For those of you in Oregon...

[Lee]

How bad is the weather?  I'm from Colorado, so I have a bit of a sunshine addiction.  If there are 3-4 cloudy days in a row here we all seem to turn into Mr. Hyde.  I'm thinking of moving to the Portland area, but the weather may be an issue.  The people I've mentioned my moving to have all warned me that it's unbearably cloudy/rainy all the time.  For those of you who are there all year long, is it actually unpleasant?  I'm just looking for somewhere new and green to live for a year or two while applying to schools, so I'd probably give it a shot either way.  I have a friend in southern Oregon who says that it's nice, but I think he'd say the state is made of gold if it would make me move.    I'd appreciate your opinions. 

[Janet_Girl]

We do get sunshine.  OK it makes the day a holiday.    But I love the Portland area.  We have a little more than our share of rain, but that does not stop us from being one of the biggest bicycle cities in the US.

The top ten U.S. cities for percentage of bicycling commuters:

City / Percentage
Portland / 3.5
Minneapolis / 2.4
Seattle / 2.3
Tucson / 2.2
San Francisco / 1.8
Sacramento / 1.8
Washington DC / 1.7
Oakland / 1.5
Honolulu / 1.4
Denver / 1.4

Virgin Vacations ranks Portland at number 2 for a biking vacation.  My DIL just move to the PNW, up in the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.  She is from Vegas.  And she was afraid she would hate it.  But she loves it.

And to stay as green as we are, we need rain.  I will take rain over snow any time.      Come on out Lee.

[Lacey Lynne]

Hey, man:

I'll be in Portland exactly 1 year in 3.5 weeks. 

They're all wrong about the drear.  Sure, it's cloudly and rainy in the winter and spring.  Heck, it's small-time compared to Pennsylvania where I grew up.  In The Burgh, we had ice, snow and bitter cold.  Also, when I was a kid and a teenager, we had industry there on a scale that no other city on Planet Earth could either approach let alone match.  That meant pollution like you cannot imagine.  Now, thankfully, that's gone.  Anyway, Portland winters and springs are actually quite mild.  No biggie. 

They say summer here is "like a ripe peach" which is fairly accurate.  Of course, we moved here from Tampa, Florida (long, long story).  My for-now wife says if you like moderate and temperate climates, then Portland is Number One in the U.S.A.  Actually, she's probably right.

Personally, I liked the summers in Florida as well as Caliente Resort & Spa but not much else.  So much of Florida is now overbuilt.  That's just me.  Others have no problem with it.

Yeah, man, you might REALLY like Portland.  Many people do.  Actually, I'm pretty cool with it.  May be here for a while myself.  Good luck.

   Lacey