I left Portland in July 2015 and moved to Slovenia, permanently I thought. My tenant left town and I rented my house from him for 3 weeks. I’m back in Portland now and A LOT has changed. Housing prices & rent have sky rocketed, marijuana is for sale all over town, the food carts are still the place to eat, and so much more. My house with my pride and joy edible garden yard were way out of control. I trimmed for 3 days and hired a crew to clean-up the mess I made. I went to a Blondie/Garbage concert, camped at Oxbow Park, attended the Master Gardener show (I’m a master gardener too!).
I got to hang with many of my long time friends. I enjoyed several nights of comedy, eating & drinking out almost every night. I went to the Water Front Blues Festival and saw Chris Issak-awesome. I rode the famous Sunday Parkways, my favorite bike event in Portland. I made the Blazers draft night party, free food and beer and it’s showing.
I did bike tours around Portland 2012-13, everyone commented about all the homeless camps. That was nothing, it’s become homeless heaven, they’re everywhere, I was a little shocked. I heard that the homeless websites, tell readers, “move to Portland”, that’s not helping the situation., They say 100 people a day are moving to Portland, only making securing a home even harder.
Most people I meet in Europe, if tell me they’ve been to America it’s usually Florida or New York. People, the west coast is the only place to visit in America. The best vacation you can have of America from somewhere else is? Fly to Seattle, buy a vehicle and drive to San Diego stopping at Mt. Rainier, Portland, Oregon Coast, Crater Lake (my favorite), San Francisco, Yosemite, the beaches & so much more. Sell the vehicle in San Diego and fly home. Give yourself 6 weeks at the minimum and 2 months if you can pull it off. That’s the best way to see the best America has to offer, when you have limited time.
Portland is still the Berlin (hipster city) of America. It’s a bummer what’s happen to housing prices, but they’re just catching up to the other west coast cities, SF, LA, Seattle.
I’m currently in Newport Or. riding my bike to San Diego. This blog is my attempt to get caught up to today.
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
