Relocating from Portland, OR to Dallas area

[NorthTexasGuy]

Palo Pinto county, about an hour and half west of Dallas (closer if you're in Ft Worth) will get you into some really nice hiking trails and rolling hill area, including Possum Kingdom Lake (which has recently become famous world wide for world class cliff diving).


About 3 hours from Dallas you'll find The Texas Hill Country, a vast area west of San Antonio and Austin with large rolling hills and cliffs and is the countries second most visited wine region after Napa. There's a lot of quaint small towns and plenty of outdoors things to do like visiting enchanted rock, Hamilton Pool, Mount Bonnell and a lot more. Austin (which coined the phrase "keep Austin weird) will probably remind you more of Portland (culture wise) than moving to the Dallas suburbs.



The Big Bend area is closer to El Paso and about 8 hours from Dallas, but if you want some world class hiking, that's the place.


The Dallas area is just a vast metropolis; like L.A without the mountains and beaches but you find most whatever you need to live a happy life, including affordable housing. All in all, Texas offers plains, mountains, hills, valleys, lakes, beaches, islands, canyons, pine forests and deserts. I think after you adapt to the heat (especially July and August) you'll be fine. Good luck

[TexanByMarriage]

I'd suggest listening carefully to people who have moved from similar areas to Texas/DFW. That's what I do. Texans have a love for Texas that is admiring (generally a good thing!), but it can seriously make them color their answers. I'll take that any day over talking to someone who hate the place they live, but it's something to keep in the back of your mind.