First of all Portland does not have 2,000,000 people. Also, I was saying that you would be close to all of the stuff I mentioned. The mountain area is about an hour drive, the beach is about an hour to an hour and a half drive. I was saying that the area had a lot to offer, not saying that Portland is right on a mountain or anything, but that the area itself has all of those things within short drives. By the way Portland has a little over 500,000.

The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro Metropolitan Statistical Area has over 2,000,000 people. Because of the vagaries of individual city boundaries, this is a more realistic way to get a feeling for how many people live in a metropolitan area. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_metropolitan_area

Wihout a doubt, you'll love Bend...and it is a hop, skip and a jump to Portland.

What about Pagosa Springs?
Sedona is cool but maybe not in that kind of way for summer..

If you want cool temps as oppposed to "cool" cultural places, someplace like Lake Tahoe, high is the Sierra Nevada Mountains would be better.

Bend, Ashland, Sedona, etc. are hot, hot, hot in summer.

I think Truckee, California, just a short drive from Lake Tahoe, fits your description. It's a cute little town, restaurants and bars from fabulous to funky, summer festivals all over the area (including a great Shakespeare festival right on the Lake), and breathtakingly gorgeous scenery with beaucoup hiking trails, and water sport opportunities ranging from a lazy raft float down the Truckee River, to kayaking on Donner Lake to, to power boating, sailing or paddle boating on Lake Tahoe. Easy access from Reno (30 min) or Sacramento (2 hrs).

How about Ouray or Ridgway? Close enough to T'ride. And you could also do Gunnison, which is just down the road from CB

Mammoth lakes Cal.Close to Yosemite and lake Tahoe.Paul

Bend, Oregon is your place-

After re-reading several comments about Bend's weather being too hot, I wish that were the case. We experience maybe 10-12 days each summer much over 90 and the evenings cool down nicely. After living in Vail, Colorado-where you can set you watch to a 3:00 thunderstrom, Bend is nice from June through October with sunny days and easy access to a number of interesting places to visit. The problem now would be finding a furnished house that is available for one month. That in itself should say something-it will be interesting to see where you chose-please post and let us know.