Bak to Skool
Trip Start
May 07, 2008
1
81
90
Trip End
Jan 06, 2009
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Portland,
Oregon,
United States
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Well, the drive to Portland was not that long. (David: Yeah... for you. You slept the whole 8 hour drive from Eureka to Portland... sheesh!) Lois: oh....did I?? Well, it was busy. There was traffic everywhere which was making us a bit uneasy. It was the night before New Years Eve. The only accommodation we had for certain for tonight was the car!! Portland was far bigger and busier than we had envisaged. The main city was comprised of skyscrapers and glinting glass and it looked really lovely.
The day wore on and our brake lights went on, then off, then on, then off, then on again for miles as we snaked along the highway into the city. As it was now around 5pm we decided to head straight for a Lonely Planet recommendation. It was outside of the City Centre but had a definite quirky madness appeal which we just had to try. We could always go someplace else for New Years Eve since it was only New Years Eve, eve.
We got to the Hotel. It was in a quiet residential area but a really pretty one with lots of trees and gorgeous 'clapper-board' houses (David: They're the ones with the flip top roofs...) all with festive trees and lights adorning them. The Hotel car park was rammed. We had problems getting a space. Again, not a good sign. However, we managed to convince ourselves that maybe this was because the general public can go to the Hotel for drinks etc even if you were not overnight so perhaps all these cars were not necessarily an indication of guest numbers.
The Hotel we had chosen was called The Kennedy School.
Front of school
It was literally an old School!!!!!!! And had been converted into a Hotel in 1997. The beautiful old 1-storey building was a school from 1915 until the end of the School year in 1974-75 when there just wasn't enough pupils to keep it open and not enough funds to maintain it. The place is absolutely and totally wonderful and I fell in love with it the moment we walked in. Go to www.kennedyschool.com to see for yourself.Basically, imagine walking into an old college you went to....It really reminded me of my old VI form college when I was 16. There were long corridors with numerous rooms going off them. Big lights. Wooden doors. Blackboards dotted about. Wooden flooring. School memorabilia. It even smelled of school. It had that mustiness crossed with a disinfectant smell. It was seriously like going back in time. The place was heaving with people and most were wheeling suitcases behind them. It was so weird! Suitcases on school premises?! We went straight to the 'School Office' a.k.a Reception which was all wooden desks and old phones! We were told the place was fully booked. Flipping 'eck. Back on the road then. Oh! But hold on! They had one room left after all!!! How lucky have we been on this honeymoon!!!
Our room was off of a long corridor. All the rooms off of the long corridors all used to be the original classrooms. Now they are guest bedrooms!!! Our room was in the Girls Play Court! David was thrilled about this! (David: Hurrah!) Sadly, there were no girls in gymslips though.
School entrance
(David: Boo!) The 'classroom' had been divided into two different guest rooms. Our room was large and sadly very soul-less. There was an old 1930's wardrobe and an old creaky (but very comfortable) bed both of which you may find at your granny's house. There were two blackboards on the wall (which we made full use of during our stay!!) and the bathroom was big but it was like a hospital bathroom with a disabled friendly shower and that grey speckly lino on the floor that you often get in all hospitals. Shame. Not much imagination put into the room. But then how much imagination is there in a classroom, I suppose.... (David: gymslips!)As soon as we dumped our bags, we made our way promptly to the School Auditorium which is now the Hotel Cinema!! There are big squishy velvet sofas, armchairs, tables and chairs in front of the screen. The Cinema seats 300 people and if you order food or drink from the bar just outside the Cinema, someone will come and bring it out to your seat. Excellent!! You don't get this kind of service at The Odeon!!!! It is just like a School Auditorium too. Where the massive screen was sat the stage and on all the walls hung old memorabilia and black and white photos of the School. And it was free to residents...We got swallowed up on the big sofa, drinking beer and watching "Zack and Miri make a Porno". This was such a funny film about a couple of roommates who are so hard up they resort to making a porno to earn their millions. Naturally, it's a disasterous idea!! Brilliant film.
School classrooms/guest rooms
(David: Even funnier when all the puritan members of the audience realised the premise of the film about 20 minutes in... and walked out in disgust. Maybe they thought it was a film about two friends running a Pawn shop...)Afterwards, we went to some of the many on-site bars in the Hotel. One bar was the size of a broom cupboard, no joke but it was absolutely fantastic!! This was the Honours Bar which was decorated very middle eastern with very dim lights and candles and exotic rugs and curtains. This was a smoke-free window-less bar but there is another bar called The Detention Bar where you can smoke and it really is like walking into an ashtray! It stank!!! We didn't go in there!! But next we walked through the corridors and went to The Boiler Room Bar. It really was the old School Boiler Room and is absolutely incredible!! Upstairs you can play pool, cards etc but if you go downstairs it's all tables and chairs and stools around the bar. We sat at the bar and just people watched, mesmerised at our surroundings. The railings for the staircase and balcony are made out of old plumbing pipes that have all been connected in weird, twisting patterns and used as a kind of decorative panel. So imaginative. (David told me not to throw away the old pipes when we were doing our house up!!! But would I listen?!) (David: I loved the décor... very Heath Robinson crazy.)
You may think me mad but we walked from one bar to another while holding onto our beers and this felt really odd. I felt really naughty! I was back at school and drinking alcohol on the premises!!! Despite the fact that they've turned the place into a Hotel it really hasn't got that 'commerical' alien aspect to it.
