I know guided tours aren’t your strong suit, but they are a great way to get to know a new city! If you want to give them a shot, Portland Walking Tours offers over half a dozen different options ranging from the traditional classic city or food tours, a “Beyond Bizarre” tour that explores the paranormal sightings of the city with actual ghost hunting equipment, and even an “Underground Portland” tour that takes you through the tunnels underneath the Old Town Chinatown district and explores the city’s darkest scandals. If you’re game to explore Portland “the Portland way,” check out Pedal Bike Tours — they advertise a fun, easy, safe cycling trip through the history, food, and culture of Portland.
You also have to check out all the local craft breweries in the city — Portland is the craft beer capital of the US, after all. There are over seventy of them! Portland Walking Tours offers a few, but if you’re tired of walking, City Tour Brews offers a bus tour with an in-depth, exclusive, VIP experience behind how some of the best local brews in the city are made — with up to sixteen different samples for you to try for yourself.
Portland is also known for its quirky food scene and unbelievable coffee, and the Old Town district is home to some of the city’s best. The 24/7 doughnut shop, Voodoo Doughnut, is a city legend with zany concoctions, like their famous bacon maple bar or raspberry Voodoo Doll — although, if you don’t want to wait in the long lines, some locals will swear by Blue Star Donuts! After you’ve nabbed your sweet treat, head over to Stumptown Coffee Roasters. This sustainable, ethical roasting company features a wide range of specialty lattes and delicious nitro cold-brews. You can even visit their website to take a coffee quiz, so you can discover which of their coffees is your perfect match!
Powell’s City of Books is the biggest independently owned bookstore in the world! With an expansive three stories, it covers an entire city block and holds more than one million books — a booklover’s dream! There are nine huge sections containing grouped topics, one is even a magical “rare books room” with around 9,000 carefully guarded and very expensive unusual treasures. For true book lovers, if you visit in the first part of November (this year, November 5, 2022), you can also go to the Portland Art Museum’s Portland Book Festival (previously known as “Wordstock,” although why they’d change a great name like that is beyond me), and Powell’s, but really, any trip to Powell’s is worth your while. Who knows what kinds of treasures you’ll discover amongst the shelves?
One of the best things about Portland is that it’s constantly growing and evolving. With its frequent pop-up shops and rotating attractions, you’ll never visit the same Portland twice! Be sure to check Portland’s event calendar before your visit so you can see for yourself what new and exciting things the city has to offer.
Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Idaho
This National Park is described by the National Park Service as being a “weird and scenic landscape,” which makes it just the place to visit for our unique and otherworldly Aquarius. With its sprawling black, rocky terrain and deep caverns, this park is probably the closest most of us will ever get to visiting the moon! In fact, the second group of astronauts to walk on the moon actually trained at Craters, honing their rock specimen collection skills in the harsh conditions they expected to encounter on the Moon.
That being said, sadly, Craters of the Moon isn’t actually made from space rock, rather it was formed by volcanic eruptions about 15,000 years ago in the Snake River Plain.
The scenic Loop Road is a 7-mile loop you can drive that showcases some of the most popular features the park has to offer. You can stop and hike up the short, yet steep 0.4-mile trail to the top of Inferno Cone for some of the best 360ᵒ views of the park, or peek inside the Spatter Cones, the mini volcanos that helped form the park thousands of years ago! The Loop Road is also how you’ll reach a majority of the caves and longer hiking trailheads. It’ll be your main point of reference as you navigate the park. Also worth mentioning is the NPS’s new app for Android or iOS. It covers more than 400 national parks and offers interactive maps, tours, pertinent accessibility information, and much more.
Most of the adventuring — exploring craters, caves, and off-trail hiking — requires free permits (other passes (such as Annual, Senior, Access, or Military) do not count as this park’s free permit) in order to explore, which is why it’s important to stop at the Visitor’s Center when you first arrive to gather all the materials you need before you set off on your astral adventure! Check the park’s schedule for ranger-led hikes, which are usually offered at 10:30 am every day but Mondays.
You can take a daylong hike through the craters along the Wilderness Trail that starts at the Broken Top trailhead, about 75 yards from the Tree Molds & Broken Top Loop parking area, and continues for another 4 miles (8 miles round trip). Some hikers continue off-road beyond that and enjoy an overnight backpacking trip — Craters is perfect for star gazing! You can also explore the caves (or old lava tubes) like the Indian Tunnel, the largest of the four along Loop Road — don’t forget your required free cave permit. Also, make sure to bring lots of water, as there is very little shade in this park. You’ll need to invest in good hiking shoes, as the ground can be unstable in places, but the view of sunlight streaming into the moss and golden lichen-coated walls will make the trek well worth it.
If you have the time, stay the night at the Lava Flow Campground so you can witness the breathtaking beauty of the park after dark. Craters is a certified International Dark Sky Park, so you will have a spectacular, unimpeded view of the stars and luminous moon above while you recline on terrain that’s similar to the moon’s own cavernous surface.
Tokyo, Japan
The most populous city in the world, the capital of Japan is a bustling metropolis filled with bright colors and a rich, fun-loving culture. Typical activities include visiting the ancient shrines, shopping down Takeshita-dōri (Takeshita Street), or trying some delicious, jiggly, Japanese-style souffle pancakes. But as someone with an appreciation for all things quirky and unique, we figured you’d probably want to experience some lesser-known activities in this wacky city.
For starters, did you know you can participate in a real-life version of Mario Kart? That’s right! You can dress up as your favorite character and sign up for a speed-racing, guided tour through one of Tokyo’s most popular neighborhoods. You can reach speeds of around 60kph as you take in fantastic views of this city’s major highlights and bask in the limelight — as plenty of other tourists are going to want to snap pictures of you as you zoom by! These tours require you to be 18 years or older and get your International Driving Permit in advance, but where else would you be able to have an experience like this one?
The Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, dedicated to the whimsical yet legendary animation company, is a must when you visit Tokyo, but there are plenty of other whacky museums that you have to see. Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum tells the history of Ramen and features nine ramen shops, set in a 1958-era street scene (the year instant ramen was invented, as I’m sure you know), where you can purchase all the different types of the popular Japanese soup. The Meguro Parasitological Museum showcases thousands of different types of parasites and how they affect the human body. It’s free to enter (although donations are encouraged), and you can even purchase preserved parasites in plastic keyrings. Wild!
As if it couldn’t get any weirder than that, only in Tokyo would you be able to find an entire museum dedicated to… poop? From its “crappy” arcade, interactive area where you can virtually smash poop on the floor, and even the poop factory, the Unko Museum is a colorful, glittery, cutesy collection of all things poop (“unko” means poop). Don’t believe me? Well, this is one attraction that you might just have to see for yourself!
After a day full of wacky activities, wind down at an ethical animal café — like the Inu Neko Cafe Lua, where you can snuggle up to some furry friends as you sip matcha lattes or bubble tea. This café fosters dogs and cats who are looking for a forever home. Who knows, maybe you’ll find a new forever friend? Or, keep the party going with some karaoke and all-you-can-drink beers! Karaoke bars are scattered all across the city, and some even provide fun costumes you and your friends can dress up in — sing your hearts out to your favorite songs.
Yes, Tokyo is a city of oddities, enough to keep any Aquarius intrigued. After your visit, dear Aquarius, tag us on Instagram @rogue.ramms and share your crazy fun experiences!
