My family is here...stretched from Carlsbad, San Francisco, and various areas in Seattle. I’m the only one in Portland.
Just took someone here for the eclipse on a scenic tour through Portland. It’s so gorgeous here but the politics are horrid!
Rescued thousands of dogs, worked with rescues in Portland and up on Vancouver Island to place them.
We tired of the rain and politics and moved to northern Michigan in December of 2014. It's gorgeous here too. And the people are far more enjoyable, the endless lakes crystal clear to the point of being unbelieveable, the sun and dry climate make some days so incredible you never want to go indoors. Groceries cost half what they did there and our home - we paid cash for it because housing is so affordable here.
Everywhere I go someone has a rifle or is carrying, it's open carry and they are doing away with permits for concealed.
We have a red fox that comes over to eat the bread we put out for the birds. In the mornings I usually have to stop and wait for the wild turkey to move off the road.
The sunsets and sunrises here are far more spectacular than there and we have three Great Lakes an hour away in one direction or another.
I got stuck once last winter and hitched a ride home with various snowmobilers passing by, walking some in between. Another time I slid on the ice on a rural road and within five minutes three strangers had stopped and worked together to get me out -as if they had known each other before...
I'm not trying to talk you into coming here. The wages are not great, car insurance is high - just saying there are wonderful places to live besides the PNW.
It completely rocks to be surrounded by Trump supporters here. I love this flyover culture, these simple and kind people who are still acting as if it were the mid-50's - opening doors, saying hello, flags all over the place at every store and tons of homes. Anyway good luck to you. I wouldn't return to the PNW for a ten minute visit.