1. The outdoors.
Portland is filled with different outdoorsy things that you can do, from the mountain to the beach. Take a trip up to Mt Hood and see Timberline Lodge (made famous by being the outside of the lodge in The Shining) or drive to the beach and explore the adorable town of Cannon Beach. These are classic things to do in Portland, so here’s a few outdoorsy things that the locals love.
The smaller waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge. Try out Ponytail or Bridal Veil falls trails, they’re less populated than Multnomah Falls, and the trails are much nicer while still being an easy hike. More difficult hikes include Angel’s Rest, Eagle Creek, and Larch mountain. If hiking is your thing, might I also recommend snowshoeing around Mt Hood. The nicest places are the White River Canyon and Sno Bunny Snow Park. If there’s enough snow, snowshoeing or cross country skiing around Trillium Lake is also a blast, and it has fewer people around it, if you like to be secluded during your activities. Seeing the Pacific Ocean is also a must for any out-of-state visitors, but make sure to bring hoodies and rain gear. The Oregon Coast is not a beach, it is a coast, and it rains. Seeing Haystack Rock is a common thing to do, but Cannon Beach is often crowded and windy. Try finding a smaller beach near Manzanita. The smaller, lesser known beaches are just as nice, if not nicer, than the major ones, and there aren’t nearly as many people around.
2. The town itself.
Downtown Portland is a quirky and fun experience. If you can manage to dodge the massive homeless population (more on that later), you can find some real gems in the rough. The best places to go in Portland are the ones that look the worst. Holes in the wall are home to some of the best cuisine in the city, and the food trucks are famous for their incredible ingenuity and culinary expertise.
A few recommendations for restaurants include Pok Pok and Nong’s Khao Man Gai. Pok Pok offers authentic Thai street food, but beware, it isn’t tamed down for the American palette. The food at Pok Pok is spicy, and it will hurt you if you aren’t careful. The food carts on 10th and Alder are a common destination for many visitors, but there are many other pods of food carts scattered throughout the city. Do a simple google search to find the nearest grouping of food carts, and find your favorite food there. Vintage shopping is a common pastime as well. The best shops are found in the Hawthorne or Burnside districts. Do beware, the shops have a lot of character, and you could possibly meet an honest-to-god druid while you shop for flannels.
Some other attractions around the city are in Washington Park. This is a good place to go for a whole day, as you can explore the Oregon Zoo, Hoyt Arboretum, Japanese Gardens, and International Rose Test Gardens. The Zoo is a wonderful place to bring children, and the Children’s Museum is just across the parking lot. For more mature visitors, the Arboretum houses some beautiful trails for hiking through a huge number of trees, both native and exotic. The Japanese Gardens are exceptionally beautiful as Portland shares a climate with Japan, so Japanese plants and flowers grow very naturally in the Pacific Northwest. The Rose Test Garden is one of the lesser known jewels of Portland. It is one of my favorite places to go in the city, and houses the most beautiful view in the spring.
3. The people.
Portlanders are one of the most genuine groups of people in the country, and they will treat you with the respect and dignity you want. Ask for directions all you want. If you want someone to take your picture, ask and it will be done with an artistic flair. The people are quirky, fun, and accepting of all types of people. Do you want to wear the most abominable sweater you own? Wear it and someone will comment on how cute it is. If the city starts to wear on you, simply drive 15 minutes west to Beaverton and experience the utopian suburbia. Do you miss that country feel? Drive southeast to central Oregon and experience the ranchlands around John Day. The greater Portland area is a miniature representation of the entire country, and you can find whatever it is you’re looking for with only a few hours of driving.
Portland is not all roses and hipsters though, and although it can be nice to visit, I must caution anyone away from living in Portlandia.
First off, the weather is dismal. Seasonal depression is a thing, and Portland gets hit the hardest. There are only two seasons, rainy and not. The rainy season lasts from November to July 4th, and it is entirely possible that you will never see the sun during those months. This takes a toll on everyone in the city, no matter how cheerful you are when you start the rainy season. If, by some miracle, there is an actual winter with snowfall, the city will shut down due to lack of snow clearing machinery. Simply look at news reports from the winters of 2016 or 2008 and you’ll see what I mean.
Secondly, the city is overpopulated. In recent years, people around the country have begun moving to Portland as it became trendy, and the population blossomed overnight. This means the cities infrastructure is struggling to keep up. The traffic in Portland is some of the worst in the country as a ratio of the size of the city. For this city of only 2 million, it can take up to 3 hours to go about 11 miles if there is a single car accident on Highway 26.
This overpopulation also results in a major problem in the housing market. There simply isn’t enough space for people to live. Oregonlive cites the Case-Shiller Home Price Index to show that Portland leads the 20 city composite by a significant margin, and has led since mid-2015 (http://www.oregonlive.com/front-porch/index.ssf/20...). The dramatic increase in home pricing is compounded by the fact that Portland housing laws drag behind the rest of the country. Portland has never faced such a huge population boom, so there are relatively few protections of tenant’s rights when faced with increasing rent. All this combines to create Portland’s large homeless population. Homelessness in Portland is one of the cities greatest issues, and it probably won’t be fixed any time soon. Save yourself the trouble and a lot of money and just stick to visiting.
