An Ongoing Anniversary

“So, have you decided what you want to do for our anniversary?”  

Bo shrugs her shoulders in answer to an ongoing discussion about what to do on our upcoming wedding anniversary, which is three days away.  We had been married for seven years so the event isn’t  a big one in the sense that it isn’t a milestone year, like five and ten.  Yet, we still want to do something, but we hadn’t been able to pin down an activity that fit the occasion.

“You want to just do the Kennedy School?”

The Kennedy School is a hotel and resort run by McMenamins, who specialize in rehabbing historic properties and turning them into hotels, bars, and attractions and is where we got married in 2008. The Kennedy School was once an old elementary school and has served as a backdrop for at least one anniversary and countless other evenings, meals, and movies.  

 “So where did you get your hair done?” asks the blue haired waitress dropping off our lunch, “since we seem to be hair twins!”

Wrapping myself in a cliché, I tune out and focus on my meal, while Bo and the waitress talk. Bo frequently gets her hair colored in vibrant colors, which usually spurs conversations with strangers about what they want to do or have had done to their hair; conversations that sometimes go in different directions.

“Have you heard of the Passport?” she asks as I tune back into the conversation a minute or two later. She then digs through the stack of menus and fliers on the table before, finding the Passport brochure, and taking us through how the program works. 

The Passport is McMenamins’ reward program. For twenty-five dollars a person, you get a book that you present at each McMenamins’ locations, where they stamp it with a unique stamp. Each page represents a region like Westside Portland or Downtown and when you finish a page, you get a reward in the form of swag, food, or gift certificates. Some locations, like the Kennedy School hotel and Edgefield, take up a whole page and you can grab a page full of stamps and a reward in one afternoon. In addition to visiting, you can also get stamps for trying their seasonal beverages, ordering flights of the McMenamins’ alcohols, or participating in McMenamins’ sponsored activities. Once you have a stamp for every open location, you have achieved Cosmic Tripster status, which gets you a prize package that includes an exclusive Tee-shirt, three vouchers for hotel stays at any of the McMenamins’ hotels, and access to a party with all the booze you can drink.

“I will let you two talk it over while I get your refills,” the waitress says walking away.

In most cases, these kinds of programs make my skin crawl. Bo and I are protective of the data that we put out in the world, so unless I can see a definite benefit to helping an organization collect data I tend to ignore the program. The Passport, like McMenamins itself, is rooted in the past. Instead of a barcoded keyfob or other impersonal system, the Passport is old school with paper pages and ink stamps to track your progress.

“What do you think?” Bo asks.

I chew on the inside of my cheek while I consider.

“It can be our Anniversary gift,” she says and adds “think of like re-celebrating every time we go out; an all year Anniversary!’

“Why not?” I finally say, “we like McMenamins and there is usually one nearby most of the places we go regularly.”

“And it will be fun,” Bo says waving the waitress back over.

Walking out of the Bagdad, Passport in hand, I turn to Bo and ask, “So you want to go to the Kennedy school tonight?”