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Portlanders often talk about Portland as being the "biggest small town" or the "smallest big city". Even with a population of about 550,000 (there are 2+ million in the metropolitan area), little connections between Portlanders often reveal themselves. For example, one of my high school teachers was recently published in the Oregon Humanities Journal, and his article was referenced in a blog. He shared that link with me, and I discovered that it was the blog of the father of a my best friend during kindergarten. Also, seeing people you know at the symphony or at a concert or just wandering downtown is inevitable. This is not to say that everyone knows everyone, but that the social networks of the city seem very small.

The most wonderful thing about the city is what lies just outside it, and how the city relates to it. Within 2 hours driving, you can reach an 11,000 foot mountain, the rugged Pacific coast, the Columbia Gorge (beautiful hiking/wind surfing on the river), the high desert of central Oregon, or countless forests (including the 5,000 acre Forest Park, which is actually within the city limits). It is these natural treasures which lure many new Portlanders, and which provide natural escapes to city members. They are (at least currently) well protected, with the Urban Growth Boundary, which draws an absolute line around the whole city, which development cannot cross. The city is focusing on infill, while protecting the farms and wilderness just outside the city. This can lead to the strange phenomenon of reaching the edge of the UGB, where dense development ends, and a farm begins. 

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