Another neighborhood thread (Portland, Lake Oswego, Garden Home-Whitford: cul-de-sac, rental, homes)

[Tipsy McStagger]

Originally Posted by Tipsy McStagger

A real stark, boxy midcentury with walls of windows is right up our alley. Have seen a couple and they went fast (<week).

like this. 3 days. http://www.redfin.com/OR/Portland/35.../home/26684121

[Tipsy McStagger]

Originally Posted by skiffrace

Forget Lucky Lab, the place to go in this area is Old Market Pub.
Larger, better food, better beer (brewed on site), much, much better atmosphere (I watched the World Cup finals there, it was great)

Nice. We'd be there for sure but do like the idea of having a convenient place to grab a drink and an appetizer on the patio with the dogs sometimes. The overall dog friendliness of Portland and mild climate are big reasons we chose Portland. Looking forward to some nice clammy, soggy winter hikes with the dogs.

Completely off topic but how about good places to take the dogs on the coast? Any specific hotels or areas that are magnets for dog people?

What about diving at the coast? Is it all dry suits?

And is there much sailing on the Willamette or Columbia? I saw a guy tacking up the Willamette on what looked like a half rotten Cat 22 and it looked like it wouldn't be too bad a place to race dinghies. Lake Oswego looked pretty snug. But it seems like a person could sail some or most of the year there.

Another question and a reason we like yard space is gardening and landscaping. Pretty excited about have several more zones worth of plants from which to choose. I would guess that tomatoes and melons are probably a struggle generally...how long are you able to grow things like lettuces into winter?

[dperry9]

One thing I'll say to someone coming from Minnesota is you won't find anything like the Mall of America in Portland, or anywhere in Oregon. We are pretty well mall-less. Well there is Lloyd Center where TONYA HARDING LEARNED TO SKATE and a couple others here and there but my sense is really big malls are generally not a west coast thing. I don't remember any in the Bay Area but they may have built one since I left.

[Tipsy McStagger]

Originally Posted by dperry9

The risk/insurance question would probably have to be handled by a realtor since they deal with a diverse list of properties. I think fire isn't as big of a concern here as it is when you get a ways down into California. I don't know how it would compare with Minnesota.

I actually lived through the massive Oakland Hills fire in the very early 90's (didn't reach my neighborhood but me and my roommate watched the sheets of flame advancing and wondered if we should quickly pack). That one was caused by the fact that the Bay Area gets very dry in summer after you go even a couple miles inland, and it gets hit hard by Santa Ana winds fairly regularly. Add a lit cigarette butt to that and poof.

The thing about earthquakes in Oregon is that they are not a threat based on land faults so, again, compared to California it's a different ballgame up here. The problem with assessing risk based on the Cascadia fault is that no one can predict if it will pop (like the one did off Japan a few years ago, same scale) in two years or two hundred years.

The website I linked to earlier appears to be a good general reference for runners:

Garden Home-Whitford Running Routes - 120 Running Trails in Garden Home-Whitford, OR

Holy crap, that's an awesome link. Thanks so much. We'll get out and do at least a couple runs when we are back in August.

Minneapolis metro has very low fire risk as it's humid continental, water everywhere and surrounded by mostly farmland. Flooding is a frequent issue, fires not so much. Big fires do occur several hours up north in the BWCA and along the Canadian border but that is only in years of severe drought. The three biggest fires up there were in the 300k acre range so on par with a few of the big California fires. Been an ugly year in San Diego county, watching places burn like Carlsbad so close to the coast. We actually decided upon Portland over north county SD and the Bay. I was having a hard time imagining frequent fires in rain forest but that is why I asked. I'm sure that changes quickly in a prolonged drought.

[Tipsy McStagger]

Originally Posted by dperry9

One thing I'll say to someone coming from Minnesota is you won't find anything like the Mall of America in Portland, or anywhere in Oregon. We are pretty well mall-less. Well there is Lloyd Center where TONYA HARDING LEARNED TO SKATE and a couple others here and there but my sense is really big malls are generally not a west coast thing. I don't remember any in the Bay Area but they may have built one since I left.

