quote:
know there are some Portland Ags that can answer a couple questions for me.
1. Where are the best places to live, in and around the Portland area?
2. My wife and I will be driving from north Texas to Portland. Is the best way to go through Denver and up that way or to go to California first to avoid any snow problems?
3. Anything else I should know would be great...so feel free to give me some advise.
1) Probably depends on how much of a city person you are. We are pretty happy in Tigard, which is one of the southern suburbs. Takes about 10-15 minutes to get into the country, about 15-20 minutes to get to downtown Portland.
Lake Oswego is probably the nicest suburb, but also the most expensive.
What part of town will you be working in, and what kind of commute do you want to face? That might help narrow down choices.
2) When (what month) will you be driving? Going to California and north is the safest to avoid snow, but by far the longest.
I wouldn't advise going up through Denver unless it is between late spring and early fall or you are comfortable with unexpected winter driving conditions. A safer bet with a similar route length would be to modify and go through New Mexico as follows:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=dallas,+tx&daddr=34.994004,-106.523437+to:Portland,+Oregon&hl=en&geocode=&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=5&via=1&sll=39.300299,-109.731445&sspn=24.218058,57.128906&ie=UTF8&z=5. This is the trip I took and I really enjoyed it.
3) a) Buy a good rain-proof light jacket. Most people here don't use umbrellas. b) First winter is the hardest. Get ready for short days and long stretches without sunshine. c) Summer more than makes up for Winter. I can't think of a much better playground than the Pacific NW.
[This message has been edited by corndog04 (edited 1/4/2009 1:44a).]
