Portland - Cookie Dough Cafe

Everyone knows the deliciousness of cookie dough, and how that has to be balanced against the dangers of eating uncooked eggs.

The Cookie Dough Cafe provides a way to enjoy your cookie dough; with ice cream if you want, but not merely as an ingredient in ice cream.

I appreciate the philosophy, and the do a good job of illustrating the theme with wall decor and invented language.

You can get scoops of just dough or batter, or combine those scoops with scoops of ice cream, with the usual available syrups and toppings.

They also have little truffles.

I suspect that we would have been happier trying the truffles, because it is easy for the pure dough to be too much of a good thing. Most of us did not finish our portions, though the vegan brownie batter went down a little easier. (But honestly, you can eat more brownie batter than cookie dough in general, can't you?)

There are also take-out options available, allowing you to have just a little bit at a time over an extended period of time.

https://www.thecookiedoughcafe.com/

Portland - The Peculiarium

We recently visited The Peculiarium, perhaps the place that best encapsulates Portland's desire to be kept weird.

We should remember, though, that Terry Currier didn't make "Keep Portland Weird" an official slogan until 2003. The Peculiarium has been around much longer, born the same year as me.

I'm don't know if this is supposed to be Samara from the ring or not, but I'm not going to take any film recommendations from her.

The Peculiarium is reasonably priced: only $5.00, or free with a decent costume. I am not sure how stringent the definition of "decent" is, but the people we talked to were all pretty nice.

I especially appreciated their understanding of consent, because that desire to be edgy and cool can really bring out the worst in some people.

This went beyond reminders not to force people to enter or look at things or get close to things, and included a reminder to not force your kids to sit on Krampus' lap!

That being said, it is pretty awesome that we have a place where you can sit on the lap of Krampus and... do you tell him what you want if you have been naughty? I'm not sure how that part works. Wrong time of year anyway.

Much of the collection were cases of collectibles, like Star Wars contraband seized at Comic-Con, or models of these memorable cars.

Also, it is nice to know where there is a vampire killing kit available, just in case.

Sadly, The Peculiarium was one of those venues where I seemed to get a lot of photographic interference, making many of the photos come out blurred. Bad lighting? or something more sinister?

The Peculiarium has its weaknesses. One is some difficulty in nailing things down. The sign says they were founded in 1972, the web page 1967. The map mentions ghostly bongos, but doesn't give any other details, and web searching doesn't reveal any other references. I want to know where the ghostly bongos are!

In addition, maybe sometimes they don't trust in their own horror. For example, if the dollhouse is really haunted, it shouldn't need all the ghastly room decor, right? So there is some - if you will pardon the expression - overkill, which tends toward silliness.

But it is only $5, and that will allow you time in a coffin, plus pictures with Krampus, Sasquatch, and as part of an alien autopsy.

If the pictures come out.

https://www.peculiarium.com/

Portland Tram

My sister and I tried doing the 4T trail on Labor Day, with less than satisfactory results, including never getting to the tram:

https://sporktogo.blogspot.com/2018/11/portland-metro-area-t4-trail.html 

Having ridden the tram a few times since then, I decided to take pictures the next time and then write it up.

If you think of the tram as a tourist attraction, it will probably be kind of disappointing. It's purpose is to move people (and sometimes equipment) up and down the hill, which is needed by many people daily. It appears to work pretty well for that.

There is some view, but it is not sightseeing. The angle and set-up don't really take advantage of potential landmarks.

There is a little bit of rocking as you hit the towers, but it is not by any means a thrill ride (and would not be a practical means of mass transit if it were).

It is easier than driving down would be, and faster than waiting for a bus.

In conjunction with its role in mass transit, it is adjacent to the largest bike rack I have ever seen, and it gets pretty full (though you cannot tell from this picture).

Also as part of its role in mass transit, they honor Tri-Met and C-Tran annual and monthly passes, OHSU employees and patients are pre-paid (though you do need a badge), and no tickets or passes are needed for the ride down.

If none of that applies and you want to ride up just for the experience, well, it's not the worst thing you could do, and $4 isn't a bad price.

http://www.gobytram.com

(But don't take the 4T trail to get there. I can't stress that enough.)

Design Museum of Portland

I came across the Design Museum by accident, tried to figure out what it was (There's a museum here? Not exactly.), and went back to photograph it after the exhibit had technically ended.

Design is a really broad and interesting topic. I read once that it is essentially problem-solving, and that can be overly simplistic, but does give an idea of design's heart. So design could bring in anything and everything.

In its own way, a nomadic museum could be solving a design problem of accessibility. The lack of permanent space, just putting things out there where anyone can stumble upon them and no admission needs to be paid, that at least sounds very Portland, at least as we hope to be. (Though also Boston and San Francisco.)

They can go interesting place with this. Technically, they can go anywhere.

https://designmuseumfoundation.org/portland/

https://designmuseumfoundation.org/portland/blog/2019/02/12/last-chance-to-visit-street-seats/

Portland: The South Park Blocks

I specify "South" because there was once a longer stretch, part of which is still there. Director Park is in line with the South Park blocks, and the North blocks are slightly lower, due to how odd juxtaposition of Downtown with Old Town.

Just for clarity, I started at Salmon and went South-West all the way to that loop by Jackson.

That way made a lot of sense to me. You are starting in the Cultural District and finishing at Portland State, making this a loop of art, culture, and education.

The weather was nice, though it was still a bit early for the trees to even show buds. There were more signs of green lower down.

I had been in different parts of the blocks many time, but this was my first time methodically doing the entire length.

There is a lot of seating available, making it tempting to grab your lunch and sit outside. (There is also quite a bit of camping.)

There are art installations everywhere. A good free activity could be enjoying the Portland Art Museum's sculpture garden, and then checking out the park art.

I was pleased to see that there was a public bathroom, but not a conscientious enough reviewer to investigate it. It does look nicer than a porta potty would be.

As important as the trees are, I was happy to see that one of the artworks directly referenced them.

The Portland Streetcar runs directly through the park blocks (and the PSU campus), making for convenient transit to other parts of the city.

One more thing that made me happy was seeing the restoration of the Simon Benson house, now home of the alumni association. I had seen the house for year and liked its design, though it was not in a good state of repair. Seeing it once again be beautiful and useful is satisfying.

https://www.pdx.edu/profile/visit-simon-benson-house

Before hitting the hills there is still some increasing incline, which probably affects the layout a little, though perhaps not as much as being right in the middle of campus and providing a place for students to hang out.

It also becomes a nice play for a farmer's market.

http://www.portlandfarmersmarket.org/our-markets/psu/

Chess, anyone? (Or checkers.)

As I approached the end of the blocks, I saw a playground and thought that was perfect. Portland State has a lot of continuing education students who might have families. Having a place kids could play while their parents worked was very practical.

Then I saw that it was only for children 2-5, with parental supervision. Yes, kids that young should have their parents with them, but the age range itself seemed very limiting for the potential needs of the student body.

Perhaps that was a good symbolic end to the park blocks - "Portland's Extended Family Room" and a transition to expensive housing and roads that get really difficult when it's icy. But that is part of Portland too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park_Blocks