Must-see places in the Portland OR area?

[mercoledi]

Hi,
DH and I are thinking of relocating from the east coast to the west next year, and Portland is our first spot to check out! We''re heading over for a factfinding/getaway trip in September but neither of us has ever been to the west coast, so we have no idea what we should see.

Are there any Pacific Northwest PSers out there? Where should we go, where should we eat, what should we totally not miss, and how do you like it?

Thanks!

 

[mercoledi]

Indie? EBree?

 

[Skippy123]

bumping, for others to see

 

[Cehrabehra]

lets see... I know of 4 of us here in portland.... me, vix, diver, and christa. LTL lives up near seattle somewhere and I think there is a vancouver wa poster as well. If I recall, Indie is moving at least 2 hours south of here... if not 4, but I forget which town she's going to.

As for what to do - keep in mind september is like THE best weather the north west has to offer. Just *gorgeous* usually. As for what to see, I have no idea. there are a lot of things to do here but nothing that really stands out like going to alcatraz or the statue of liberty LOL This is a very fine place to live After 10 years here this is the first year I've actually felt any loyalty... we're from california and really want to go back, and NOW I start feeling a bit wistful LOL

ETA - where is the thread for you ring?? I went to look at pics and the only thread that might have had pics is filled with red x's!!

 

[mercoledi]

Date: 7/12/2007 5:36:19 PM
Author: Skippy123
bumping, for others to see

Thanks Skippy!

Cehra- We're not really into touristy stuff, we just want to get a feel for the place. Are there any cool districts? Coffee shops? Must-go restaurants? Ooh! Where's that place with the revolving menu that you like; was it a culinary school?

We'd like to get out of town a little too, so any favorite hikes/beaches/parks/sleepy town reccommendations would be awesome.

Thanks for the head's up about the weather! I hoping it would be nice!


ETA: There are ring pics here

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 7/12/2007 6:16:28 PM
Author: mercoledi

Date: 7/12/2007 5:36:19 PM
Author: Skippy123
bumping, for others to see

Thanks Skippy!

Cehra- We''re not really into touristy stuff, we just want to get a feel for the place. Are there any cool districts? Coffee shops? Must-go restaurants? Ooh! Where''s that place with the revolving menu that you like; was it a culinary school?

We''d like to get out of town a little too, so any favorite hikes/beaches/parks/sleepy town reccommendations would be awesome.

Thanks for the head''s up about the weather! I hoping it would be nice!


ETA: There are ring pics here

Well... we should meet up when you''re here then, my ring will be done by september

Let''s see... yes, there are actually two culinary schools here...
http://www.oregonculinaryinstitute.com/restaurant/default.aspx
http://www.wci.edu/restaurants.asp

Portland Metro area is huge.... and there are a TON of areas to live in. I don''t know where Vix lives exactly but Christa is way east of me and Diver is kinda in the middle but south so.... out west there is Streets of Tanasbourne and Orenco Station for shopping... orenco station in particular is a walking neighborhood.... there is a max line that runs from hillsboro to gresham (like 50 miles?) so you could just get on and get off wherever if it looks interesting... it goes straight through downtown/pioneer square.

Almost anything out on the coast is fun... Do you have kids?

 

[Matata]

Lots of natural sites to see -- International Rose test garden, Japanese Garden, Columbia River Gorge, Mt. Hood. If you like beer, you''ll find lots of microbreweries. Good restaurants are bountiful. River walk is very pretty. Pittock mansion is a nice visit if you like old elegant homes with history http://www.pittockmansion.com/

The Pacific Northwest is all about natural beauty and that''s what most folks travel here to see. Portland has a bit of a cosmopolitan flair and all the cultural offerings that make it a very livable city.

 

[firebirdgold]

We''re moving 2 hours south.

But if we could have moved to Portland we probably would have. (although I''m not crying over being 2 hours from the inlaws instead of 20 minutes!)

The Japanese and Rose gardens are amazing.

When we''ve visited we always go to Powells bookstore and then to .. I think it''s 24th st for window shopping, Lush, and sushi. One of the things I like about portland is how much you can do without using a car. We can take a little train from near his parent''s house to powells and then a trolley through the Pearl district to 24th(?).
I have to say Portland is a seriously nice place to live.

 

[E B]

mercoledi,

Unfortunately, we're not there yet...just 6 days until the big move! When we visited, however, we loved Powell's (which has already been recommended) and this quirky little donut shop called Voodoo Donuts. They have vegan donuts as well as regular, and in case you eat a donut and decide, 'gee, what goes better with donuts than marriage?', they have a wedding chapel too.

