Portland is laid out in four… ahem, FIVE
quadrants. What’s interesting is that in Seattle, I looked up where the cool
neighborhood was (Capitol Hill), and that’s mostly where we hung out. In
Portland, I just looked up cool places – restaurants, bars, parks, etc. – and
slowly discovered that we were most in love with the southeast. Upon discussing
this with our new friends, we found out that yes, of course, the southeast is
the best. What’s odd about that is that it isn’t downtown. I desperately want
to live in a loft, but all of the lofts are in the Pearl district, which for
those reading in Dallas, is like Uptown. I’m definitely a city girl, but the
coolest parts of Portland are the NE and SE neighborhoods. Actually, to be
honest, I haven’t found an area that isn’t cool. It’s almost an entire city of
relatively professional young people, and every street, whether it’s particularly
cool or not, has at least one awesome restaurant or coffee shop or bar or
vintage store or something. Not just in a couple neighborhoods, IN THE WHOLE CITY. I have yet to find a ghetto,
only awesomeness!
The skyline here, at night, looks less like
a cluster of buildings, and more like a skyline of trees littered with the tiny
lights of the city. There is a city park about every four blocks. Which
means wherever you live, there are three or four parks within easy walking
distance, and most of them are completely awesome! I spent the other day
reading near an almost secluded duck pond in the middle of the city. We went
hiking last weekend in a forest that was maybe 15 minutes outside of town. The
nature here is just incredible.
The food situation is fantastic as well. SO
MANY VEGETARIAN RESTAURANTS! And the ones that aren’t veg have plenty of
options that are. The food here is so good, but it’s all mostly affordable,
rather than just amazing fine dining (although they do have as that well). Whatever kind of
food you want in whatever price range, you will not be disappointed! They have
an enormous farmers market every Saturday, as well as a smaller one somewhere
in the city every day. You can easily buy eggs laid or blackberries picked just
the day before, any day of the week! There are also plenty of community gardens, not to mention most people having back yards, so growing you're own food is a legitimate option as well. Everybody truly cares about local, organic, sustainable food, and it's so easy to find!
Getting around town is a breeze as well. We
haven’t actually tried the public transportation, because we’re staying about
ten minutes north of the city, and the parking situation is so fantastic we
haven’t had to use it. It’s all parallel parking, but it’s always easy to find,
and we rarely have to pay. The city is also completely bike friendly, with bike
lanes on most streets, and a car population that is sensitive to the massive
quantities of bike patrons. When we move here, between the public system and
our bikes, getting around will just not be a problem.
The other most exciting thing is how they
deal with their trash in Portland. Anytime you want to throw something away,
you’re confronted with a decision: compost, recycle or trash. And let me tell
you, whatever you’re disposing of is almost never “trash,” given the alternatives.
The entire city is set up for composting and recycling, and it’s kind of expected that you’re going to participate. I’ve talked to several people that
never knew that it’s not that way everywhere. You don’t even have to care about
the environment – just put your trash in the right bin. The other day I saw a
solar-paneled trash compactor on the street, so they don’t have to use as many
man hours collecting trash. That is what I’m talking about!
Besides all these things that are super
amazing about Portland, from a more personal perspective, this is where our
friends are. We’ve made lots of friends in our travels, but not like this. It
feels like everyone around us is super friendly, and wants to talk and meet us and stay friends. We’ve
made so many friends here that we continue to see on a regular basis. In three
weeks, it already feels like we have a life here, and I’m not going to lie, I
really, REALLY don’t want to leave! We’ve pretty much decided that this is where
we’ll live next, and all of you will have a place to stay if you ever want to
visit Portland!
We’ve been here about three and a half
weeks, which is almost twice as long as anywhere else, so believe you me there will
be some review blogs ahead!
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