Sapo, you hit up anyplace else other than St. Johns and NW 23rd?

I like visiting St. Johns, but something about it has always kept me away from wanting to live there.

Williams/Mississippi is another great neighborhood, in my opinion, although I think Mississippi has blown out a little bit.

Funny story. I came out to Portland three years ago and met a woman looking around, considering a move. We wound up hanging out all weekend, and at one point cabbed from downtown to Por Que No for tacos.

Anyways, Sunday I had brunch at Interurban on Mississippi and in wandering around realized I was down the street from Por Que No ... but when I'd been there before, had not realized any of the Mississippi development (is that 'hood called Boise?) was there. Anyways ... a bartender told me it's all about 3 years old and probably wasn't there when I was here in 2011.

Ok, not so funny. Anyways, yeah, my reaction to Mississippi was that I'd missed the boat.

I'm on a plane right now, heading home. As a whole, Portland is awesome and if you let me snap my fingers and have it done I'd move there tomorrow. But by no stretch does it seem perfect or easy and the move seems so daunting I'm not sure about it.

Anyway. North Portland spoke to me but I should note that I didn't really see anything or any place I wouldn't move to. Even my NW 23rd gripes are really about a place I used to live, and the neighborhoods along Mississippi are exactly what I'd be looking for if I wasn't trying to make changes.

To be perfectly honest I'm scared of moving away from the small group of family and friends I have left, but I also think it's something I need to do whether or not it's Portland or somewhere else. My life in D.C. isn't serving me so well these days and I never find myself anxious or lonely out in nature, so I think that's something to pay attention to, and cultivate.

I'm an outlier in DC and while moving is such a monumental pain I think it's the right move. I'm considering shorter term moves also, maybe store stuff and short-term lease a place in Portland and in San Juan, two cities I'd like to experience.

So that's it. I'll be home in a few hours. Strange trip: quick, honest, brutal, alcoholic, surreal and hazy ... Portland is awesome and if you're a left-leaning hippy who likes food and strippers and poker and the outdoors and marijuana and beer I can't think of a better place. Whether or not I move there won't have anything to do with the city, which I think is a manageable and fun place that seems fairly affordable.

and Sapo, you were here in the grey days of november/december. i can't remember the season of your last visit, but late june/july through september are glorious in this part of the world....it's the reason we hunker down and deal with the rest of the year.

I haven't seen the sun in a week and it's starting to get to me.

I didn't bother to read this whole thread, but I just wanted to make sure someone mentioned that you can play cash game poker in strip clubs here.

on the entire east coast there are lots of people. i would have thought the same about the west coast but theres this big area in northern california and southern oregon where there isn't a big city.

same on the east coast there are many spots without a big city. and many more undeveloped as well.

And now the sun is shining.

The weather is really pretty nice this time of year. After the near hurricane passes in the next few days and the 10 - 15 inches of rain drains off , it's supposed to be partly sunny this weekend.

Langley Hill radar

http://www.wunderground.com/radar/ra...=1&lightning=1

Gutz, was that wind after heavy rain? We are just starting the rain in the last few hours but the wind died when the rain started.

A couple weeks ago i drove from Salem to Las Vegas. I would say Corvallis, Eugene, and Reno were the only places with populations greater than 20k. Perhaps Klamath Falls, not sure. And a vast majority of that was entirely unpopulated.

It's been raining hard for a couple of days. I think the tree went down around 11am. Check out the Langley Hill radar link. If you scroll down you can find a link to historic loops. Shows what the weather has been doing. Goes back to Jan 1 !

If you went through k falls on your way from Salem to Vegas you were doing it wrong.

"If you went through k falls on your way from Salem to Vegas you were doing it wrong."

Not really, K Falls to Winnemucca, head on south easy trick.

Still doing it wrong. Bend to Denio and down. Although any trip that goes through Denio is probably fine if you like extremely remote places.

Eugene, Roseburg, Grants Pass, and Medford are all over 20k and right on I-5. Other than Redding, California, there isn't much until Sacramento.

I think spaceman bryce's point was that the entire area is devoid of large cities, which is true. I live in the area and have for most of my life. If you aren't a big outdoors type then there isn't much for you between San francisco and Portland. Highlights that don't involve the great outdoors include several wine grape growing areas, abundant marijuana, the Ashland Shakespeare festival, and Ducks football.

again, there are no valleys or expanses of flat land that would be suitable for a large metro area in that region.

Most importantly, there is no economic justification for a large city in the region.

Albany has about 50K now.

Albany is in the Atlantic Northeast.

Large cities on the west coast typically have their beginning in the 18th and 19th centuries as a port towns (either ocean or river) and/or as railroad stops.

The coastline of Northern CA and Southern OR is beautiful, but the rocky cliffs aren't very conducive to anchoring a large ship to trade goods. No trade, no meaningful economy, no large population.

albany oregon.

but even in the east the big cities, meaning over say one million, are far apart.
and there is lots of large rural areas just like in the west but fewer of course.

East Coast has been filling up for over 200 years.


West Coast really didn't start filling up until WWII.