McMenamin's McMinnville

Continuing the microbrew theme, I've ended up at the Hotel Oregon, a funky McMenamin's property in downtown McMinnville. Wasn't sure what I would think of it, since I read a variety of reviews. Some loved it, some absolutely did not. Two things were clear: 1) It's a historic downtown hotel, so the rooms are small, many even with shared baths, and 2) There's a rooftop bar, and they provide earplugs in the rooms, so it might get noisy here on the 4th floor.

I took a room with a shared bath, with one other room having access to it. To my benefit, though, they said they wouldn't book the other room tonight with me having a dog (which itself costs a little extra). Guess I'm lucky it's a quiet night here. It's around 9 as I write this, and I can't hear the rooftop bar over my own radio. Yes, I said radio. There's no TV in the basic rooms here. Thank goodness I have plenty to amuse myself with. I've got an iPad, books, magazines, podcasts, and there's always the rooftop bar if I get desperate. I had a great dinner here of a salad and berry cobbler, and Charley's happy, so I'm lovin' it so far.

The room's small. The photo here shows about 2/3rds of it. The bedspread is classier than what you see - The first thing I do when I get to a hotel now is spread out a sheet from home so the dog's got a familiar scent and if he's on the messy side, we're not leaving paw prints. It's been a good strategy to remember.

We also cruised through Woodburn to see tulips in bloom. The farm has it's "tulip festival" going on, and their signs mentioned a $10 parking fee once we got there. However their dozens of vendor booths weren't open on this rainy day, and nobody was enforcing the fee, so we just drove through towards the exit with a slight pause. Pretty fields, but nowhere near the quantity as in the Skagit Valley. Big decision tomorrow: One more night out or go home. Guess I'll decide tomorrow.