Headed home today. Portland was nice, but it's always good to get back home. We had an afternoon flight which gave us a few hours to kill so we hit the Portland Saturday Market - the nation's largest weekly open-air arts and crafts market. It's on the waterfront in downtown, and other than being a little too crowded it was really cool. They had some of the most unique and creative original art I've ever seen there. They also have a food market where we had an Elephant Ear - a Portland tradition. Nel loved it (I was surprised she agreed to try one because she loves elephants:-).
Our trip home, like our trip out, involved a stop in Denver. On the first leg, we were lucky on a very full plane to have three seats for the two of us, which makes a huge difference in comfort. Unfortunately we were unlucky enough to be sitting near a couple that was traveling with 4 small kids - 5-year old or so twins, a 2-year old, and one even younger. Normally, I would just say that you could imagine how this went and leave it at that. However, the kids were being so horrible that the stewardess asked us to move so she could give them our row so they would have more room. You really can't say no to that, but I wanted to. We ended up getting moved to what United calls their upgraded coach so we had more room, but I was not happy about it. The twins were complete brats, which is 100% the parents fault. I told the stewardess that they didn't need more room, they needed to teach their kids some common decency and respect. After cooling down, I think the stewardess did the right thing. I'm not sure it helped anyone in the back, but they basically had 4 seats for 5 humans so it was worth a shot to give them 6.
The rest of the trip went well. We're home and thrilled to see George (who's sleeping in my lap as usual so if you see any white fur in my blog, that's where it came from).
Some final thoughts on Portland:
I'd have to put Portland in the same category as San Francisco, Barcelona, etc., as one of those places that is really nice to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there - with an asterisk or two. For one thing, there isn't nearly as much to see or do in Portland as there is in SanFran or Barca. That said, it would probably be a slightly easier place to live if you had to. Portland, as well as most of the Pacific Northwest, is beautiful. The summer weather is fantastic (although I would imagine some of the charm would wear off during those cold, wet winters) and there is plenty of outdoor stuff to keep you busy. The people were extremely friendly and polite as well. It was like being in the south! I'm not sure I was expecting different, but it was still a nice surprise.
Another thing I really liked (but is really stupid) is the lack of sales tax in Oregon. It was nice because everything tended to be in even numbers. When we went to a restaurant it was always exactly $32 or $25, never any change. It's convenient. Unfortunately, that was the extent of convenience in Portland. Oregon makes everything difficult. They tax income and property so high that it completely discourages investment in the local economy. Some of their budgetary planing is sustainable when the economy is going well, but it's unrealistic when things aren't so good - like now. They don't even let you pump your own gas in Oregon. Along with New Jersey, you have to pull up and wait for a guy to come out and do it for you. Portland has the same saying as Austin, Texas (not a place you want to model yourself after): "Keep Portland Weird". That pretty much sums it up. I'm cool with weird, I'm just not cool with TRYING to be weird. Portland has attracted quite a collection of hippies and communal folks. As a result the crime rate is very high - Portland has a Crime Index of 3 (on a scale of 100) meaning that the city is safer than 3% of the cities in the US.
Portland has a lot to offer in exchange for it's lack of convenience. Like most places, the more money you have, the easier it would be to live there. I'm not sure what my number would be for moving to Portland, but it's probably not all that high. There are certainly worse places.
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