Of course, a lot of the "stuff to be done" isn't really work - calling up friends I haven't talked to in a while, playing shuffleboard, hanging out with family. I guess I should more accurately say: naps, sleeping in, and blog posts are apparently at the bottom of my list.
We were in Oregon a week. While we stayed in Portland(for free, thank you very much Marriott), we made multiple day trips from there so we got to see the coast, the Columbia River Gorge area, the Mt. Hood area, and Mt. St. Helen's. This gave us a couple days actually in the city.
There are tons of reasons to like Portland so, rather than bore you to death, here are my top 5.
1. The city is big in a small way. Portland offers museums, arts, night life, restaurants, rivers (thus, water sports), and parks - plenty to do. But it's small enough to get around in easily and the city centre is especially pedestrian friendly. Mass transit is easy and convenient, and biking is a main mode of transportation. Portland felt a little like a mix of Amsterdam and Prague to us.
2. It is soooo easy for me to find food to eat in restaurants and grocery stores in Portland! (Because of the endometriosis and infertility and all, I'm trying to eat healthier: no wheat, less dairy, no red meat, hormone-free poultry, organic produce, no caffeine, etc.) The northwest U.S. is, for some reason, more health-conscious than the South, so organic food is abundant and the list of restaurants catering to wheat- and gluten-free diets is quite long, especially compared to Dallas. There are even a couple bakery/coffee shops that make wheat-free baked goods! And we got a wheat-free pizza the first night we were there!
3. The temperatures in the last week of June in Portland were approximately 30 degrees cooler than those found in Dallas. I think the hottest it got was maybe in the upper 80s and when you go up in the mountains it stays in the 60s all day. Yesterday in Dallas it was around 103 with a heat index of 180. OK. 115. Seriously! I wish I could have boxed up some of that cool, sunny weather and brought it back with me. (I think maybe this reason to love Portland should be listed as number one!)
4. Saturday Market. Maybe it was the perfect weather, or the abundance of interesting stalls to look at, or the fact that a market will always remind me of life in Europe, or the sweet smell of "elephant ears" and roasted corn, but this is just a fun, enjoyable weekend activity!
5. Rose bushes grow in abundance on the sides of the highways going through the city! Most cities I can think of line the highways with the ever-attractive, definitely cost-effective, concrete walls. Or maybe hills of weeds. The sloping hills surrounding the edges of the highways in Portland are green and planted generously with rose bushes. The red, pink, and white roses were out in abundance in June. I think roses love Portland, too! (The picture is actually from the International Rose Test Garden, but the roses on the side of the road looked just as great.)
Why do we live in Dallas? Oh yeah, jobs. Portland does have the second highest unemployment of any city in the country (it's over 10%). So quitting our jobs to move there in hopes of making a living might be a bit on the foolish side right now. And we might need some financial resources to buy wheat-free pizza, ride the public transportation, and support the Saturday Market vendors.
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