Bruce MacGregor Oregon Zoo FROM TOP The Oregon Zoo is $4 on the second Tuesday of every month. Forest Park is 5,200 acres of urban forest. 46 | SPRING <strong>2018</strong> ontrakmag.com
ANOTHER EXCELLENT SPOT TO STAY DRY AND WELL READ IS, OF COURSE, POWELL’S CITY OF BOOKS, A BEHEMOTH BOOKSTORE ON BURNSIDE. BROWSING THE ENTIRE BOOKSTORE WOULD TAKE DAYS, SO PICK ONE OR TWO OF THE COLOR-CODED ROOMS, SETTLE IN AND PICK OUT A USED (NEW IF YOU’RE FEELING A SPLURGE) BOOK TO KEEP YOU OCCUPIED. of the largest urban forest reserves in the country, and it has dozens of trails winding through it. The Forest Park Conservancy sells maps in its office, which will help you find the Witch’s Castle, which really is just a rundown little house that serves as a graffiti practice zone for disaffected suburban kids. Hoyt Arboretum may be the place where the cool kids at my high school went to drink Henry Weinhard’s beer on the weekends, but turns out it’s also a completely free place to see plants from the seven continents and to hike around 12 miles of trails checking out more than 1,100 tree species. At the south end, check out the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The arboretum is just up the road from the Oregon Zoo. While the zoo isn’t free, there are ways to see its incredible exhibits on a budget. If you have a membership to one of twelve statewide attractions (the zoo, Oregon Coast Aquarium, World Forestry Center, Columbia River Maritime Museum, Oregon Historical Society, Lan Su Chinese Garden, Architectural Heritage Center, Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks & Minerals, Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, Washington County Museum or the Deepwood Museum & Gardens), you get free reciprocal admission for up to four people. There’s a catch, of course. Each attraction is free to reciprocal members for one month—for example, the Lan Su Chinese Garden is free to reciprocal members in April. If you don’t have a membership to one of those spots, don’t despair. In Portland, there are free and cheap days for those of us on a serious budget. The Portland Art Museum is free every fourth Friday of each month between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Plus, the museum is always free for those 17 and younger. The Portland Children’s Museum is free on the first Friday of each month from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Oregon Historical Society museum offers a few free days each year, but it’s free if you can provide proof of Multnomah County residency (like a state ID with a Portland address on it). Plus, visiting its research library is always free. On the “almost free” side, OMSI is just $2 entry on the first Sunday of each month, and the Oregon Zoo is just $4 on the second Tuesday of each month. In the summer, Pioneer Courthouse Square transforms once a week into a free concert space. The Noon Tunes summer concert series runs through July and August with some of the region’s best bands playing free music from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., perfect for a lunchtime break. Should the day heat up, swing by Salmon Street <strong>Spring</strong>s on SW Naito Parkway near Waterfront Park. The fountain shoots water into the air through 185 jets and is a perfect way to cool down for free. Another excellent spot to stay dry and well read is, of course, Powell’s City of Books, a behemoth bookstore on Burnside. Browsing the entire bookstore would take days, so pick one or two of the color-coded rooms, settle in and pick out a used (new if you’re feeling a splurge) book to keep you occupied. ontrakmag.com SPRING <strong>2018</strong> | 47