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 7/12/2007 7:56:10 PM
Author: Matata
Lots of natural sites to see -- International Rose test garden, Japanese Garden, Columbia River Gorge, Mt. Hood. If you like beer, you''ll find lots of microbreweries. Good restaurants are bountiful. River walk is very pretty. Pittock mansion is a nice visit if you like old elegant homes with history http://www.pittockmansion.com/

The Pacific Northwest is all about natural beauty and that''s what most folks travel here to see. Portland has a bit of a cosmopolitan flair and all the cultural offerings that make it a very livable city.

you guys are so much better - I always draw a blank! When you''re here you''re about an hour from the mountain and an hour (a little more) from the beach. They have year round snow skiing here - one of the few places in the country. We''ve had really hot weather (went to the 100''s) and they did a thing on the snowboarders and skiers on mt hood. BTW timberline lodge is the outside of the movie the shining so its really fun to go up there, but the inside is nothing like it - very charming but much more cozy and intimate than the grand interior in the movie. No long and wide hallways for spooky twin girls to haunt LOL

And yes, beer is a big thing here... my husband is in heaven. Oh, and every year on the friday before valentine''s day they have a chocolate thing at the jenkin''s estate that is to die for.... sometimes they have vendors there with several types of absolutely unsweetened chocolate that you can taste - it''s like wine tasting - amazing!!

Saturday market downtown is pretty insane - everyone should go there at least once LOL there are a lot of saturday (and sunday) markets... I can think of 4 off the top of my head...

so matata - are you here in portland metro?

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 7/12/2007 11:17:05 PM
Author: EBree
mercoledi,

Unfortunately, we''re not there yet...just 6 days until the big move! When we visited, however, we loved Powell''s (which has already been recommended) and this quirky little donut shop called Voodoo Donuts. They have vegan donuts as well as regular, and in case you eat a donut and decide, ''gee, what goes better with donuts than marriage?'', they have a wedding chapel too.

omg voodoo donuts - how can I not think of anything - I totally draw a blank and think, yeah there''s nothing to do here LOL

 

[kathleenmv]

Hi Mercoledi,

I''m in Bend (about three hours to the southeast), but my dad lives in Portland and I get up there fairly often.

Great suggestions from Cehrabehra, Matata, IndieJones and Ebree! The Pearl District can also be fun to peruse (or did someone already mention it?) and OMSI is cool if you have kids. I also loooooooooove Powells. I could live there.

And--shameless plug for my hometown--if you don''t mind a few hours in the car, consider coming to Bend. We''re a high desert town nestled at the base of the Cascades and, like Portland, have a lot of great natural beauty and recreation to offer.

No matter where you choose to go, you''ll have a great time. Oregon is wonderful

 

[mercoledi]

Wow, thanks everyone for the replies!

It sounds like the gardens and river walk must make the itinerary, as to the voodoo donuts! Too bad we''re already married!

Beer was definitely one of the reasons for the trip- Any favorite breweries/brewpubs/beer bars?

Is there a best area to stay? It seems a lot of B&Bs are in the Rose district ir Pearl district while a few hotels were all on Stark St. The area looks huge, and I haven''t quite gotten a feel for the neighborhoods.

Thanks for all the info on public transportation; we''ll have a car but we are not acustomed to driving everyware and won''t if we don''t have too. Especially if there''s beer involved we''ll need another way to get around (one of the joys of not owning a car- no threat of ever driving impared).

For those of you who live in Portland (or will in 6 days

) what do you do and why did you choose to live there?

We''re currently in Boston, and while that has its charms it is Ex Pen Sive. We''re looking for somewhere else metropolitan but beautiful not too far from a coast.

Kathy- Bend sounds intriguing. A desert town so close to soo much rain? I''ll have to look into that...


Thanks everyone!! Keep it comming!

 

[firebirdgold]

Portland certainly does seem to be a beer mecca. I''ve never seen so many microbrews. Oregon also grows some very good local wines. I don''t know if this is particularly high-brow but you might want to stop in at a McMenamins and try their Ruby. It''s actually brewed with fresh raspberries! Umm. The perfect summer beer.


Well, I''m not yet a local and I''m not moving to Portland.. but here are some of my thoughts:

1) A great climate. Yes it rains more or less daily for 2/3''rds of a year. But unlike some NW cities I could name you actually do get to see blue skies and the sun during the winter. It doesn''t tend to rain hard and it gets less rain than that other NW city.

