ok, well what about Portland, Oregon?

i don’t really eat at any of the good fancy restaurants portland is known for these days but we may be getting to the point where in the spring and summer you might want to figure out which you’d like to eat at and make reservations ahead of time

i agree that wine country is worth checking out if that’s your thing

when the weather is great hiking can get pretty crowded at the better known spots so plan for that (go earlier or later to avoid), or seek out some lesser known hiking spots

nobody’s mentioned the gorge or hood river yet but always a good day trip

come to my karaoke night

thanks all! we booked our flights and airbnb and will be coming in july. our kids are 11 and 7 so we won't be eating at any fancy restaurants or doing any intense hikes (they are definitely city kids). haven't decided if we're just doing a day trip to the coast or if we're going to try and stay overnight somewhere to get a bit more time in that area.

hey this is like in a week!

looking at doing the "mount hood scenic loop" - is there anywhere in particular in the columbia river gorge scenic area you recommend stopping/walking around? kind of intimidated by how big it looks. we already got the permits for multnomah falls but recommendations for places to check out between there and hood river would be appreciated

also specific recommendations off 26 between mt. hood and portland - it looks like there are lots of nice little towns right on the highway?

holy shit! well if you want to meet up I'm in Beaverton, send me a modmail or w/e, things are crazy for me lately but when aren't they, really?

thanks! this is a family trip so i don't know if i'm going to have time to slip away and socialize with adults but i can try

cathedral park is a nice park area to hang out for a low key way to spend some time. If you're into beer, check out great notion. Their alberta location has an outdoor area and they have food so it's fairly kid friendly

thanks! this is a family trip so i don't know if i'm going to have time to slip away and socialize with adults but i can try

― na (NA)

seriously, no pressure, i got a fuckton going on right now so don't feel obligated. just wanted to put an offer out so i didn't feel like a heel :)

also specific recommendations off 26 between mt. hood and portland

i just drove this way a couple weeks ago heading down to bend to see Haim and, while it's all very pretty i'm not sure there's anything worth stopping for? it's barely an hour if that between hood and the city anyways

otm imo

If you’re in town on the 9th, the Mississippi Street Fair is happening https://mississippiave.org/streetfair/

is portland just another ridiculously expensive unequal dystopia like every u.s. city right now?

it seems like a cliche to want to move there (i live in utah ugh) but i think i'd probably like it a lot if we could find jobs and housing.

is portland just another ridiculously expensive unequal dystopia like every u.s. city right now?

― the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map)

pretty much unfortunately, housing is impossibly overpriced, landlords have way too much power, the cops are some of the worst in the country, the mayor is a quisling who refuses to do anything about the cops even after they literally tear-gassed him. also, the expensive unequal dystopia aspect of it does a lot to perpetuate portland's particular racial history, which is to say that of "no blacks allowed".

that said it's queer as fuck and particularly _trans_ as fuck, everybody else is like "where can i go now" and this is literally the place of last resort for me, i live here or i die here. there are tons of us, we're building community, we're working really hard to support each other, and we're not always doing a great job of it but a lot of us are doing the work.

One of the main local(Multnomah County) ballot measure campaigns going on right now is Eviction Representation for All (ERA). It’s trying to get in place a system that nobody getting dragged thru eviction court goes without legal representation.

https://www.eratenants.org/

So that’s one small effort to push against the real estate. It also helps to push against naïve comfortable upper-middle-class people who have parasocial relationships with the Democratic Party by pointing out the reason why things are as bad as they are in the state and city is because most of the elected Dems in Salem are all landlords.

Spent a couple nights there last month, it was fun and I still love the place but holy shit has it grown in five years. Like we walked to a branch of Fifty Licks for non-dairy ice cream and ended up in an entire neighborhood at the end of 21st street that was just parking lots last time I was there and was now vast expanses of condos for yuppies. I went to Old Town Music and crossing the Burnside bridge was surreal, there are half a dozen tall buildings on the east side none of which I remember being there in 2017.

same deal in slc, just completely taken over by real estate interests, to the point where half the roads are one-lane or shut down entirely because new condos need to go up

Old Town Music on the eastside. Lol.

One of the main local(Multnomah County) ballot measure campaigns going on right now is Eviction Representation for All (ERA). It’s trying to get in place a system that nobody getting dragged thru eviction court goes without legal representation.

https://www.eratenants.org/

So that’s one small effort to push against the real estate. It also helps to push against naïve comfortable upper-middle-class people who have parasocial relationships with the Democratic Party by pointing out the reason why things are as bad as they are in the state and city is because most of the elected Dems in Salem are all landlords.

― Glower, Disruption & Pies (kingfish)

yeah a lot of my friends are really involved in organizing for ERA. fighting against the landlords here is really important but, you know, systemic inequities etc, etc.

