Back from our Portland Oregon vacation

I heard a ton of great things about Portland, Oregon. When I was doing my vacation research and planning our week there, I had a feeling we would have a blast. In fact, before we even set out I was thinking that Portland sounded a lot like a place we could actually live for awhile. People were telling me that the coffee shops and bakeries there are to die for, that the people there are easy going and super friendly. The coast, beaches, and mountains are gorgeous. The shopping is incredible, especially because there is no tax at all! It's a great place to dine out because the food is of high quality and there are so many vegetarian and vegan choices. After spending a week there, I can say that all the things we heard about Portland are very true. We instantly fell in love with the area:)

We could totally live in Portland. At least for a couple of years. Imagine Vancouver, without much of the ethnic diversity, and at a larger scale. They say Vancouverites are somewhat uptight but you wouldn't really know until you meet some of the people in Portland. Customer service is excellent and people are just pleasant down there. The only thing is that you have to drive a lot to enjoy the mountains and the coast. I mean A LOT. We actually stayed in Welches and it took us an hour to drive into Portland's city center. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive from our resort out to the beaches along the northern coast. The amount of driving we had to do down there in one week was more than what we drive here at home in one year!!! Then again, we're only used to driving about 15-20 minutes a week here.

I'll write a more detailed post of what we did during our week there but for now, here is a sneak peek.