The temperature is mild, rarely dropping to freezing at night and hovering in the low 50''s and mid 40''s as highs in the winter. The other 1/3 of the year is totally sunny and dry. No humidity! The averages are in the 80''s but it certainly can get up into the 90''s and even top 100 for brief periods of time. My inlaws very rarely run their air-conditioning and many of the houses we were looking at did in Eugene did not have AC.

2) Very attractive. The city of portland has put a fair amount of effort into this. It bans buildings of a certain height so as to not impede the view. On clear days you can see mount Hood, and on very clear days you can also see Mt. Helens. I think it also has one of the largest in-city parks, Forest Park, or at least it''s the largest in-city wilderness. It has tons of parks in general all over the place, and with all that rain it tends to be very green.

3) Relaxed atmosphere. Partly because it''s so outdoorsy I think people tend to dress and act more casually than other big cities.. partic east coast cities!

4)Good public transportation system. I haven''t had to live with it, but as a visitor I''ve been very impressed. Once we''ve moved, we''re planning on visiting Portland regularly by train since we can get to most of the stuff we want by public transportation. (and not buses... I hate buses). We may take our bikes for added mobility though. I think that this system causes the traffic to be lighter. My inlaws complain, but I''m originally from L.A. and think it''s pretty decent for a city.

5) Close proximity to the coast and mountains. I personally think the Oregon coast is one of the most beautiful in the world. Although I''m not about to go swimming in the water!

I also like the shopping, but I''m not a gucci sort of person.

Give me a jjill, a titlenine, and the Lush store and I''m a happy woman. So I can''t attest to much more than that! I also like the sushi.

 

[E B]

I think IndieJones said it best, but I'd like to add a large reason why we're moving: affordability.

We currently live in Los Angeles (only 5 more days, thank god), and pay a RIDICULOUS amount for a dilapidated one bedroom apartment in a neighborhood that isn't so great. For less than $100 a month more, we're getting a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom craftsman house with a backyard for our dog in an adorable neighborhood in Portland.

We had originally moved to Los Angeles because FH wanted to pursue a career he could really only pursue here in LA, but he's since changed career paths and we found ourselves able to move anywhere, as long as we stay in a large city.

When surveying the options, we decided we wanted to stay on the West Coast, but out of California (especially Southern). The weather is beautiful, but the traffic, air quality and cost of living are horrendous, and since we're going to start trying for a family soon, we had to take into account if we were comfortable raising children here. And we aren't.

We wanted a big city with a small town feel, affordable, liberal, with a great public transport system and access to tons of activities, and I believe we've found it all in Portland.

 

[mercoledi]

Thanks Indie. It seriously doesn''t get cold in the winter? I would never have guessed. I''m a little concerned about the rain, DH hates rain. But here it sends to be icy cold driving rain, maybe if it was just showers he''s adjust. The sideways precipitation phenomenon of Boston is something I could live without.

Horray for beautiful and relaxed... sounds a bit like you Indie...

The transporation is a big thing for us, we''d rather not have any car and certianly not two, so we''d need to find jobs where at least one of us can commute. I''ll have to poke into that further. Is it safe(ish) to bike?

I''m looking forward to checking out the shopping. There''s very little here that isn''t a big chain, so we all end up dressing alike and small business just does not thrive.


Did you end up picking a house? The forest cottage or the townhouse?

 

[mercoledi]

Date: 7/13/2007 11:22:06 AM
Author: EBree
I think IndieJones said it best, but I''d like to add a large reason why we''re moving: affordability.


We currently live in Los Angeles (only 5 more days, thank god), and pay a RIDICULOUS amount for a dilapidated one bedroom apartment in a neighborhood that isn''t so great. For less than $100 a month more, we''re getting a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom craftsman house with a backyard for our dog in an adorable neighborhood in Portland.


We had originally moved to Los Angeles because FH wanted to pursue a career he could really only pursue here in LA, but he''s since changed career paths and we found ourselves able to move anywhere, as long as we stay in a large city.


When surveying the options, we decided we wanted to stay on the West Coast, but out of California (especially Southern). The weather is beautiful, but the traffic, air quality and cost of living are horrendous, and since we''re going to start trying for a family soon, we had to take into account if we were comfortable raising children here. And we aren''t.


We wanted a big city with a small town feel, affordable, liberal, with a great public transport system and access to tons of activities, and I believe we''ve found it all in Portland.

I''m a little nervous because neither of us has ever been west of the Colorado river, but it sounds so good! We''ve been sticking back East to stay closer to family, but an emergency last year taught us that 8 hours of driving (it ened up being 13.5 hours due to weather) isn''t that different from flying in a pinch.

