Our McMenamins Passport day in Washington

Laurie made the plan.  The plan was to get all of our Washington stamps for our McMenamins Passport.  We were game, so Laurie and Burt picked us up early on Saturday morning.

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These two pages will be done by the end of the day.  Plus one more.

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Whilst on the road we found a McMenamins friend.  The back of the truck advertises the Passport.

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There’s this part of I-5 where the vista opens up and all of Seattle is before you. And if you miss that shot, you end up with something like this one.

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We drove on past Seattle to our first stop, the Mill Creek Pub.  As you can see, Matt and Laurie are letting us know which stop it is.  The customer in the window and the waitress waved so they could be in the picture, but by the time I took the picture, they had gone back to ordering.

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Our first stamps of the day.  We were apparently the fourth group to come through today. And it was just after 11.

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Remember our truck friend?  We found him again at Anderson School!

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The newest property was our second location.

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Because the hotel opened after we bought our passports, we had to have a grid stamped and then we made our way around the property collecting our stamps.  Along the way we saw:

Fun groupings of light fixturesIMG_4977

This might be the answer to the photo scavenger hunt (Don’t worry, the question changes weekly.  By the time the post goes up, this won’t be the answer.)IMG_4978

A Tiki-themed restaurant.IMG_4980

The very pretty pool, which we couldn’t have swum in if we tried.IMG_4981

Stamps collected, we got our swag. I got the bag, Matt got the lunchbox.IMG_4982

Our third location.  Seattle’s Six Arms.IMG_4983

Commentary about the state of the Seattle Times.IMG_4984

Queen Anne Pub meant we completed our page and we stopped to collect our prize:  a free burger!IMG_4985

What’s that mysterious object peeking through the trees?IMG_4987

The usual McMenamins table detritus.IMG_4986

Our fifth location of the day was the Spar Cafe in Olympia.IMG_4988

I really liked the interior of this location.  That’s a copper-topped bar!IMG_4989

Here we are at our final location:  the Olympic Club.  Which is not in Olympia, but Centralia.  Regular readers of The Orange Door might remember our trip to this property in 2012. IMG_4990

And here’s our swag:  a t-shirt. I got the official shirt (in blue).  Burt, Matt and Laurie opted for different shirts. I think it’s fun we all ended up with different ones.

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Here is our completed Anderson School passport page.IMG_4993

Here are our completed pages 24 and 25.IMG_4992Eagle eyes will note that page 24 isn’t really done, because I don’t have the stamp for McMenamins on the Columbia.  But fear not, we popped in right before we crossed the river, so Matt and I could officially complete our pages.

We’re just over halfway through.  Watch for the next big day of McMenamins driving with Laurie and Burt, where we achieve Roseburg, Corvallis, Eugene and Salem all in one day!

5 thoughts on “Our McMenamins Passport day in Washington”

  1. So fun! That’s a lot of car time for one day. What did you guys do during the car ride? Music? Games? I like the copper top bar of the Spar Cafe.

    1. “Man you and Laurie can talk!” said Matt the next day. There was general conversation for the vast majority of the trip. Burt brought his tablet, so for part of the time he and Matt played an online version of Sentinels of the Multiverse.

  2. Such fun! Thanks for virtually taking us along!

    I have been to Olympic Club. But none of the others!

    1. Thanks for the comment Kira,

      We did achieve Cosmic Tripster Status. We attended the party in June 2016. Here’s the link: http://www.stenaros.com/?p=8958

      We’ve started on our second passport, but we are planning to take five years to finish this one. The last few months of getting stamps was a little grueling, but we had friends who were trying to finish.

      My biggest piece of advice is to wait until the next party is announced before you complete your passport. I can’t imagine doing all that work and then not being able to attend the party.

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