The slogan “Keep Portland Weird” became popular for locals when Music Millennium record store owner Terry Currier adopted it in the early 2000s.
Not much has changed since then as Portland continues to embrace alternate lifestyles and support independent local businesses across the city.
One of the best parts about this “big-small” city is the proximity between the six quadrants — another classic quirk Portlanders like to use. It makes it easy to jump from a bustling downtown in the Southwest quadrant to a more quieter woodsy place of solitude in the Northwest section.
We stayed in the Northeast quadrant known for having artsy and electric neighborhoods, including the Alberta Arts District.
The first night in town my cousin, Joaquin, and his wife, Anita, took us to a casual Italian restaurant called Gumba Pasta Parlor on NE Alberta Street, which was walking distance from their house.
One thing that stood out was the menu. It did not consist of traditional Italian dishes, so forget about ordering spaghetti carbonara or risotto.
But, that didn’t deter us from trying something new, and bold. When in Portland, do as the Portlanders do.
My wife, Luisa, and I ordered the ricotta gnocchi with spicy vodka sauce, roasted mushrooms, brown butter, basil and confit chicken. It turned out to be a delightful dish that had me using pieces of fry bread to scrape up the rich orange sauce.
Gumba also offers a unique version of lasagne that is layered with green onion bechamel, sun-dried tomato and hazelnut pesto served on melted leeks with almonds, gremolata and leek ash. We paired it with two beef meatballs, making it quite the savory combo.
The next day we were treated to a unique pink rose croissant dedicated to “Rose City” at the Roseline Coffee shop just down the street from Joaquin and Anita’s house.
Then we strolled over to Pine State Biscuits that features The Moneyball — a popular biscuits n’ gravy dish topped with an over-easy egg. I added one more egg and a side of brisket for an extra oomph on the plate.
Apart from all the inviting restaurants, bakeries and cafes, there are plenty of locally owned shops, including the Alberta Cooperative Grocery store. My cousin told me he’s a minimal partial owner himself after he purchased a share in the Co-op, helping the local businesses stay alive.
After stuffing our faces with delicious food, we headed up to the International Rose Test Garden, one of the main attractions within Washington Park in the Northwest quadrant.
And just our luck, the roses were still not fully bloomed at the time.
Still, it was nice to walk through all the sections that featured around 10,000 bushes and 60 varieties, including the historical Comte de Chambord rose with its pink-tinted lilac color.
Another neat feature is the chronicled names on the pathway of women crowned Portland’s Rose Festival Queen starting with the first queen, Thelma Hollingsworth, in 1914.
Along the way we came across an engraved stone for Robin Marks, the first black woman to earn Queen of Rosaria in 1980. She went on to win the NCAA national championship in the 400-meter hurdles at the University of Arizona.
The Rose Festival Court consists of representatives from Portland-area high schools who undergo a selection process based on leadership, academics and civic involvement.
Lincoln High junior Anika Rigby was named the 2026 Rose Festival Queen during the annual ceremony on June 5.
Next, we paid a visit to one of my favorite kooky spots called the Freakybuttrue Peculiarium and Museum. It features tons of strange artifacts from a giant standing Sasquatch to vampire hunting kits.
There’s also an original “painting” of Homer Simpson on a dry erase board drawn by “The Simpsons” creator and Portland native Matt Groening.
On the other side of town in the Southeast quadrant is Hopscotch Portland — an interactive art experience that uses various lights of color as the main attraction. It was without a doubt one of the big highlights on our trip.
We were initially greeted with a massive trampoline inside of a dark room decorated with colorful polka dots that bounced around with any type of movement.
The polka dots mimicked Luisa and our son, Elias, as they hopped and waved their arms around.
Another area we enjoyed was the massive glowing ball pit that felt like floating on a jumbo cloud. The greatest part was watching Elias laugh his tail off while smacking the white orbs around him.
Before heading back home to Soledad, Joaquin showed us another great food joint called Petite Provence — a French-inspired cafe that was, again, walking distance from his house.
Luisa ordered a club sandwich with grilled chicken and bacon stacked on a bed of lettuce, tomato and their house-made pesto aioli.
My order was Baked eggs a la Francaise — poached eggs nestled in a French baking crock with grilled hash browns, sauteed mushrooms and ham, then topped with Gruyère béchamel and Swiss cheese gratinée. Talk about an explosion of flavors.
And just when we thought our trip was over, we ran into an unexpected mind-blowing theme park called the Enchanted Forest in Turner, Ore.
At first glance we weren’t sure what to expect, but let’s just say it was worth the stop.
Our adventure began by walking into a small nicely detailed replica of a fairytale castle that eventually led us to the first attraction called Storybook Lane.
The rest of the path took us through several classic storybook tales with interactive creations, such as a real rabbit hole to crawl through like in Alice in Wonderland. There’s also a short metal slide inside the Old Lady Who Lived in the Shoe, which my wife and son happily slid down from.
Other attractions included an old European village setting, and the Tofteville Western Town with games and rides, such as the Big Timber Log Ride. We didn’t get a chance to experience the rides, but we do plan on returning sometime in the future.
Finally, we capped off our Pacific Northwest excursion with a late-night pit stop across state lines at Penny’s Diner in Dunsmuir, Calif.
The 24-hour retro-style diner felt like a blast from the past with all of the vintage ’50s album covers and retro posters. Plus, the food was made right in front of us similar to how it was done during the same era.
The only thing missing were teenage preppies, greasers and bobby-soxers dancing around to the sounds of doo-wop music.
It was quite the spectacle watching our line cook assemble a towering classic turkey and ham club sandwich without it tumbling over — something I felt like doing after a week-long road trip on Interstate 5.
Juan Reyes is a Watsonville native who primarily covers high school athletics as the Sports Editor for Weeklys. He is also a video game enthusiast, part-time chef (at home), explorer and a sports junkie. Contact him with business and travel ideas at jr****@*****ys.com.
