Love/Like/Loathe

I would be remiss to only spew out how much I disliked living here. There was good here. Otherwise, I would not have made it this long. I would broken months and months ago. So, I thought I would write a list of things I loved, liked, and loathed about living in Portland.

Things I Loved About Living in Portland (in no particular order)

1.) The Columbia River Gorge
2.) Mount Hood
3.) The Pacific Ocean
4.) Hood River
5.) Tillamook National Forest
6.) Olympic National Park
7.) Sequoia National Park
8.) The Columbia River
9.) The Willamette River
10.) Skyview Horse Ranch
11.) Three Pools
12.) Access to abundant U Pick farms
13.) Powell's Books
14.) McMenamins
15.) Great public transportation
16.) IKEA!!!!
17.) No mosquitos
18.) No humidity
19.) Mild winters

Things I Liked About Living in Portland

1.) Access to multiple sports teams (both professionally and for my kids)
2.) Farmers markets
3.) Gardens/Parks (inside and outside of the city)
4.) Abundant walking trails
5.) Abundant good restaurants/bars/eateries
6.) Tons of concerts
7.) (Seemingly) Every store you can imagine within driving distance
8.) Roads were always kept in great repair - no potholes, etc...

Things I Loathed About Living in Portland

1.) Cost of living
2.) Traffic
3.) The people -  snobby, uninviting, unfriendly, selfish, unthoughtful, unconnected,  etc...(not everyone fit this bill, but you would be shocked at how many people did.)
4.) Fall/Winter/Spring Cloudy Weather
5.) Mercedes, BMW's, Jaguars, Range Rovers - basically any luxury car I would be happy to not see for the rest of my life. They seem to be the vehicles of choice around here, and I have come to associate those cars with certain types of people. (I know, I know, not every person who drives a fancy car is a pompous jerk, but I won't be able to feel this way again until I have removed myself from this place.)


When I first started writing this post I thought my list of  'loves' would be the shortest and my list of 'loathes' would be the longest. As I look over this list I guess what I have just learned is that the most important things to me aren't nature - like I thought - but rather quality of life. Are people kind, inviting, regular average people? Can a family afford to have a parent stay home on a single budget? Is the weather good? Maybe, just maybe, I can find beauty anywhere, but what I really need is a tribe of my own - something I was sorely lacking here. It is beautiful here. Truly it is. But after looking at this list, and knowing how miserable I was here, clearly beauty isn't enough for me. I need people. Much more than I ever thought.