Though I was quite sad to say goodbye to friends and family and leave my home city of San Francisco behind, I am thrilled to be in Portland. Over the course of two weekend trips, Nick and I managed to find and buy a lovely house. The speed in which this happened was largely due to two factors: 1) Our awesome realtor Alicia Dart (words can’t describe how great she is, but I tried–you can read my review on yelp) and 2) Spending a ton of time on Zillow leading up to the house-hunting trips in order to understand the market and narrow down what we wanted.
Today marks three weeks in this wonderful green city and three things I’ve discovered so far are:
1. People are friendlier here. I hate to say it, but it’s true. It doesn’t matter if you’re at the post office, the DMV, a grocery store or a restaurant, people are cheerful, kind and seem damn happy. We’ll see how this translates once winter returns though.
2. The zoo here is amazing. Tucked away in the mountains, surrounded by forest, it’s an enchanting place to learn about animals.
3. The dream of the nineties is alive in Portland. One thing I can’t get over is how much this city feels like the Bay Area in the nineties in terms of the energy and the people and the mood of everything. Lots of artists. Lots of young (but not too young) moms. Lots of hippies with hemp and spoon art. It’s pretty fun (and funny).
If anyone is moving to Portland (or hoping to) and wants some tips, feel free to email me!
