Portland: Final Impressions

One thing I haven't yet mentioned were the meth fiends. The pictures I've posted or painted with words thus far have, for those people familiar with Portland, been devoid of the aggressive, twacked out druggies who like to accost you at all hours of the day. There were many homeless folks, like San Francisco. Many of them like to babble incoherently, and if you're unlucky enough, they'll babble in your face directly at you like you were some kind of mechanic who had wronged them.

Late at night Audrey, with little experience dealing with drugged out weirdos, was taken aback by the people who would temporarily join our walking cotillion, loudly laughing and talking about how much they liked something that would then trail away into mumbles that you couldn't understand but could sense the person's enthusiasm. "Was that guy on LSD?" she'd ask.

"No honey, that was a meth fiend, like all these other jaunty scab-faced black-toothers..." Actually, not too many exhibited the normal facial features--they were still in the fun, early stages of their dependencies.

They weren't totally overrunning the place, but the aggressiveness is something I hadn't seen before. Maybe chock it up to the young folks and their sense of privilege and entitlement affecting their drug habits and drugged out point of view.

Anyway, it wasn't a deal breaker.

There were, though, deal breakers as far as choosing a city to live in. We're not in the market to move, by any stretch, but we've been told before about how we would love Portland and could totally live their and would fit in perfectly.

We would fit in, mostly. And I could get used to the bikability, and the Blazers are a quality run local sporting franchise. But the city itself, with the quaint half-sized blocks, is oddly slow. That's nice for many folks, but I'm not sure it's the kind of thing we're looking for.

I'm not sure what exactly it was about Portland, but I wouldn't live there. Visit? Sure...

It was a great trip and wonderful birthday celebration, and I'm glad we got to celebrate with as many people as showed up. Thanks everybody who made it, and thanks Corrie for putting it together and making it happen!