Please help a newcomer appreciate Portland! (St. Helens, Burns: transplants, home, theater)

[HondaCivet]

I know you guys are sick of starry-eyed potential transplants who want to move in without a job just because they heard that Portland is some sort of utopia . . . But geez, you guys really lay the negativity on thick sometimes. I want to start a more positive thread. I just moved from the Midwest so Portland is still just a (relatively) big and scary place to me. I've visited a few of the landmarks like the Japanese garden and such, but I still feel like I'm missing out on a lot. And I know at least some of you guys LOVE this place and have been here a good while. Please help introduce me to the city and the things that you love about it! Also if you have any advice on acclimating to this strange place, I'd love to hear it.

[jjpop]

Originally Posted by HondaCivet

I know you guys are sick of starry-eyed potential transplants who want to move in without a job just because they heard that Portland is some sort of utopia . . . But geez, you guys really lay the negativity on thick sometimes. I want to start a more positive thread. I just moved from the Midwest so Portland is still just a (relatively) big and scary place to me. I've visited a few of the landmarks like the Japanese garden and such, but I still feel like I'm missing out on a lot. And I know at least some of you guys LOVE this place and have been here a good while. Please help introduce me to the city and the things that you love about it! Also if you have any advice on acclimating to this strange place, I'd love to hear it.

My first piece of advice would be to stop thinking of Portland as a "strange place" and start thinking of it as home.

And...you have to give us more of an idea of what you like to do. Maybe you're into gardening, since you mentioned the Japanese Garden--have you checked out the numerous nurseries in the area? You can spend an entire afternoon just looking at the plants. Maybe you're into line dancing--I'm sure there are places to do that. Maybe you like wine--there are several wineries within a 30-mile radius of the city. Perhaps you are a mountain climber? Community theater enthusiast? Pot head? Maybe you'd like to write a play about a line dancing competition between wine-drinking mountain climbers and pot heads who like to garden. You can do all of that here.

My point is, Portland may seem "strange" to newcomers, but it's really just a city. And it has more in common with other cities than it is different.

There's another poster who posted a lot about his/her move to the Portland area and kept referring to Portland as "up here" (he/she was from SoCal). I think that's a person who will not make it because everything was viewed through a lens of where he/she came from. When you move someplace you are "HERE", not "up here" or "over here" or "down here."

NOT -repeat- NOT being negative. I think this is just about the best place to live on earth. There's a lot here for people to do, but what you like to do will depend on whether you are wheelchair dependent, rain intolerant, have twin newborns, etc. Give us a few more details and we'll be happy to oblige.

[Daisy32673]

What are you interested in? Portland is just another city but what you are looking to fing depends largely on you

[Rob Allen]

My advice to the OP would be to read the newspapers, and/or visit their websites. Read the local columnists, their blogs, peruse the calendars of events, restaurant reviews, etc. It's the quickest way I can think of to get oriented to a new city.

The Oregonian | Oregon Online Newspaper - OregonLive.com
Portland News, Movies, Music, Restaurants, Arts - Willamette Week
Portland Mercury
The Portland Tribune | News | Now Daily

[giacomo107]

These pictures we found on the internet might give you a basis of what Portland is like. They are old but at least it is something
[url=http://www.portlandground.com/archives/downtown/]portland ground: Downtown Archives: Pictures of Portland Oregon
If you look at the right side all those places are relatively close around Portland. We have not been there but we have been studying Portland for the past month. oops you have to click one picture then look on the right side you will see all the places

[hamellr]

Also these two blogs are good places to find things to do:

Around the Sun: A Blog About Saving Money in Portland, Oregon, and beyond -

Dave Knows: Portland

[HondaCivet]

That's a good point about trying to not think of it as a "strange place." It's just hard because I lived in the Midwest my whole life. I moved around some but most parts of the Midwest feel very similar to each other I never felt out-of-place. Here I still do even though it's probably mostly in my head. I think it will be "home" eventually but it'll take some time.

Anyway, I'm a young lady in my mid-20's. I live with my boyfriend on the edge of Goose Hollow next to downtown. As far as things to do, I'm kind of a nerd so a lot of my hobbies are based at home but I do like to visit good restaurants and do some outdoorsy things like go on light hikes, maybe some biking. We visited Mt. St. Helens a couple of weeks ago and will definitely be returning although probably not until the spring. Anything nature-related is good really.

[EnricoV]

I think one of the great ways to get out and find secret places in the city is to get into GeoCaching. I've encountered parks, etc., in the city that I didn't know were there ... and I've lived here all my life. There are over 7,000 within 25 miles of downtown.

You'll find bike maps here. I think the Springwater Corridor and Marine Drive are the prettiest bike rides.

Portland Hikers website will give you ideas for hikes.

[Aoroa]

Walk along Hawthore starting at about 37th; walk along NW 21st and NW 23 Avenues off of Burnside where you can catch the streetcar which will take you down to the Waterfront. Visit Powell's bookstore on 10th and Burnside. This is just for starters. There's a lot to see in all these areas, and there's a great feel to them all.

[Daisy32673]

First you must have a Reuben at Goose Hollow Inn...that place is great! Second you're close to everything - Powells Books, NW 23rd, Pearl District, Forest Park, the zoo to name a few things.