Reply #16: Oregon is a wonderful place [View All]

[jsw_81]

Imagine a beautiful, progressive state with a mild climate, incredible scenery, and some of the nicest, friendliest people you'll ever meet. That's my Oregon.

With regard to the Portland area, it's a very vibrant and well-kept city full of all kinds of interesting neighborhoods and shops, sort of like a junior Seattle or San Francisco. Downtown is arguably the nicest of any major city in the country (think very clean and very pretty). Portland is incredibly liberal and gave Kerry something like 70 percent of the vote in the last election, making Oregon "blue" for the fifth time in a row. We even went for Dukakis!

Portland's suburbs are pretty boring and bland (just like suburbs everywhere), but they have some of the nicest scenery and views in the country if you can afford it. There have been some heroic efforts to reign in suburban sprawl and provide residents with an excellent public transportation network, and many urban planners view Portland as one of the best planned cities in the nation.

Oregon is also unique in that we passed a death with dignity (assisted suicide) law, all elections are vote by mail, and you're not allowed to pump your own gas.

Washington -- I'm from there -- is also a lot like Oregon but is more crowded and a bit more cosmopolitan. But you can't go wrong with either one; they're both great states and terrific places to live.