Your house sounds great. We currently pay more in rent every year than I would have dreamed. In two years we''ve already shelled out more than the house I grew up in cost. And our place is a deal for here. Sadly, poking around on craigslist leads me to believe that a 2br might not be that much cheaper than our 1br here

.

Since you''ve been house hunting in Portland proper, can you tell me a little about the neighborhoods? Is most of the stuff in the NE region of the city, or is downtown across the river? It''s all so spread out I can''t make heads nor tails of it!

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 7/13/2007 11:22:06 AM
Author: EBree
I think IndieJones said it best, but I''d like to add a large reason why we''re moving: affordability.

We currently live in Los Angeles (only 5 more days, thank god), and pay a RIDICULOUS amount for a dilapidated one bedroom apartment in a neighborhood that isn''t so great. For less than $100 a month more, we''re getting a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom craftsman house with a backyard for our dog in an adorable neighborhood in Portland.

We had originally moved to Los Angeles because FH wanted to pursue a career he could really only pursue here in LA, but he''s since changed career paths and we found ourselves able to move anywhere, as long as we stay in a large city.

When surveying the options, we decided we wanted to stay on the West Coast, but out of California (especially Southern). The weather is beautiful, but the traffic, air quality and cost of living are horrendous, and since we''re going to start trying for a family soon, we had to take into account if we were comfortable raising children here. And we aren''t.

We wanted a big city with a small town feel, affordable, liberal, with a great public transport system and access to tons of activities, and I believe we''ve found it all in Portland.

the selwood neighborhood is a great liberal neighborhood.... I''d live there ina heartbeat! I live outside of portland in the ''burbs though... way too conservative out here!

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 7/13/2007 11:29:18 AM
Author: mercoledi
Thanks Indie. It seriously doesn''t get cold in the winter? I would never have guessed. I''m a little concerned about the rain, DH hates rain. But here it sends to be icy cold driving rain, maybe if it was just showers he''s adjust. The sideways precipitation phenomenon of Boston is something I could live without.

Horray for beautiful and relaxed... sounds a bit like you Indie...

The transporation is a big thing for us, we''d rather not have any car and certianly not two, so we''d need to find jobs where at least one of us can commute. I''ll have to poke into that further. Is it safe(ish) to bike?

I''m looking forward to checking out the shopping. There''s very little here that isn''t a big chain, so we all end up dressing alike and small business just does not thrive.


Did you end up picking a house? The forest cottage or the townhouse?

define "cold"? We have plenty days where it dips into the 20''s and 30''s and rarely the teens.... but those days are almost always clear days.... the overcast days are in the high 30''s/40''s/50''s. We do get snow almost every year in a doesn''t-stick sort of way and every 3 years or so we get like 2-5 inches that lasts for a couple days. For me the downer in the weather dept isn''t the rain, we really don''t get a lot of rain in the way people think we do... we just have day after day after day after day of grey skies that are unrelenting with occasional drizzle... its like the rain is on an analog dial and it can widely vary but it rarely gets a nice strong rain. IMO if it is going to be overcast darnit - RAIN HARD!!! June/July/Aug/Sept are just gorgeous here. Autumns are nice, Winters are okay, we get ice storms occasionally that really suck.... but springs here are very overcast - the good news is the flowers love spring here so go nuts with them to take the edge off the grey! lol There is a lot of biking here.

I don''t know what business you guys are in... my dh works for a computer chip company (this area is called silicon forest) and really, many of the neighborhoods along the max line would be great to live in - most have good bus systems as well.

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 7/13/2007 11:38:25 AM
Author: mercoledi

Date: 7/13/2007 11:22:06 AM
Author: EBree
I think IndieJones said it best, but I''d like to add a large reason why we''re moving: affordability.


We currently live in Los Angeles (only 5 more days, thank god), and pay a RIDICULOUS amount for a dilapidated one bedroom apartment in a neighborhood that isn''t so great. For less than $100 a month more, we''re getting a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom craftsman house with a backyard for our dog in an adorable neighborhood in Portland.


We had originally moved to Los Angeles because FH wanted to pursue a career he could really only pursue here in LA, but he''s since changed career paths and we found ourselves able to move anywhere, as long as we stay in a large city.


When surveying the options, we decided we wanted to stay on the West Coast, but out of California (especially Southern). The weather is beautiful, but the traffic, air quality and cost of living are horrendous, and since we''re going to start trying for a family soon, we had to take into account if we were comfortable raising children here. And we aren''t.