Oh thank god.

To be honest, I don't know a single person who goes to that thing. It's pretty much there to serve as a tourist trap and for people from "outstate MN", Iowa, western WI, and Japan. Minneapolis doesn't really have a mall culture. Portland actually has more than a few similarities to MSP and that is another part of what is attractive to us. If we weren't surrounded by a few hundred miles of nothing, that mall would have never survived here.

On the flip side we are having a hard time nailing down a good dog boarding facility in Portland where it isn't basically some guy's house with twelve dogs roaming around freely. LOL.

[dperry9]

Originally Posted by Tipsy McStagger

Holy crap, that's an awesome link. Thanks so much.

No problem. You will find MANY active people in Portland so something like that isn't surprising to find.

Originally Posted by Tipsy McStagger

Minneapolis metro has very low fire risk as it's humid continental, water everywhere and surrounded by mostly farmland. Flooding is a frequent issue, fires not so much. Big fires do occur several hours up north in the BWCA and along the Canadian border but that is only in years of severe drought. The three biggest fires up there were in the 300k acre range so on par with a few of the big California fires. Been an ugly year in San Diego county, watching places burn like Carlsbad so close to the coast. We actually decided upon Portland over north county SD and the Bay. I was having a hard time imagining frequent fires in rain forest but that is why I asked. I'm sure that changes quickly in a prolonged drought.

I have very little knowledge of Eastern Oregon (true of most Oregonians) but the big fire danger I know of in Oregon is south of the Willamette Valley entirely. If you saw a big plume of smoke in the distance in the Valley it would most likely be controlled field burning. So fire wise it will be more man made than natural that might threaten a house on the west side. You will notice people don't cut back their trees from their eaves very much. Go down to central California or over to Colorado and it's a different story. Southern Oregon has had some truly devastating fires as well because those mountain regions are pretty dry.

[dperry9]

P.S. an alternative to running might be to take a bike up into the hills. Great way to tour and see wonderful scenery and you will certainly get a big workout, then you could mostly coast back home. And then have an Oregon beer.

[Tipsy McStagger]

Originally Posted by dperry9

No problem. You will find MANY active people in Portland so something like that isn't surprising to find.

Another big part of the reason we are moving there, and why it has some similarities to MSP.

So fire risk = not really an issue
earthquake risk = not really an issue, until it is (though less than in say, Seattle)

I've seen some of the soil liquefaction risk maps and it doesn't appear that the areas we are looking in are at high risk

what about landslide risk? This seems less clear.

[dperry9]

Originally Posted by Tipsy McStagger

like this. 3 days. http://www.redfin.com/OR/Portland/35.../home/26684121

Yea, I'm guessing but I have a feeling the distinctive character of that place helped sell it in a hurry. The good news is you will find others roughly like that. I've seen some truly cool artsy latter 20th century houses for sale on the west side, and in Lake Oswego.

[dperry9]

Originally Posted by Tipsy McStagger

Another big part of the reason we are moving there, and why it has some similarities to MSP.

So fire risk = not really an issue
earthquake risk = not really an issue, until it is (though less than in say, Seattle)

I've seen some of the soil liquefaction risk maps and it doesn't appear that the areas we are looking in are at high risk

what about landslide risk? This seems less clear.

Landslide is a good question but my guess is the city and developers have put a lot of thought into that over the decades so there has probably been very careful engineering. As far as exact codes, I don't know.
City planning in Portland I think has a generally good reputation so foresight on something like that would be expected.

There certainly is a lot of rain but here's another thing to touch on since you will be new to the Valley---the rain aspect is a bit exaggerated. Rain is frequent but usually light because this area isn't prone to thunderstorms but rather coastal showers. What's not exaggerated is it is CLOUDY so when thinking of how to outfit your home be thinking lamps---it probably won't hurt to buy a few extra. If you like setting up cozy interiors, you will like this state.