Our room
The Kennedy School is run by the McMenamin brothers who formed a company renovating old properties and turning them into bars, Hotels and music venues. Their style seems to be to keep the décor as true to its original purpose as possible. So, thankfully, at The Kennedy School, there is no awful flowery carpet throughout or plush furnishings. Everything is as you would expect it to be in a school basically: minimal and simple! The only things that were missing were the desks! They also had a 'Soaking pool which is outdoors but is heated and as we looked out of the window, the pool was heaving with people late at night and the steam rose from the water into the freezing night air. The pool is situated in the courtyard and surrounded by exotic trees and plants. This is apparently where the old Teacher's lounge used to be. That night, I wrote on the blackboard, in our room, a list of what would happen to naughty boys who would not go to sleep!!! It was great writing on a blackboard again. What's all this flaming whiteboard nonsense that we have in schools today? Where are the old wooden desks and chalk tricks for the teachers? You can't play tricks with whiteboard pens! When I was at school (being 'one of the naughty ones') we used to hurriedly thump the blackboard rubber onto the chair before our French teacher used to come in. She'd immediately sit down and then return to the staff room with a chalky white bottom. Hours of hilarity we got from that!! We also, one day, all deftly co-ordinated a 'bang-your-desk-lid' plan-of-attack during an incredibly dull geography lesson.
School / Hotel corridor
Every 2 minutes someone would have to bang their wooden desk lid loudly until it turned into some rhythmical piece of music. Some of us got detention for that....sigh! such fun, fun, fun.... (David: I think we need to review the purpose of school before we have any kids to send there. Hmm... but, I'm not saying I wasn't naughty at school... I just didn't get caught.)The next day, we had a walk around the School before we left. As it was quite early in the morning, there weren't many people around. It was like everyone was in class! We went to Reception to see if they had ANY vacancies at all for that night, New Year's Eve. But they were fully booked. I was so sad because for the New Year's Eve party it was going to be one massive dance hall party with a DJ and old school music!!
Anyway, so now our priority was to find somewhere to stay for New Years Eve. Sigh! We drove around the city looking at nice Hotels but you could have been anywhere in the world, they were all the same! Finally, we went to another Lonely Planet Recommendation. It was called The White House. And it really was like The White House. See photos!! It was a B & B in the middle of a very residential area and it stuck out like a sore thumb! The surrounding houses in the neighbourhood were just normal clapperboard houses. We loved it. There was a sign on the door however, saying that they were closed today for tours and to call instead. This wasn't a good sign. Maybe they weren't having anyone to stay tonight? We rang the bell anyway.
Christmas at School
This guy, Matt, that answered was very surprised by our enquiry but he invited us in and showed us a room we could take for peanuts because it was New Years Eve. Woohoo! It was lovely! Our bed was massive and about 3 foot up from the floor with a big squishy mattress! In the bathroom were Molten Brown toiletries too. We'll take it, thanks! Phew! Another lucky break!!! The place was a plethora of antique furniture, china, paintings, ornaments....it was like a museum! There were also 3 flags flying outside. One was a USA flag. One was a Canadian flag. And the other was a skull and crossbones pirate flag. Oooook. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the post office!! We had to post more stuff back home and this consisted of 3 boxes of books, CD's, summer clothes which we boxed up and brown-taped on the Post Office floor. As usual, I made a complete tit of myself in public and everyone laughed at me.....at the clerk's desk, we had to fill out some airmail forms. David got handed a biro but I'd lost my pen we used earlier!! I looked in my bag, on the floor, in my pockets, in David's pockets, it was nowhere!! Some people in the queue were staring at me and smiling and two black girls were mysteriously giggling and then looking away. I was really frustrated - where did I put my flaming pen?! David kept saying to me "Lois! Focus! Sign the forms!" but I just wanted to find my pen. Then, while bending down and scanning the floor for the 10th time, my pen fell at my feet!!! I instantly said out loud, to no-one, "hey! Where'd that come from?! David! I've found my pen!" and suddenly the queue of people erupted into fits of laughter and saying I'd made their day!! I was so confused!! Until I remembered....I'd put the pen behind my ear!!!!
That night was New Years' Eve!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!! It was piddling with rain outside and as we got ready in our little room we had The Twilight Zone on tv.
Don't SULK! it's too cold to play outside!!!
It was great!! The B & B was nowhere near the City and didn't have any funky bars or restaurants nearby. If we wanted a wild night out we would have had to get a taxi 20mins away into the City. So, we decided to stay local. We went out for a gorgeous Thai meal nearby, sitting by the window watching the raindrops plummet down the glass. Outside, the streets were absolutely deserted. You'd think for a New Years Eve, there would be lots of traffic, hooting, people running under umbrellas and laughing. But nothing. It was like a Sunday night. While we were in the restaurant, there were several people coming in collecting take aways and the restaurant started closing up at 9pm!!!! Nearby, there was one 'pub' that Matt at the B & B recommended but I think this was a 'last straw' suggestion when we questioned him on local New Years Eve drinking places. He pulled a bit of a face. We were so stuffed with food and so cold and now slowly getting drenched while we decided what to do or where to go. Eventually, we decided to........go back to the B & B, get into bed, turn out all the lights and watch The Twilight Zone on tv in the dark. It was a 24-hour marathon run of all the Twilight Zone episodes. Hurrah! So we went to a local liquor store, grabbed 4 strawberry daiquiris, a couple of beers and we snuggled up in bed and switched channels at midnight to watch the countdown in New York. It was a perfect New Years Eve. Really cosy. Who needs noisy bars and expensive beers??
The next day, we left for Seattle, only 2 hours drive away. We'd barely seen Portland at all but it was only meant to be a stopping/halfway point anyway. We'd stayed in two really mad, wonderful places, that was good enough for us.
Love, us xxx
