Impressed

Is definitely not the same!
I spent 3 days in Portland, Oregon and left that city impressed with the natural beauty and friendliness of the people. As a Bay area resident, Im not really impressed by many places. Portland struck me is a mini-San Francisco( minus the homeless and gucci jetsetters)with its own distinct style. There is a bustling city center with upscale to funky shopping and great restaurants. I loved the neat residential districts and the freeway accessablility was just to-die-for. The weather was overcast but cool and the times when the sun came out were warm but not hot. The place has this innocent feeling to it-a feeling that the bay area lost 50 years ago. I love the bay area and never thought I could ever live anywhere else. It seems Ive found a pleasant alternative( should the time arise)

Phil

Could not have said it better myself. I live in Portland and love it. I lived in Los Angeles/Santa Monica for many many years and wish I had come here years ago. Hope you can come back and see lots more. Go to the coast..it is beautiful. Maybe you would like to see my Portland travelogue on Virtualtourist.com Go to Phildeni page. It is a super travel site. Phil

Scott

Portland is a great town. The trees are what won me over. Just spectacular and the compact city center is fun and exciting. Yup. we love it here. I moved here from San Jose 3 years ago and I think its the best decision I ever made.
The Bay area is a world-class city with gazillions of people who live too fast for their own good. Here, I stop and smell the roses and still have all the advantages of urban life-Portland is a rose indeed.

Thyra

This is kind of interesting, as I've been twice to Portland, both times it was a middle stop on tours that were very long and went from So. Cal to Vancouver.. Portland was by far my favorite city on the Pac. N West! Can you answer a question for me... I seem to recall giant statues of Bronze forest animals.. in.. a shopping mall? downtown.. was I hallucinating??? I remember beavers.. and elk... or moose or something.. I thought they were charming at the time, but no one I've met recalls them.....

Samantha

I love Portland and have been trying to find a job up there so I can relocate. Unfortunately I've had no luck. The headhunters that I can find don't seem to be any help and rarely are there any good finance jobs that pop up on Monster or the Oregonian. Does anyone have any suggestions on where a professional woman should be looking for work in that lovely town?

Lilith

I moved to Portland 11 years ago and I tell you-if you think its great now-11 years ago it was spectacular. Just the influx of out-of-staters from mainly CA have raised property values and clogged the highways. Its like the reasons I left Oakland are starting to creep up here to Portland. But with that said, Portland is a fabulous to raise kids and there is no shortage of fun things for the whole family. The trees and forests are so nice and the people are super friendly. Oh well, Ill try to enjoy it while I can.

xxx

Powell's Bookstore is reason enough to make a visit to Portland.

lcuy

thyra- You didn't imagine it. I can't recall the artists name, but he has bronze animals in many places in Portland, plus Corvallis at the river park and I think the eugene zoo. Some of his models were being sold in a gallery when I was there in March. They were wonderful, but all sold. If I find his name, I'll email you.

Don

Here's a Web page that mentions some bronze sculptures in Portland. The sculptors were Tom Hardy ("Running Horses") and Georgia Gerber (various animals).

Gerber is the same sculptor who created Rachel the Market Pig of Pike Place Market fame in Seattle. (Fiberglass replicas of Rachel are also being used in Seattle's ongoing Pigs on Parade, where a lot of pigs were decorated by local artists and now sit at various spots around Seattle.) Gerber lives and works on Whidbey Island, just north of Seattle.

Here's the Web site I mentioned:

http://www.cnn.com/TRAVEL/DESTINATIO...nd/index4.html