Oregon Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Tell Me Why You Love Portland!
Occasionally DH and I will muse about how much we'd love to just pick up and move somewhere totally different. And every time we talk about it, we both end up wishing we lived in Portand!
Not that either of us has ever been there - haha! But we think we'd love the chance to live close to an urban area while still having easy access to both mountains and beaches. The housing prices seem affordable, and it seems like a family-friendly area. We'd love to be somewhere with a good public transit system (I'm in Baltimore and it is no good!) and lots of green space.
So tell me, what do you like about Portland? Is it really the dream town we've made it out to be???
Re: Tell Me Why You Love Portland!
There are some past posts on this boards about people looking to relocate to Portland. I would suggest reading them. Portland is awesome and I love it here. The people are super friendly, the downtown area is small enough to navigate on foot, we are the most bike friendly city in the US and we have a pretty good transit system.
We are also very outdoorsy and you have easy access to the beach (though the water is usually too cold for swimming), mountains, forests and waterfalls.
But... we also have a very high unemployment rate right now. DH was unemployed for 9 months last year and the beginning of this year. Luckily he found a job, but not everybody is that lucky. Therefore, if you do intend to move here, make sure at least one of you has a job here before you move.
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Agree with pp. Particularly about unemployment.
We're actually not naturally city folk, so we like that Portland is big enough but not too big. I love that people can talk in depth about the subtleties of beer. I also love the mild weather of western Oregon (but be prepared for nine months of constant rain and years without snow). The "I'm a good/cool/superior person because I live in Portland" attitude really irks me. But then I travel to another city and realize that, for a city, it's pretty darn good here. When I go to other cities, I appreciate that Portland is relatively pet-friendly, health conscious, supports local farmers, restaurants, and businesses, has thoughtful city planning to limit sprawl, and cares about the environment.
My brother and SIL lived in Baltimore for six years. They loved their time there after adjusting, but were very excited to move back. If it helps, I think the hardest things for them about moving back were: dealing with unstylish NW-erners, not having enough "fancy" places to go, slow and law-abiding drivers, hearing people complain that it's hot/cold/humid, relearning to recycle, and readjusting to smiling strangers.
First, ditto everyone else about having a job lined up before you come.
As for everything else that you think is great about Portland, I agree that it's great. Yes, the mountains and beaches are very convenient and there is tons of great hiking around, and other outdoor activities. The food here is pretty awesome, too. Portland is super crunchy, so a lot of the restaurants try to focus on providing local, organic, seasonal, sustainable ingredients. The people are nice (provided you have a job so we don't have to pay for your unemployment after you moved here because you think you'll like the lifestyle or that it's pretty here).
If you like snow, Portland will be a little disappointing. The upside is that Mt. Hood does get snow, so you can technically head there. It's not the same, though, because you probably won't have a white Christmas. It does rain a lot in the winter, but it's not as bad as I was expecting. It doesn't seem to pour like crazy or anything, and on most days you still get a few minutes of sunshine. Even though it's kind of dreary, it's not like the Midwest where it can get really dark and gloomy - it's still fairly light and not super depressing. I don't there's been a thunderstorm in the 2 years we've been here.
I've never been to Baltimore, so I'll trust that your public transit system isn't fantastic. I personally don't think that the one in Portland is all that special, BUT that's because I lived in Boston for 3 years and they've got the T figured out. The T was fast, cheap, and convenient. The MAX is not as fast, not as cheap, but fairly convenient. If you've been to Boston and taken the T you can compare the MAX to the T's Green Line - all of the stops are above ground, and in my opinion there are too many. A few years ago in Boston, the T knocked out about every other stop along the Green Line to make it run faster. I think the result was that people had to walk about an extra block or two. I think the MAX could definitely stand to do that in downtown.
Portland is the best place I've lived.
I can relate to your story because I moved from DC and have been to Baltimore many a nights. I still feel like a newbie even though I got here last July. My number one reason for loving Portland over Maryland is we don't have any 95+ degree hot & humid summer days. Don't get me wrong it can get hot but not anything like east coast humidity. I also love the farmers markets and the food carts!! Transportation is fine here but I don't think it's exceptional for any reason.
It's a great city & we love it so far. I would definitely come here first (especially during the winter) so you know what you are getting into if you are seriously considering moving here. DH's sister lives here & we had spent some time here before packing up and leaving "home." And ditto PPs about the job market. My husband found a job and I got into school so we could justify the change. Good luck!!
I don't live in Portland (or Oregon, for that matter), but am usually there about a couple days a week. I love Portland because the people are friendly, it is probably the least pretentious city I've ever been to, the weather can be lovely, and it's very outdoorsy (lots of parks and trails).
As an aside, I also love the "no sales tax" part
TTC #1 since May 2010. BFP #1 - 5/31/10; m/c on 7/22/10
Started seeing RE in August 2011
5 IUIs: BFN; IVF #1 - Success! BFP - 7/25/12
I ditto everyone else. I moved here from southern CA last year and fall in love with Portland almost every day. From the people, to the "green" lifestyle to the literally green environment (this coming from dry southern CA), to the beaches and mountains and weather...I love it here!
Also, I love OR for their DMV. Yes, I said it. It's a big enough reason to stay...no CA waiting lines at the DMV. You Oregonians may think the DMV is bad here...wait until you go to a CA DMV. You'd move back in a heartbeat.
But on a serious note...I love it here. And as recommended, I got a job here before I moved.
Learning to start all over again... Blog
You all are really tempting me! It sounds fabulous!
Honestly, if it weren't for moving away from my mom, DH and I would start job hunting this very moment. It's the only thing giving us pause.
We have awesome food here. Amazing restaurants that use local and sustainable ingredients and preperation methods.
We are a very open-minded and diverse city. We offer help to those in need, and have a great network of non-profits. Along with that, people are so giving here. Last year there were waitlists for volunteer positions at many organizations. That just shows how awesome we are!
Our housing is affordable.
We have a pretty good transit system.
Traffic is great compared to other cities. Oregonians complain about it, but I'm from Orange County. This traffic is nothing compared to where I came from.
We have a great arts and music scene here. Lots of great bands come here, plus a lot of musicians live in this town.
And if you were here today, you would see why everyone loves living here! Quite honestly, I could put up with 9 months of rainy weather for 5 days of the beautiful fall sunshine we have right now.
Good luck!
Also very, very true! Boston was frustrating (never decide to build roads where animals like cows and horses make the largest paths - it's just stooooopid) and scary to drive in. Portland drivers are really nice and will let you merge where you need to no matter what time of day.