We drove to McMennamins Kennedy School in an old Portland neighborhood. This was an elementary school built in 1915 and abandoned in 1975. The McMenamin brothers restored and redeveloped it into a brewpub, restaurant, and bed and breakfast hotel. We had breakfast there and walked through the school checking out the artwork in all the hallways. When I was here several years ago the classrooms looked just as they were when the school closed, complete with school desks and lessons on the blackboards. Now the classrooms have been turned into hotel rooms. Then we drove out to Troutdale to visit another McMenamin brothers project, Edgefield. This was a poor farm built in 1911. In later years it was a nursing home before it closed in 1982. The McMenamin brothers bought it in 1990 and developed it into a hotel, restaurant, brewery, winery, distillery, movie theater, golf course, gardens, and banquet and events facility. We had a beer at one of the bars and met Dave Wills and his friend Bill. Dave is the proprietor of Freshops, a supplier of hops to breweries and homebrew shops. He knew Scott Birdwell, owner of the Defalcos Homebrew Shop in Houston. Later we drove into downtown Portland and visited Powell's Books, one of the largest and best bookstores in the U.S. We drove around the downtown area a little, then went across the bridge to Vancouver, Washington to visit the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. The Post Commander's house was built in 1849.
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