I was there last month and it was a really nice time, outside of work anyway. Perfect weather (I guess it’s normally like that in June? Idk). I didn’t have time to get out of the city but got to see some old friends and check out parts I didn’t catch my first two times there (2011, 2021) And it seemed p much back to “”normal””??? certainly compared to feb 2021, in the aftermath of all the cops and proud boy shit, downtown all boarded up and and oh yeah a nice little snowstorm that brought everything to a halt for a couple of days

I was there last month and it was a really nice time, outside of work anyway. Perfect weather (I guess it’s normally like that in June? Idk). I didn’t have time to get out of the city but got to see some old friends and check out parts I didn’t catch my first two times there (2011, 2021) And it seemed p much back to “”normal””??? certainly compared to feb 2021, in the aftermath of all the cops and proud boy shit, downtown all boarded up and and oh yeah a nice little snowstorm that brought everything to a halt for a couple of days

― no one wants to twerk anymore (will)

lol last month? we called it "june-uary", it was fucking cold and wet the whole month. up until LAST WEEKEND which was 100 degrees, hot, dry. to the extent that pdx has anything like "normal" weather (anthropogenic climate change and all that) it's more like it is now for this time of year - upper 70s, lower 80s, mostly dry, gets hot in august then starting in september we have about 12 false autumns.

"normal" is a relative term i guess. we took covid precautions a lot more seriously than a lot of people i feel like, which had some effects. i'm leaving the house more these days, except for the past couple of weeks when mostly i've been eating ice cream and lying in bed crying instead of finding an apartment and packing to move like i'm supposed to be doing. "normal".

!!!!! I thought it was great! Lots of 60-70 degree days and a few beautiful clear days where i could see Mt Hood and Mt St. Helens (:D) and even Adams kind of peeking out from the building I was in

maybe I just kept hearing horror stories about the oppressive heat in Atl & Mem from friends/fam during June

sorry about the move tho. I stg I’ll never do it again until they put me in a box or vase

wellll l can’t actually stg on that. my gf has other designs

Been spending a lot of time in Portland over the past year.

Things I like:
- pinball everywhere
- still possible to find out about shows/events/rallies from fliers stuck on telephone poles
- every house has an eccentric lawn
- coconut rice at the Burmese food cart
- the Japanese garden
- walkable most days with a poncho or umbrella
- no sales tax (automatically 10.5% cheaper than Chicago)
- walking through Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge
- sunset after 9 p.m. this time of year

yeah I kinda f with it.probably helps that one of my best am friends moved out there a few years ago

pm too

sorry about the move tho. I stg I’ll never do it again until they put me in a box or vase

― no one wants to twerk anymore (will)

oh, i'd fully intended to die in this house, but the other thing about not leaving the house for 18 months is that it fairly well torpedoed my marriage, so we're sort of desperately trying to sell the house before the housing market tanks completely. my spending the last couple of weeks lying in bed eating ice cream and crying is sort of getting in the way of that :(

I’m really sorry Kate

no worries, i'll be ok. just having a little bit of a rough time of it.

we had a great time in portland and the surrounding area! we pared back some plans bc they were a bit overambitious for our kids' patience and my stamina for driving on twisty mountain roads, but we still saw a lot in the city and around mt. hood and down part of the coast. it was beautiful and sunny and hot pretty much the whole time we were there, so that was lucky. my favorite things were hoyt arboretum, the smaller beaches we hit between cannon beach and manzanita (short sands and hug point iirc), food cart pods, and just exploring different neighborhoods.

haha lots of twisty mountain roads, it's wild pdx has twisty mountain roads in the city proper. and yeah been great weather for this time of year a lot of the time, you absolutely lucked out. glad you enjoyed your visit! i'm doing better now for the record.

We are actually heading to Portland in the middle of August with our son, really happy to hear any recommendations in the city and area for things to do with a 10 year-old. Ideally a balance between cool things to check out in the city and some easy-ish nature walk type stuff too. Definitely going to put Hoyt on our list.

i'm moving here with my girlfriend in august. i've spent a total of two days in the town. i'm excited

For ten year olds, there are a few cool things I'd recommend in Portland:

Forrest Park is a 5,200 acre urban park with some spectacular views of Mt. Hood, Mt. Rannier and Mt. Saint Helens on a clear day.
Mount Tabor is a large forested park covering an extinct volcano with tennis courts, a playground & 360-degree views.
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is a science and technology museum. It contains three auditoriums, including a large-screen theatre, planetarium, and exhibition halls with a variety of hands-on permanent exhibits focused on natural sciences, industry, and technology.

Thanks! Super helpful!

Mt Tabor is awesome

Is that the reservoir where they spotted a kid peeing in the water on security footage, so they drained the entire thing? Such overkill for a bladder of pee

My 7 year old liked the Japanese garden quite a bit but mostly because it reminded him of Zelda Breathe of the Wild. And he loved Powells

Powells is for sure on the list.

