The Portland vs Chicagoland experience (Eugene, Beaverton: tornadoes, landscaping, condo)

[deegers]

Ok "sport fans"!

I would like to see what feedback is out there from those who used to live in Chicago area and moved to Portland, visited it there, or Portlandeers who have experienced Chicago suburbs. I have heard at one time or another that the Midwest mentality and the Western Coast mentality is different. What makes the two differ?

Being from Chicago, what I loved about home was the neighborhoods and taking walks in the neighborhoods looking at people's landscaping and interesting homes. My favorite season is fall and it is so gorgeous with all the Maple trees and the changing of the leaves. The weather is cool and it's my favorite time to curl by a fireplace with a blanket and a book, ya know? Does Portland have a good fall season? I know OR has the best trees and the greenest landscaping which is a BIG deal to me! LOL

Sounds like there are tons of people who love to have BBQs and enjoy fellowship with the neighbors in Portland. Is that true?

-Some other questions, do you experience lots of bugs out there?
-What is the humidity like out there?
-Traffic like?

-What kinds of resturants are out there?
-I loved growing up in Chicago and feel blessed I got to grow up as a kid there in the suburbs, Is it a good place to raise a family?
-do you have good thunderstorms?
-Do you ever get snow in the Portland area or is it just up on the mountains? Does it ever get below zero in cold temperatures?
-SInce it rains so much, do you have issues with flooding?
-HOw is the camping out there?
-WHat is there major natural disasters like earthquakes, etc.? Do you have them out there?
-Is the city more of a college town or is it more of a family oriented community or a combination of?
-What is it like in downtown Portland city area?

Boy I am just full of questions, aren't I??? ACtually, my boyfriend is the one asking the questions here...

Thanks!

[deegers]

Sorry, did I ask too many questions at once???

[EnricoV]

I can't speak for the Chicago vs. Portland differences, but can address some of your questions.

Portland has great neighborhoods, each with their individual characters. And they're great for strolling.

I don't feel there are lots of bugs here. We don't really get cockroaches. There can be mosquitos. I'd say bees and flys are about are the only ones I really notice.

The humidity is less than the midwest, but more than ... say, Salt Lake or Phoenix. Those folks tend to find it humid, but it's nothing like Houston or St. Louis (I'm not sure about Chicago).

Traffic can be difficult. Where we're dealing with brigdes over rivers, and passes through the hills, the limited routes can cause things to back up. So if you're travelling between Portland and Vancouver, the two bridges can be a nightmare. If you're travelling between Portland and Beaverton/Hillsboro that can be a nightmare. And I-5 southbound can be rough, if there's an accident. The rest of the city is flatter, and traffic's not as much of an issue.

Restaurants? Portland is a great "foodie" town. As far as ethnic restaurants, I'd say the preponderance are from the far East -- Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, etc.

Thunderstorms are rather rare, I'm afraid. And flooding is really only ever an issue if you live along a creek. Though certain areas along the Willamette can flood in an EXTREME flood. Fanno Creek in Tigard, and Johnson Creek in SE Portland are two creeks notorious for flooding. We do occasionally have earthquakes, it's rare for them to be serious enough to cause damage, though. And then there was the issue of a volcano.

What kind of a town is it. That's kind of tough. I guess I'd say it's more of a family town. But probably a "young" family town. It's not a college town. We have several colleges in town, but they're very low-key. Life doesn't revolve around them like it would in Eugene. The suburban towns are definitely family.

Portland itself has a compact downtown. It's small, and very walkable. And it's alive. I can't believe how many towns/cities I've been to where once you hit 5 o'clock it turns into a ghost town. Portland isn't like that. I'm always amazed by the number of people on the streets at night.

As for fall. It's my favorite season. We tend to have Indian Summers, lasting well into fall. We get decent color, but fewer of our trees are deciduous - so they stay green year-round. Temperatures don't all that often drop below 32, much less 0. But it can snow in town, but more often in the surrounding hills. Maybe once or twice a winter. It rare that it stays long because the temperature doesn't stay that low.

And camping? Can't be beat.

[deegers]

Originally Posted by EnricoV

I can't speak for the Chicago vs. Portland differences, but can address some of your questions.

Thunderstorms are rather rare, I'm afraid. And flooding is really only ever an issue if you live along a creek. Though certain areas along the Willamette can flood in an EXTREME flood. Fanno Creek in Tigard, and Johnson Creek in SE Portland are two creeks notorious for flooding. We do occasionally have earthquakes, it's rare for them to be serious enough to cause damage, though. And then there was the issue of a volcano.

And camping? Can't be beat.

