I'm here... what am I missing?? (Portland, Lake Oswego: squatters, home, living in)

[Nell Plotts]

The Zoo loop bus, # 83 is just operating on weekends this month, #63 is what I would take during the weekdays for a ride around the neighborhood BUT the absolute best option if you want to see the Zoo or walk around Washington Park and the Arlington Heights neighborhood is to get off at the MAX Zoo station. Visit the Zoo and take a ride on the Zoo train getting off at the Rose Garden stop, have your hand stamped for the return ride. Explore the Rose and Japanese Gardens, ride back on Zoo the train. If you don't want to do the Zoo thing wear good walking shoes and take the trails or walk Fairview Blvd.

I don't know where you looked in Lake Oswego but if you can't afford Lake Oswego's Mountain Park area you can't afford Portland's west hills. If you must live on the lake in Lake Oswego I can't help you.

[SETabor]

Did you get out of your car? If you were downtown, there's Tom McCall Park that runs right along the waterfront and is usually full of bicyclists and walkers. It's pretty hard to miss. If you were in Milwaukie, there are parks along the waterfront there too. Tigard and Beaverton are suburbs. Beaverton has a decent but small downtown but it's not on 217.

Portland has a lot of urban planning and is often touted as some ideal but it's a city that has been around for over a hundred years and isn't some new urban city model like Celebration, FL. It's a port city and builds ships and was settled by timber people, there's going to be a certain amount of blue collar. I think that's part of what keeps it grounded and not some sim city dream where all the houses are painted the same color and people only drive on days with R in them.

[Twilighter]

From your posts in other forums, it appears you are trying to decide whether to settle in Portland or San Diego. I'm not sure you can get an idea of what your life would be like in Portland just by driving around. You'd need to try to do some of the things you would actually do if you move here. You can't do most of those things from inside your car.

[Nell Plotts]

I hear that San Diego is a great city. I also hear it is more expensive than Portland. If you earn the same in each city you will enjoy a higher standard of living in Portland.

[Mbrwr]

Thank you so much everyone. I'm sorry for being so grumpy yesterday, I guess I was really tired and a little naive because I expected to fall in love with the city immidiately and fell right at home. I have never been here before, my family and I are taking a 1 year tour of the US which started last June and Oregon is State #49. For some reason without ever beeing here we all had high hopes that this was where we would settle down again. We did a lot of reserach and reading about Portland and like I said expected to feel right at home as soon as we set foot in here. I promise to be more patient and taking the time to see your city with an open mind and heart. Thanks again!

[Mbrwr]

I gave a little more thought to your question of "what were you expecting" and I think a very important thing is the WOW factor. Waking up every morning and looking around and almost being speechless by what you see. I've only spend 2 days in Seattle but that's how it felt there. The lakes, the houses going up the hills overlooking the lakes, the cute litle manicured neighborhoods, seeing Mt. Rainer from almost anywhere. Funny thing is that I never thought about moving to Seattle but when we stopped there it just clicked. I was hoping that Portland would be like that but smaller witch is a big PLUS for me. I know people here don't like comparisons to Seattle but it was one way I found to express how I'm feeling and what I was expecting out of Portland.

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by Mbrwr

I gave a little more thought to your question of "what were you expecting" and I think a very important thing is the WOW factor. Waking up every morning and looking around and almost being speechless by what you see. I've only spend 2 days in Seattle but that's how it felt there. The lakes, the houses going up the hills overlooking the lakes, the cute litle manicured neighborhoods, seeing Mt. Rainer from almost anywhere. Funny thing is that I never thought about moving to Seattle but when we stopped there it just clicked. I was hoping that Portland would be like that but smaller witch is a big PLUS for me. I know people here don't like comparisons to Seattle but it was one way I found to express how I'm feeling and what I was expecting out of Portland.

Seattle has probably one of the most spectacular locations on a sunny day of almost any city in North America(with prices to boot)--so few cities can compare in that department.

From my home on Mt. Tabor however, I look over a sea of green to the mountains across the Columbia River near Washougal and a view of Mt. St. Helens and another view of Mt Hood just up the street--which is something you're not getting in most American cities. But Portland is a river city on the edge of the Cascades--we don't have the same sea and mountains vistas as Seattle or Vancouver though. Though up from Mt. Tabor or Vista Avenue up into the West Hills or from parts of Washington Park or the Pittock Mansion and you get nice views of central Portland and the surrounding area.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Even driving down 99E (MLK, etc) there is a ton of "Mid Century Magic."

I love the fact it's not all been torn down in the name of "progress."

Watch it though. The densepack Agenda 21 crowd may yet do the deed.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by Copsgirl73

There are a lot of manicured homes/areasof the city and yes, they will most likely be the most expensive to live in. There are plenty of other folks too in the city who dont find a manicured lawn/home to be a priority.

Keep in mind that it was raining a few days ago. Not exactly easy to mow the lawn while it's raining, especially in the spring where you can mow one weekend and it'll grow six inches by the next. A lot of people (and the highway departments especially,) tend to wait because if you mow it too soon in the seasons you'll end up having to do it more frequently.

[Minervah]

If Seattle instantly clicked for you than maybe it's the city for you and everything else was bound to pale by comparison no matter what. But I would still urge you as long as you are here to take the advice given by here and take advantage of what Portland does have to offer.