PDX

Our trip to Portland (PDX) last weekend was fun, disappointing, refreshing, challenging, and so on. We went there to scout the PDX scene for what we were hoping would be a restored or solid Craftsman home (PDX is full of bungalows) at a price that would allow us to sell our new bungalow on the island, and live comfortably on my income alone. This would have allowed shell to stay home with the kids full-time, and spend some time exploring other goals she has.

Well...we did see some nice homes, and some of the neighborhoods are wonderful. We even found a great house with enough space for all of us, a home office, an extra room, and a huge basement where I could set up a music room. The trouble was, the homes in the neighborhoods we wanted to live in (safe, close to cool stuff, good for the kids) were overpriced, and the home we fell in love with was in the ghetto.

That's the trouble with PDX right now. There is really no great job market to support the prices, but Seattle is close, so the prices up here tend to have an effect on the prices in PDX. That's my theory anyway. I have noticed that many of the asking prices have been consistently falling there, so I am keeping my eyes peeled in case something interesting comes up.

In the meantime, and probably the foreseeable future, we will stay put here on the island.

As for the island, and our house, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. In fact, that was a heavy influence on our decision *not* to aggressively pursue PDX, because in order to replace what we have here, it would take a very special house and neighborhood.

The challenging part of the trip was trying to keep our twins from kicking our a$$#@ for dragging them around in the car for three days. They had *some* fun, and we actually got to eat a nice dinner alone one night since the hotel hooked us up with a great baby sitter. The girls also got to enjoy some fine room service as you can see in this picture.

So...Bainbridge is still home.