Visiting Portland to explore relocation... what to do and where to stay? (Beaverton: apartments)

[katelain]

Hi There,

My husband and I have been talking about relocating (from Orange County in Southern California) to Portland. The lower cost of living is a big draw for us, as are the liberal politics, and unique city life...

We'll be coming up later this month for a few days (with our one year old son) and would love to hear your suggestions about #1 where to stay (inexpensive, safe, and near public transportation we hope!), and #2 what to do/where to visit in order to really get a taste for what it is like to live in the Portland area (instead of just the tourist experience).

Thanks in advance!

[Nell Plotts]

Consider Park Lane Suites, SW King.

[oldtintype]

Make sure to visit the farmer's market downtown on the PSU campus. It's on Saturdays.
You can get the website by googling portland farmer's market. It's a great look at some of the food offerings and Portland culture.

Visit some of the neighborhoods and hang out/eat at some of the great restaurants. Sellwood is a neighborhood I always recommend, not because it's so stunningly beautiful but because it has really nice community. Grand Central Bakery on SE 13th has great sandwiches/soup and a kid room. Sellwood is nice because it has a community center, pool, several parks, library, lots of restaurants/cafes that are kid friendly, a good elementary school, a market called New Seasons that's similar to Whole Foods, etc. It's a nice neighborhood to hang out in and meet some Portland people with kids and everything is walking distance. There are many other neighborhoods to do this in too.

Most of the tourist stuff (the official touristy stuff) isn't that exciting in terms of being amazingly spectacular compared to other cities, apart from things like driving the historic highway to Multnomah Falls and some of the things like that. Portland is not really a tourist city in comparison to other big cities, what makes it unique is what it's like to actually LIVE here.

You might also check out the library website Multnomah County Library They have some suggestions of things to see, story times for kids/babies that you might enjoy attending to see another example of Portland culture, etc. The Central library has a children's room as well.

One of my favorite things to do in Fall (though your son is too young at this point) is to visit the fish hatchery by the Bonneville dam and watch the salmon jump the ladders. It's pretty amazing and kids (and adults) love it.

[TechmanOR]

I personally think Beaverton City Library is MUCH more coosh than Central Library.

[no one special]

The Peppertree hotel off Hwy 217 on Allen is pretty affordable and puts you in the Suburbs if that is what you like. There is also a Shilo on Canyon Rd that is suitable. I wouldn't go for too cheap as you get what you pay for.

Are you urban people or suburb people? We have both here, though Portland is getting more and more urban as time goes on. What do you like to do? It's easy for us to say what we like but you may not be interested in the Bonneville Dam, although I think it is a very interesting place!

It sounds like you don't want to see the touristy spots. It sounds like you want to live the life of a Portlander for a week. Hey- why not bring your bike? Lots of biking around here! People riding bicycles everywhere because the weather is nice.

I found a great way to tour a city and have fun while doing it. Visit geocaching.com

So what do you do there in California during your typical week? What do you do for fun. Tell us that and we can steer you to places you might like.

[katelain]

oops! I realized that I don't have my settings to email me when I get replies... I could have been here earlier to take in the great advice. dang it!

i'm here now anyway...

we live in the suburbs, but we are pretty appreciative (at least in small doses) of both urban AND rural life. We have a young son so free time is at a minimum (we try to sleep when we have free time) but we do try and make use of public recreation, parks, libraries, places where there are free events.

We are definitely the farmer's market type of people.

On a typical week, we will spend a lot of time with family (something that will change as we have no family in Portland, some friends... but we will need more), go to the park, take walks around the neighborhood, and less often do something more like go to a restaurant for dinner or go see a show.

We're pretty simple... I won't say boring, just content to just be. So more than anything we want to know what it will be like to just be in Portland and find areas that mesh well with "us."

That may have made it harder to help us... umm... urban is cool, even homeless people and some poverty (I work in the industry so I am pretty comfortable about knowing how to keep safe) although we would prefer to live somewhere where we don't have to worry.

[Minervah]

I would suggest you look up those apartment/hotel places where you can rent a unit for as long as you need. There is one across from the Lloyd Center Shopping Mall called (I think) the Lloyd Apartments.

Also, you probably do not want to spend too much time on touristy type ventures. Although there are some great ones here, what is more important is finding living conditions that will suit your needs like neighborhoods, schools etc. If you go to the middle of downtown you will find the large Pioneer Courthouse Square. If you go inside you will see an information desk with literally hundreds of literature about Portland and helpful people behind the counter who can answer your questions.
Trimet is also there and you can take all the schedules stored on the wall. There are also people who can answer questions about public transportation.

Another good spot downtown is the Portland Building on 5th and Madison. It's the building that houses the the City of Portland offices. It's blue with a big blue lady in the front called "Portlandia." In the lobby they have a desk with people who can tell you about the city as well as brochures that talk about it.

All this information gathering can be done in less than a day.

[no one special]

I agree with Minervah. Those are great ways to find out info on where you should look and then hang out in those neighborhoods and see what you like. There are parks everywhere. We visit a lot of different neighborhoods through geocaching.com but if you don't know where you are going you would want a GPS or a road map at the very least. But this website provides a fun activity that would bring you to all sorts of different neighborhoods to check out.