We wanted a big city with a small town feel, affordable, liberal, with a great public transport system and access to tons of activities, and I believe we''ve found it all in Portland.

I''m a little nervous because neither of us has ever been west of the Colorado river, but it sounds so good! We''ve been sticking back East to stay closer to family, but an emergency last year taught us that 8 hours of driving (it ened up being 13.5 hours due to weather) isn''t that different from flying in a pinch.

Your house sounds great. We currently pay more in rent every year than I would have dreamed. In two years we''ve already shelled out more than the house I grew up in cost. And our place is a deal for here. Sadly, poking around on craigslist leads me to believe that a 2br might not be that much cheaper than our 1br here

.

Since you''ve been house hunting in Portland proper, can you tell me a little about the neighborhoods? Is most of the stuff in the NE region of the city, or is downtown across the river? It''s all so spread out I can''t make heads nor tails of it!

It depends on the area as for rent... if you want to be in one of the chic downtown neighborhoods then yeah.... we rent our 3 bedroom 2 bath house with a yard for I think $1100 or $1150? It is 1200 square feet. And to purchase would be about $270k I think but we live out west in the suburbs. There is a TON of variety. A ton. There is so much more I could tell you but I don''t feel comfortable going any further than this on boards.

 

[mercoledi]

Date: 7/13/2007 12:15:09 PM
Author: Cehrabehra


define ''cold''? We have plenty days where it dips into the 20''s and 30''s and rarely the teens.... but those days are almost always clear days.... the overcast days are in the high 30''s/40''s/50''s. We do get snow almost every year in a doesn''t-stick sort of way and every 3 years or so we get like 2-5 inches that lasts for a couple days. For me the downer in the weather dept isn''t the rain, we really don''t get a lot of rain in the way people think we do... we just have day after day after day after day of grey skies that are unrelenting with occasional drizzle... its like the rain is on an analog dial and it can widely vary but it rarely gets a nice strong rain. IMO if it is going to be overcast darnit - RAIN HARD!!! June/July/Aug/Sept are just gorgeous here. Autumns are nice, Winters are okay, we get ice storms occasionally that really suck.... but springs here are very overcast - the good news is the flowers love spring here so go nuts with them to take the edge off the grey! lol There is a lot of biking here.


I don''t know what business you guys are in... my dh works for a computer chip company (this area is called silicon forest) and really, many of the neighborhoods along the max line would be great to live in - most have good bus systems as well.

Cold for me is 20''s or 30''s for more than two weeks. It happens here, and it honestly gets hard to breath. I walk to work every day and lose weight all winter from just staying warm!

The grey skies/drizzle does sound monotonous, but I think I could manage in return for moderate summers and winters. Ohh, and autumn. We have a very short autumn here and it drives me batty. I also LOVE ice storms. Sold! I''ll take it!

DH is in education and I''m finishing my PHD in biomedical science, so we need a university or two and a little industry.

Thanks for the feedback about the neighborhoods, maybe I need a really good book on Portland. It''s hard not to over-share on these very public boards.

And to answer from earlier- nope, no kids. We''re recently married and have a moratorium on rugrats unitl I''m out of school. I would love to see your ring in person

! Wow, I never thought that would even be an option! We''ll see how the trip planning goes, thanks!

 

[Matata]

Date: 7/13/2007 12:28:39 PM
Author: mercoledi

The grey skies/drizzle does sound monotonous, but I think I could manage in return for moderate summers and winters. Ohh, and autumn. We have a very short autumn here and it drives me batty. I also LOVE ice storms. Sold! I''ll take it!

DH is in education and I''m finishing my PHD in biomedical science, so we need a university or two and a little industry.

Mercoledi...have you checked out Oregon Health Sciences University for potential employment potential? http://www.ohsu.edu/index.shtml

 

[mercoledi]

Oooh, thanks Matata! I''m actually planning to email a biotech to see if maybe they wanna meet me (a year in advance) while I''m there.


Thanks for all the help everyone!

It looks like we''ll be staying in a brewery in Alameda and taking at least one day trip, probably two. Mt. Hood and Bend are definite contenders. Anyone have favorite getaways that haven''t been mentioned yet?

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 7/12/2007 6:16:28 PM
Author: mercoledi

Date: 7/12/2007 5:36:19 PM
Author: Skippy123
bumping, for others to see

Thanks Skippy!

Yay, I am glad you got a lot of reply''s; thanks for helping me too w/the pendant lighting!!! You have great taste