My Town Monday: Portland, Oregon

After living all over the country, we have more than one favorite hometown and, obviously, we’re sometimes torn between them. When we were living in Florida, we heard the call back to the Pacific Northwest – Oregon, specifically – and lived there a short seven months before moving on to Las Vegas. We keep moving back, but each time our stays are shorter and shorter. Check out the charming Craftsman-style house – located in the award-winning Orenco community section of Hillsboro, which is west of northwest Portland and sometimes called “Silicon Forest” – the community we lived in. It still calls to us sometime.

There’s much to love about Portland – it has everything Las Vegas doesn’t – and vice versa. It’s easy to be tempted to move back, even though I’ve lived there three times already. And Disney doesn’t help. Wilderness Lodge at WDW, especially Artist Point, and The Grand Californian at Disneyland really make us miss the Northwest. We love the modern Craftsman-style, the food, the wine, the farmers markets, the rustic taverns, the cozy up to a fire atmosphere, the books, the independent spirit, with great access to fabulous places such as the wine country, waterfalls, a city with a small town feel, and some of the most beautiful coast in the world. Sometimes we wonder – is it Disney we love or the Pacific Northwest? LOL!

The biggest issue for me in living in the Pacific Northwest is the weather. It isn’t about the rain – Florida has more rainfall – it’s the “partly cloudy most of the time” weather. Or mostly cloudy all the time. Or completely cloudy for 90 days straight. The joke is there are two seasons – winter and August. :) July is also nice, although that’s when a heatwave is likely to hit and most homes do not have A/C. But after living in such warm climates as southern California, Florida, and Las Vegas, it becomes more and more difficult for us to tolerate cold, wet, gloomy places. And I need a regular dose of sunshine.

But Oregon can be so comforting – I have family there, we found the best church community ever there, and we have lots of favorite places there. Here’s one of them – oh dear, can I pick just one? I don’t think so – not even if I limited it by category:  favorite beach, favorite mountain, favorite lake, favorite winery, favorite bookstore, favorite beer, favorite restaurant. You get the idea. There’s much to love. Guess I’ll have to post the first picture of Oregon my mother showed me when she told me we were moving from southern California to Oregon when I was 16. I’ll give this my “First Impression Rose” – fitting for the City of Roses, doncha think?

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