By Gail Marsh
My husband and I are traditional, regular folks. We generally enjoy taking our RV to “normal” places, like the mountains or the beach. We like visiting historical venues, museums, and natural wonders, too. Like I said, “normal.” Most of the time, that is. But once in a while, we’ll take a break from normal. Like the time we visited a famous fudge location. That was a digression from our normal selves. You can read about our visit here.
So much more!
Turns out there are many, many far-from-normal places out there. And while we may not plan an entire trip around any one unique place, it is fun to include a few weird attractions on our way to our normal destinations. We figure if we’re in the area, why not check them out?
Seattle’s Gum Wall
My husband and I are both retired teachers. As such, we have mixed feelings about this quirky attraction. We feel mysteriously drawn to the Gum Wall, and at the same time mildly disgusted by this unusual destination. Not even a combined 80+ years of teaching could prepare us for this mind-blowing sight.
The famous Gum Wall is in an alleyway just below downtown Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market. The unusual attraction began in the 1990s as someone stood in line waiting for an improv show at the Market Theater to begin. An unidentified person stuck a wad of gum to the alley wall as they waited. Over time, others began to add their gum to the wall, too.
How much gum is there? One cleaning, in 2015, removed well over 2,500 pounds of gum! Don’t worry, though. Folks continued the sticky tradition, and the wall is once again a colorful sight to see.
Address: 1428 Post Alley, Seattle, Washington 98101. Here’s the gum wall’s Wikipedia page if you want to learn more about this grimy attraction.
What quirky or unusual site(s) have you visited? Tell us in the comments below.
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There’s one of these in Pismo Beach, CA too.
We discovered the Gum Wall (Geocaching) while visiting for an uncle’s 90th B’Day two years ago. We flew in for the occasion, as we didn’t have time for a 1400 mile each way road trip.
There are a lot of these under old schoolroom desks . . . 🙂
My doctor asked me to describe my pain. The best I could come up with is “Kinda like downtown Seattle, you know, stabbing, shooting burning.” As a former Seattle resident living 30 miles away from dystopian downtown, it’s become a very sad place.
Yuk! Think of all the Bio hazards in that mess.
Covid anyone?
San Luis Obispo, Ca has “Bubble Gum Alley” in its downtown. Great wineries, shore vistas and other attractions all near by!
Tony, San Luis Obispo and the surrounding area is a wonderful place to visit. It’s beautiful country.
That is an “interesting attraction.” I don’t think I’ll bother visiting, but at least I now know that it exists. 🙂 Thank you!
I’ve lived 18 miles north of Seattle for 76 years (yeah, even longer than the wall has been there, or at least the gum on it). But for some reason I’ve never had the desire to go down and view it. 🙄 Have a good night, Neal. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
We visited this site a couple of years ago. Quite the quirky atmosphere! For those of you that are Geocachers, this is also part of a virtual cache.
Thank you, Gail! 🙂 I vicariously have seen the gum wall via a video some months ago that the Nomadic Fanatic posted on his YouTube channel. It is interesting in an odd sort of way. We did add our own small contributions to the Signpost Forest in Watson Lake, Yukon, Canada when we traveled to Alaska in 2019. I guess that we’ll make additional contributions and seek our previous ones when we return there (2025?), at least that undoubtedly will be part of the itinerary. Thanks again, especially for noting Uranus fudge, and safe travels! 🙂