Portland, you are never too far from a WIFI Hotspot. This has come in handy to us a number of times while visiting Portland. The last time we were there, Shannon and I got separated but did not want use our phones because of the extravagant roaming charges we would have incurred.

So, both of us thinking the same thing, we used the ever present WIFI to log into Facebook to message each other so we could reconnect. Our medium to stay in touch has evolved to Viber, at present, but at the time Facebook more than did the trick.

On this occasion we used the WIFI to set the stage for the rest of our evening. It is not hard to find fun in Portland but you do have to decide what type of fun you are looking to have. Each section of Portland provides you with something a little bit different from the others, so where you decide to go will be based on the good times you are looking to get involved in.