The Portland Peculiarium (And You Call Yourself "Weird")

"We Promise Nothing!" No kidding, Peculi-
arium, Portland, OR. Well, I still feel cheated. Gipped. Let down. For two weeks I have had your "peculiar vehicles contest" on my calendar. I have saved a visit to your store front for today to enjoy both your weirdness and the oddness and creativity of others, only to see one car and two bicycles. No, I don't blame you, Peculiarim. I blame the residents of the town who let down this wandering soul. Really, two bicycles is all you could come up with. And you call yourself "Weird". Even at that, those bicycles were not even decorated. Really people riding them, who put on silly glasses and scarves. That is really all the creativity you could muster for this special event? I don't say this lightly, since I was really looking forward to seeing things that did not fall into this category, but I could have done better.


There was one vehicle there that did not fall into the "I could have done better" category. It was cool and all, but really, just one. I have seen more parked along Hawthorne on the SE side. Where were all those freaks when the Peculiarium needed them? (Probably waiting in line to eat at Slappycakes.) Oh well. Had I known, I would have donned a scarf, silly glasses and added a mustache to take home the $250 grand prize money that was offered up.


So, maybe the contest was a let down. The store was still fun. Romney was greeted by shaking the hand of the 13 foot (give or take) Sasquatch. Next to the Sasquatch were the chocolate covered insects and the hot and spicy larvae. Which was next to the "Slut Soup" ramen noodles (cheap, easy and fast), which was next to the alien autopsy.


Anyway, you get the picture. William was a big fan of the laser guns, the candy coated bugs and edible "body parts". Honorable mention goes to the poisonous lizard escaping display as well as the very cool giant kaleidoscope.



So maybe, it wasn't worth postponing our waterfall hike we had thought of doing today. And maybe the contest was a total let down. But, it isn't every day that you get to see a Howdy Doody doll, complete with mustache disguise, hanging from the wall donning a jailbird striped suit, ready to be electrocuted.