A new version of the same old question
Jan. 9th, 2009 06:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanWhat am I going to miss, when (if) I move to Portland from Boston? Bonus points for not saying anything about cold or snow or sports since I hate those things.
(cross-posted to Damnportlanders)
(cross-posted to Damnportlanders)
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Date: 2009-01-09 12:26 pm (UTC)Or not at ALL.
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Date: 2009-01-09 12:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-09 12:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-09 12:49 pm (UTC)Fall color spectacular.
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Date: 2009-01-09 01:09 pm (UTC)The great museums and art culture in Boston.
The social circle you currently have.
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Date: 2009-01-09 02:52 pm (UTC)Oh wait, we're missing those now. Good luck in Portland!
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Date: 2009-01-09 02:52 pm (UTC)if you partake, Burdick's chocolate shop (I am addicted to their shaved chocolate for making hot chocolate and so have to arrange for restocking once or twice a year)
I disagree with
Going to the beach in the summer is different here; it's almost never as hot as it can be on the east coast. The water is almost always much colder -- too cold for me to be comfortable going all the way in -- with large, sometimes dangerous waves. and there's usually a strong breeze. I love visiting the Pacific coast, but it's really not the same as going to a beach in MA, and I do miss being able to do that a couple of times a summer.
If there's more higher ed in your future, Boston certainly has many more options than Portland does.
Being proud of your state for supporting equal rights (e.g. marriage)
chipmunks, cardinals, blue jays
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Date: 2009-01-09 07:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-11 03:50 pm (UTC)But there are stellers jays, and some kinds of ground squirrels right?
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Date: 2009-01-11 06:21 pm (UTC)Yes to Stellar Jays and Scrub Jays also. I don't see the Stellars in my particular neighborhood; they prefer a higher density of conifers, it seems.
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Date: 2009-01-12 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-12 09:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-11 06:47 pm (UTC)http://racphoto.com/Parks/WA/Ridgefield/Ridgefield.html
and there are some OR/WA chipmunk and squirrel photos here:
http://racphoto.com/Mammals/Mammals.html
and some critters -- including bugs! -- in his backyard:
http://racphoto.com/Parks/OR/Portland/Backyard/Backyard.html
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Date: 2009-01-09 02:57 pm (UTC)Yes, Cambridge, I'm looking at you ...
Plus, the overwhelming majority of the streets were laid out by early American cows, and show it.
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Date: 2009-01-09 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-11 03:52 pm (UTC)Yeah and there's nothing worse than being lost in the boston burbs trying to figure out WHAT STREET YOU ARE ON! GPS is the new cell phone, as in "how did we ever live without it?"
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Date: 2009-01-09 03:20 pm (UTC)People who talk funny.
People who don't think that YOU talk funny.
Sunshine?
Wildlife of the Eastern US.
All the places that you frequent where they know you (if not by name then by face) - your favorite restaurants and stores and all that crap. Not that you won't find new ones, but you'll still miss the old ones. And it'll take a while to get the new ones all nice and familiar. Admittedly, this last part isn't Portland-specific, but still, moving as an adult is stressful in all sorts of weird ways.
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Date: 2009-01-11 03:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-11 04:18 pm (UTC)And moving as an adult is kind of like starting a new job - even if it's a great new job, you don't know where anything is and everything takes longer than it should and you make stupid mistakes. I find that transition period annoying and tiring. But it's exciting, too.
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Date: 2009-01-09 03:51 pm (UTC)I think you'll gain a lot more than you'll lose.
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Date: 2009-01-11 03:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-11 06:05 pm (UTC)The other thing I miss out here is old mystery, the stuff Lovecraft's stories are built on. Scratch the surface here and you just find dirt. Well, dirt and mastadon bones that are just going to be bulldozed and have tract homes built on them.
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Date: 2009-01-09 03:58 pm (UTC)Obviously latitude is another factor in this as well, the overall length of day being a bit shorter here today than in Boston. But you'd get those minutes back in the summer, when the longest days are a little longer.
ah, and thinking about sunrise and sunset reminds me that the first few years I lived here, the association of ocean & east was strong enough in my brain to frequently screw up my efforts to refer to directions. I knew which way to point towards the Pacific ocean, but I kept calling the opposite direction "west".
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Date: 2009-01-11 03:42 pm (UTC)Thanks for commenting, this is good stuff!
Why move to Portland?
Date: 2009-01-09 04:50 pm (UTC)Let me see...in Boston...food and rent are more expensive, people are ruder, and drivers are way wackier. You'd have to get used to driving politely and not jaywalking.
However -- it really does drizzle for months on end (October 15 to July 15, in my recollection). Winter is 41 degrees and drizzly. It doesn't really rain hard enough to get in the way of doing things, but it can wear on the soul.
What would you miss? Probably not much -- Portland now has good food, good music, a fair bit of funky culture, and farmers markets that I covet mightily. However, you won't see those crisp, blue, midwinter days; and in the fall, the green just dulls a bit -- none of those astounding New England autumn colors.
Should you move there -- let HC know and I'll introduce you to my favorite professional dogwalker...
mll
Re: Why move to Portland?
Date: 2009-01-09 06:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-09 09:24 pm (UTC)Maybe I'm just antisocial, but I have never gotten used to saying "Hello" to EVERYONE I pass on the street. There is a lot to be said for the quite, reserved New England demeanor.
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Date: 2009-01-11 03:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-11 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-10 07:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-11 03:01 pm (UTC)-- Independent book stores (like that wicked neat sci-fi book store in Harvard Square)
-- Independent coffee houses (like that one in Porter square with the bright colored somewhat smelly couches)
-- Sundays on the Charles when they close off the street and turn it into a park where you can skate and stuff
-- The art museum, the museum of natural history, all the rest
-- Independent music stores (is Disk Diggers still there? I loved that place. There used to be an insanely cute guy with long black hair who worked there. I would go in and buy CDs just to gaze upon him LOL :-)
I live in FL now, and the only benefits to being here are the weather and having found the love of my life. I guess it's a fair trade. :-)
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Date: 2009-01-11 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-11 03:37 pm (UTC)I like that you notice the little details of the house! I'm a big fan of mundane details--they are very important. I don't post more pictures of my house because it is so dirty :D.
WAY OUT WEST
Date: 2009-01-11 05:44 pm (UTC)Re: WAY OUT WEST
Date: 2009-01-11 07:39 pm (UTC)Anyway, sounds like a ringing endorsement of the Pacific Northwest. Thanks!