No trip to Portland is complete without a visit to Voodoo Doughnuts.
It was the morning of my final day in the city and after checking out of my hotel I threw my luggage in Matthew’s truck and we screeched out of the parking lot in search of a “no calorie counting here” breakfast. The shop is known for (always) having a notoriously long line. We arrived to an almost laughable lineup which is clearly busy as a bee on the regular as pink fencing had been placed on the sidewalk to tidy up the foot traffic outside of the city’s most iconic bake shop.
It is perhaps no coincidence that the city’s famed mural “Keep Portland Weird,” can be spotted across the street as you wait in line. Voodoo branding (and its doughnuts) is in itself a celebration of oddball. One only needs to read the bakeshops slogan “where the magic is in the hole and good things come in pink boxes,” to fully appreciate that everything is meant to be whimsical and fun here.
The bakeshop has been made famous for its witty advertising, playful persona and wild and wonderful outside of the box doughnut inventions. Particularly fun are the giant chocolate dipped doughnut shaped like a penis, voodoo doll pastry with a pretzel lodged in its heart and Gay Bar doughnut featuring a Fruit Loop adorned rainbow.
Matthew and I grabbed an outrageously large number of doughnuts. As I walked our pink box to the car I couldn’t help but feel I was lifting at the gym as my chest and shoulders seemed to sore easily. We drove our sweet bounty to Council Crest Lookout where we sipped on mugs of hot coffee and indulged in a sugar high while staring out at a picture perfect view of Portland.