The Portland Japanese Garden is worth a couple of hours.

Is that the reservoir where they spotted a kid peeing in the water on security footage, so they drained the entire thing? Such overkill for a bladder of pee

LOL yep, same community that won't allow fluoride in the drinking water because something something

Another fun Mt. Tabor activity to consider if you are in town on August 20th is the annual go kart races. People all around Portland build wacky vehicles and race them down the park. Lot of fun to watch. Video of past event below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_96exSrJ2c8

There’s an nice coffeehouse called the Pied Cow with a big patio where you can get coffee, desserts, beer, kid-friendly drinks late into the evening.

^^ Yes, definitely recommendations for places with outdoor seating for good food and kid friendly with beer would be appreciated as well.

The Saturday morning farmers market has tons of good food and has lots of open space. I think it would be pretty easy to pick a neighborhood or street to wander down - Belmont, Alberta, Division, etc - and find things for everyone to enjoy and probably somewhere to sit outside and get a drink and good food.

They’re less of an experience but I find Belmont Books and Mother Foucault’s much more satisfying than Powell’s.

what's that old elementary school that now has live five taprooms in it? I liked that place when I was there a few years back

Kennedy School ^^ Fun place, good outdoor courtyard, really good for brunch too.

recommendations for places with outdoor seating for good food and kid friendly with beer would be appreciated as well.

Baerlic Brewing's 11th Street location also has Ranch Pizza, which is one of the best pizzas I've had in a long time (Detroit-style). The beer is really good too, and it has outdoor seating and is definitely kid-friendly before 9 p.m.

There's also a Baerlic Taproom and outdoor tables at The Barleypod (6035 NE Halsey), which has a great range of food trucks too.

Grand Central is a bakery chain, really good for breakfast sandwiches, coffee, etc.

I think it would be pretty easy to pick a neighborhood or street to wander down - Belmont, Alberta, Division, etc - and find things for everyone to enjoy and probably somewhere to sit outside and get a drink and good food.

^^ good advice!

(er, maybe that's Kennedy School, maybe something else, but Kennedy School is good for a nice outdoor place)

Agreed that Belmont Books and Mother Foucault’s are better bookshop experiences

<q>i just drove this way a couple weeks ago heading down to bend to see Haim</q>

dude, how good was Sasami? did you see her?

<q>while it's all very pretty i'm not sure there's anything worth stopping for? it's barely an hour if that between hood and the city anyways</q>

agreed nothing worth stopping before between Portland and Bend, really.

<q>crossing the Burnside bridge was surreal, there are half a dozen tall buildings on the east side none of which I remember being there in 2017</q>

i visited Portland last weekend for the first time since late 2019 and this caught my eye, too. used to be all the tall buildings were on the west side and inner east was just low-rise warehouses and stuff. massive change over the past couple of years (no big surprise, of course).

and holy wow has the graffiti multiplied.

i love portland, still.

ah crap. ignore that ^

i just drove this way a couple weeks ago heading down to bend to see Haim

dude, how good was Sasami? did you see her?

while it's all very pretty i'm not sure there's anything worth stopping for? it's barely an hour if that between hood and the city anyways

agreed nothing worth stopping before between Portland and Bend, really.

crossing the Burnside bridge was surreal, there are half a dozen tall buildings on the east side none of which I remember being there in 2017

i visited Portland last weekend for the first time since late 2019 and this caught my eye, too. used to be all the tall buildings were on the west side and inner east was just low-rise warehouses and stuff. massive change over the past couple of years (no big surprise, of course).

and holy wow has the graffiti multiplied.

i love portland, still.

dude, how good was Sasami? did you see her?

we were late! walked onto the lawn and grabbed some space about 5 minutes before the sisters took the stage

^^ Yes, definitely recommendations for places with outdoor seating for good food and kid friendly with beer would be appreciated as well.

― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0)

pretty much everyplace has outdoor seating since covid

the graffiti really started picking up around the time of the 2020 anti-racism protests, pdx has kind of a real bad cop problem and our mayor refuses to do anything about it. also there are a lot lot lot more homeless people but gee go figure our landlord mayor isn't doing anything to help ease _that_ issue either. and all anybody talks about is whether we should _tolerate_ homeless folks, like y'all my friends don't want to be _tolerated_ they want places where they can _live_

anyway re: suggestions, y'all pretty much have it handled. the graffiti is ok except when you can't read the road signs because of it. i saw a penis girl tag for the first time last night, penis girl was viral last year or something but i'd never actually seen any of their (they're non-binary) tags before now

the one thing i will say is that downstairs at powell's has a really good children's section, it's huge and can be overwhelming (which i kinda didn't think about before inviting an autistic friend from out of town to visit) but it's definitely kid-friendly