Wonderful post EnricoV! You pretty much covered a lot ground. I'm a bit dissapointed to hear you have rain, but no good thunderstorms. But, you take the good with the bad right? And the good is all the green!

Where is there a volcano?

[cdelena]

Originally Posted by deegers

...
Where is there a volcano?

HUH? From USGS... All volcanoes in the Cascade Range are all at normal levels of background seismicity. These include Mount St. Helens, Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, and Mount Adams in Washington State; Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, Three Sisters, Newberry, and Crater Lake, in Oregon; and Medicine Lake, Mount Shasta, and Lassen Peak in northern California.

[deegers]

I see. I'm a midwesterner, used to the flat lands, tornadoes and lighting storms; and have no knowledge of the actual locations of the current volcanoes, even though I've heard the names a hundred times! LOL For some reason, I picured some scary volcano as the background of Portland like in some island of Hawaii spewing and active!

My imagination went a little too wild this morning! So, it's pretty much the Cascade Range, eh? Interesting...

[illinoisboy]

Hey deegers! I am from Chicagoland too and I've had some of the same questions.

From my research and visiting the area, this is what I have found out. Some may not pertain to what you're asking, but I just want to throw em in...

First of all, Portland is the only city in the United States with an actual volcano INSIDE it's city limits. Mount Tabor, to be exact. It's a big city park also, in the south part of town. It's extinct, though so no worries!

Portland also has the largest park inside it's city center, Forest Park. It's 5,165 acres and offers 30 miles of trails.

Portland has numerously been rated the best place to bike, and once your there, it's easy to see why. I was amazed at seeing how many people were biking around the city, it was so cool! One nice person showed us tourists her map of the huge biking loop they have. Bike Portland

The Pearl (broken link), just north of the main downtown is an upscale district of the city, and has been completely transformed from old warehouses to high rise condo towers and new restaurants, shopping, and galleries. It has recieved numerous awards.

THe South Waterfront Development is another huge development, south of downtown connected to the city core by riverfront parks and public transportation. They say that by time of it's completion, it will become as dense as Manhatten, wheather that' good or bad, it's up to you.

By the way, Portland has the absolute best mass transit in th country.

OK, I have to go for a little bit, but i'll be back!!

[illinoisboy]

Ok i'm back,

Portland actually had a much bigger downtwon that I had excpected, and after researching it more, I had found that there is more to do that I had originally thought. Even if you were to just take a nice stroll through the waterfront park or downtwon, it would be worth it. Alot cleaner than out here.

One thing I was surprised to notice while out there, though was the amount of graffiti. However, I found everyone I met to be very friendly and nice. I also did not see the amount of hobos people talk about on this board, but mabe thats because I was just not there long enough.

The city itself does seem to have a pretty Chicago suburbs type of feel, with the Glen Ellyn main street type of feel. However, I think the actual suburbs themselves are lacking that feel.

[deegers]

Originally Posted by illinoisboy

Ok i'm back,

Portland actually had a much bigger downtwon that I had excpected, and after researching it more, I had found that there is more to do that I had originally thought. Even if you were to just take a nice stroll through the waterfront park or downtwon, it would be worth it. Alot cleaner than out here.

One thing I was surprised to notice while out there, though was the amount of graffiti. However, I found everyone I met to be very friendly and nice. I also did not see the amount of hobos people talk about on this board, but mabe thats because I was just not there long enough.

The city itself does seem to have a pretty Chicago suburbs type of feel, with the Glen Ellyn main street type of feel. However, I think the actual suburbs themselves are lacking that feel.

Just the person I wanted to post on this thread!

Thanks for responding. Wow, you got some good info. And answered more than I even asked for. I was amazed at the bit of skyline portland has giving a Chicagobred person like myself a bit of home, but add that mtn range and wow!

So, tell me why you say it has the glen ellyn/geneva feel but not in the neighborhood??? I don't understand that.

Another question, do you think we CHicagoans probably can deal with the months of rainy and cloudy weather with the many winters we have had with that gray gloom +-30 below weather!!!

[illinoisboy]

Well I don't really know the word for it, mabe cozy? As you work you're way out of the downtown area, you start seeing smaller Main Streets, like the ones you'd see in older neighborhoods around here. You can look at pictures of various neighborhoods here, at PortlandBridges.com.

As you work you're way out of the city, however, you just seem to loose the cozy Glen Ellyn/Geneva/Naperville feel. They don't really have that old type of Downtown that were used to, probably because the cities aren't as old as the ones we have around here.

But, when you get out of the whole valley, and into the rest of Oregon, from my expirience, pretty much every little town has the mom and pop type stores in their cute little downtowns, which is good.