This month’s Featured Travel Destination is one of the coolest cities in the nation, Portland, Oregon. These are a few of the places I can’t wait to visit every time I travel to the city.
If you’re looking for weird things to do in Portland, there’s an endless supply. This list just touches on a few. But there’s a reason that “KEEP PORTLAND WEIRD” signs can be found all over the city. It’s a wonderfully strange place!
Note: If you’re up for a road trip, head 3 hours south to Bend, Oregon to see the last Blockbuster Video store still operating anywhere in the world!
A Few Weird Things To Do in Portland
MILL ENDS PARK
This tiny patch of soil on a median in downtown Portland, Oregon is recognized as the smallest city park in the world. Mill Ends Park is just 452 square inches and only two feet wide.
You can’t do anything there except observe whatever flowers or plants happen to be growing in the space.
There’s a fascinating backstory behind the history of Mill Ends Park, involving a newspaper columnist and a tribe of invisible leprechauns. You should stop by just for the chance to take a weird instagram photo with the little park.
POWELL’S BOOKS
Is a bookstore weird? It is when it’s this massive! Not many bookstores are thriving these days, but Powell’s seems to be growing strong. Occupying an entire city block, Powell’s is easily the best bookstore I’ve ever been to.
I don’t normally even buy books (thank you, public library), but at Powell’s I was inspired to make a few purchases, especially since some of them were used (cheap) books.
Powell’s is where I finally broke down and bought ‘On the Road’ by Jack Kerouac, a book widely regarded as one of the great travel narratives of all-time (although it ended up boring me!)
I don’t get too bothered when a Borders or Barnes & Noble goes out of business, but Powell’s had better not suffer the same fate. They have an active online store in addition to the main building and a few smaller shops around the city.
Powell’s is only “weird” in the sense that it’s huge, more than you can possibly imagine. And they have lots of weird books, old books, and out-of-print books that you can’t find anywhere else. You can easily get lost inside here, which is why direction signs are posted in every room.
VOODOO DOUGHNUT
I mentioned Voodoo Doughnut in my first post on this site, and my love for this strange place hasn’t faded. Voodoo is known for using strange elements as toppings, like Captain Crunch and Fruit Loops cereal, grape dust, oreo crumbles, banana chunks and even Tang – yes, a sprinkling of the orange powder drink Tang!
My favorite is the chocolate cake donut topped with chocolate icing and Cocoa Puffs. The bacon maple bar is a popular one, and so is the cream-filled donut shaped like a penis. Yes, really.
Many of the offerings are vegan. The wait is long, but it’s so worth it. My only complaint? They use the old-fashioned spelling of “donut.” We don’t have time to write out extra silent letters in today’s modern, fast-paced society!
Bizarre fact: Voodoo was recently the target of a smear campaign by the same loonies behind the Pizzagate political conspiracy. They claimed that Voodoo was responsible for running a child trafficking ring, which is preposterous and untrue.
But there was one wacko protesting outside Voodoo during my recent visit, trying to convince people that the sugary donut company was evil.
GIANT ADIDAS SHOES
Love giant roadside attractions? Head to Adidas Village to pose with the 15-foot-long Adidas shoes in front of the building. You won’t need much time here – just long enough to get a few cute photos and impress your friends on social media.
MOUNT TABOR PARK
What makes Mount Tabor weird is the fact that it’s an actual volcano within city limits. It’s one of only three American cities, in fact, to claim such a distinction.
But the volcano is extinct and hasn’t erupted in more than 300,000 years, so you can feel safe while traversing its hiking trails and getting some cool views of the Portland skyline.
The elevation is only 636 feet, so it’s not a challenging hike to the top. But it’s a popular spot for afternoon recreation if you want to get out into nature without going too far outside the city.
GLOWING GREENS
This place is just another blacklight glow in the dark mini golf and axe throwing establishment! Nothing unusual about that!
I had a lot of fun playing the mini golf course in the strange lighting. Glowing Greens has a pirates-and-skeletons kind of theme. As mini golf courses go, it’s actually really good.
The hole layouts are challenging but doable, with just the right amount of obstacles in your way. And the axe throwing area is another chance to participate in a strange and unusual competitive endeavor.
BAGDAD THEATER
Theaters that serve alcohol and show slightly older films at discount rates seem to be big everywhere now. The Bagdad Theater in the Hawthorne District was one of the first of those types of establishments that I ever went to. I was a bad customer, because I was on a budget, so I didn’t buy any food or drink and was content with just the film.
The Bagdad sometimes hosts comedians and musicians as well. For years the movies were dirt cheap here, but that has changed recently with inflation.
Pictures are now $11 for adults ($9 if you come before 5 pm.) I would love to have a place like Bagdad in my neighborhood.
To see a lot more of Portland, check out our Portland Images post.
Which of these would you most like to visit? Do you have another favorite weird place in Portland?
