In light of the recent threads, I wanted to know if anyone could give me feedback on Portland, Oregon. I just got an internship offer for a Finance position down there. Honestly, I know next to nothing about Portland other than it's basically Austin-lite, with fewer hot women and a lot more rain. What's the cost of living like there, and what are some good areas in which to live? The job's in Hillsboro, right outside of Portland.
I have a sister and a handful of friends up there there. I have only been there a couple of times for a few weeks but it kicks ass. The summers are perfect (no rain, cool nights), you are surrounded by mountains, excellent parks etc. It does drizzle rain like Seattle a when it is not summer though. I don't know much about the cost of living etc. Great night life too. Austin is Portland Light. There is no comparison.
I don't have specifics but I definately envy you. It is a very beautiful place. I do remember that the city evaporates into rural areas very quickly so I'm thinking that Hillsboro isn't going to be exactly the most exciting place in the world. I would highly recomend driving out Highway 26, over the mountains to Astoria and then back up the Columbia River Gorge. I think you can do it in a single day. Astoria was the backdrop for the film 'Kindergarden Cop' and the Columbia river is amazingly beautiful.
If you're still in college, Austin>>Portland. But yes, once you graduate and grow up a little, Portland is way ahead of Austin.
I was born and raised in Portland OR and still live here. It's a great city. It will become home to you and you will love it. No state taxes, growing city, good cost of living especially in Hillsboro. The only downfall is there is a lot of rain but the summers are nice and not too hot like Texas and there's something for everybody. Decent night life if thats your thing and the coast is only about an hour half away from Hillsboro.
Thanks for the advice guys. Keep it coming. It looks like the area is great for being outdoors (except for right now @ Mt. Hood, of course). I might actually consider taking this one.
You can't pump your own gas there though. Everything is full service. So if you really like pumping your own gas, don't move there.
Hmmmm. Intel? BTW, how was your marketing final? One of the TAs for the class is my best friend. He's probably grading your final now. Muh ha ha ha!!
Is it Derek? I'm sure he's enjoying grading 65 cases that were thrown together over the course of 3.5 hours yesterday. Must be nice for you 2nd years now -> smooth sailing for the last semester.
Neely? Nope. (Although he is a friend of mine, too.) Eh, you probably have Raji. Smooth sailing? Ha! This past semester was freaking hard for some reason, plus all the job stuff just made it that much worse. Last weekend, I worked like a madman to finish my independent study project, working from Friday to Tuesday afternoon straight (with a little time off to complete my Leadership paper). At about 5:30 PM on Tuesday, I gave my sponsoring professor 40 pages of research data and another 30 pages of conclusions. It was insane. I was so exhausted, I think I slept for like 14 hours that night. But alas, I am done, and I am bored (my wife is in NYC right now). BTW, it's not hard to figure out which mail room slot is yours...
True story. Summer of 1972. My brother and I are driving up the West Coast from SF to Vancouver Island. It is unseasonably hot as we tool around in our unACed VW bus. I mean it's 108 degrees. We decide to get a hot meal and a cool down so we find an air conditioned diner in Astoria to camp out in for awhile. We eat and we drink and drink and drink cool, refreshing iced tea. Time comes to leave as we are at last refreshed so we ask for our check. Whillickers! They've charged us for 19 glasses of iced tea. No free refills in the Pacific Northwest back then. I don't know about now... Gosh it is beautiful though
I moved to Portland from Houston in 1991, and it was the best move I ever made. Where to start... Most of the stuff in Portland happens downtown, in Northwest Portland, and close in on the east side of Portland. If you are working at Intel, you should consider living downtown or in NW Portland- anywhere near the Max light rail line as it goes right up to Intel. Living in Hillsboro is more like living in a small town than living in Portland. It's very easy to get around and get to know the city. Best music scene in the country at present- lots of great rooms to watch live music. Leads the nation in sustainable/green building. Voted best biking city in the US. Voted best city to own a dog in US. One of the best microbrew cities in the country- microbreweries everywhere... Standing in downtown, you can get in your car and in 20 minutes in almost any direction be out of the city and into the gorge, farmlands, etc. Coast is 70 minutes away, mt hood and skiiing is 90 minutes away, the gorge is about 30-40 minutes away. Lots of great camping, boating, within a couple of hours drive. Weather- summer is very nice- no rain, long sunny days. Fall is usally very nice too. November-January- usually rains at least every other day- not heavy downpours, just the now it's raining- now it's not kind of drizzle. Some years drier than others. Most years it will snow once or twice- sometimes heavy, sometimes no snow at all. All this and we just got a $55 million tram! Also, no sales tax, but there is an income tax- I think around 9%. Regarding Seattle- great things there too, but the traffic is unbearable, and it's a little more spread out. Let me know if you need more info...
I hate to go on, but I remember a day a couple summers ago where me and some friends took the chair lift up on Mt Hood and ran/slid down what snow was left, then drove into the gorge and went to Multnomah Falls and waded into the water under the falls for a swim, and still made it back into town before dark. Then a burger at a brewpub with some widmer hefeweizen. I slept pretty well that night.
Hopefully, you can afford NBA dish. I wouldn't wish a season of Trailblazers basketball on anybody...
Good info. A few questions: How does the cost of living compare with Houston? How is the crime? Do you generally feel safe everywhere you go? How diverse is the population? Are people generally nice around there? I'm looking to move to a place that is close enough to a big city, but also can live in a green environment. Open tracts of greenery, farmland and mountains are a plus. Could this describe Portland possibly?
I, too, am jealous. Never been to Portland, but been to Seattle and it was great, except for the negatives as pointed out in this thread (tons of people, a little too rainy, etc.). Also, one thing I definitely noticed about Seattle, and have heard isn't really part of the Portland scene, is that people from Seattle really really do think they are God's gift to mankind. They think they're the coolest, Seattle is the coolest, blah, blah, blah...it kind of felt like the city had an inferiority complex that it was trying to cover up...which was too bad, because it really was a cool city, absent that "vibe" Also, Seattle is f'ing way the hell out there. Portland is pretty far away, too, to be fair, but not as bad. Who's the internship with, or at least what type of company (more than just finance)?
