If you have been keeping up with the blog, you know that we are in the process of relocating to Oregon, either Salem or more likely to Portland for about six months. I got to pick last time when we moved from Oklahoma to Georgia, so this time it is Ilona’s turn to decide where to go.
I don’t exactly regret moving here as I enjoyed the beach and we were close to my family in NC and my grandmother in Orlando. The girls went to a very nice elementary school that they could walk to and the climate was warm. Ilona would say too warm for her Russian blood but we had a pool that we all enjoyed. Sadly however, it seems now to always rain. Our wooden fence actually rotted and fell over. I have nightmares that the new fence also falls and Dell and Luka run loose and terrorize the neighborhood. Luka is a gentle giant and Dell is like some sort of super speedy land shark. I don’t really think that they are scary but most people won’t come in the house, go figure.
We considered a lot of places from Wisconsin to Kentucky. We even entertained the thought of emigrating to New Brunswick in Canada north of New England. That actually would have been my first choice for several reasons including universal health-care but despite our best efforts and promises of financial remuneration we could not get one single Canadian immigration lawyer in New Brunswick to return our calls or emails. Ilona who has worked for law firms says that it is not a Canadian thing as much as it is a lawyer thing. It still pisses me off.
Despite being somewhat disappointed that we will not be citizens of the Great White North (Bob and Doug Mackenzie ref) I had decided to remain neutral and support her in this as it is her turn to pick a place. I did not want to influence her to move to an area that she later would have been unhappy in. She came here with me and was never really happy with it but rarely complained either. The least I could do was return the favor and really the most important thing was to get a house we liked in an area with good schools for the kids.
When she recently started looking into the Pacific Northwest, I really could not have been happier. While she has mostly seen it online and in movies, I have actually been there and am quite fond of the area. Many, many years ago when I was a young man, our ship, the U.S.S. Reasoner FF 1063 ,visited Portland as some sort of Fleet Appreciation thing. A little known fact about the Reasoner is that the Village People filmed the video for their song In the Navy on the ship. That’s right, not only am I an ex-sailor who works out at the YMCA and enjoys Broadway musicals, my old boat has a very tangible connection to the frigging Village People.
But I digress. We were all excited to get liberty in Portland as it was not a port we visited regularly. We had to actually travel up a river to get in and due to limited dock space our ship and the others lined up parallel to each other. We were on the outside so we had to cross like 2 or 3 other ships to get to the pier. We also had to wear our dress white uniforms off the ship, which is really unusual.
After basic and A school, a Pacific fleet sailor almost never wears his dress uniform off the ship. Honestly, it is sort of dangerous to do so. Doing it in San Diego would basically be like wearing a sign asking to be beaten and robbed or worse. For some strange reason we are not terribly popular with the locals outside of our bases. I have heard that in Virgina there are signs that say “No dogs or sailors on the grass.” Most likely it is due to the fact that after weeks or months at sea we mostly want to drink, fight or get laid. Hopefully all three.
We all bitched and cried about the uniform thing, but the powers that be were quite firm on the subject - if we wanted to leave the ship, we would be doing it in those awesome polyester bell bottoms and stupid Gilligan hats. Yeah, I know it looks cool in the movies, but it sucks to wear. Our fears were, however, unfounded. The city is beautiful and the people of Portland were incredibly friendly, probably cause we don’t go there a lot and it was just after the first Gulf War, and I don’t think I bought a single drink the whole time I was there. We all had a very good time.
Perhaps too much of a good time. Portland was also the only time I sort of got in trouble. After a fun filled evening a fellow petty officer, ET2 Doug Matthews, and I found a shopping cart and proceeded to take turns pushing each other back to the ship in it. We also must have made a lot of noise as well. Like most drunks, we thought we were terribly sneaky and ditched the cart just short of the first ship we had to cross to get to ours. However, due to our loud booze fueled stupidity, they heard us coming from some ways away.
We were quite strongly verbally reprimanded and ordered to return the “borrowed” shopping cart, while they spoke to the Officer of the Watch on our ship about our inappropriate behavior. At the time I did not see what the big deal was but now as an older and hopefully wiser man I can see their point. Two drunken non-commissioned officers in dress uniforms pushing one another in a stolen shopping cart was not the image that the USN wanted to portray to the fine people of Portland. Favorable no, accurate you bet.
So anyway that is my Portland story and at least part of the reason that I have fond memories of the area and am excited to go back.
The immigration lawyer thing… Hmmmm you may actually want to try along the border of Maine and New Brunswick. Look in Van Buren, Madawaska, houlton or some of the maine border towns. The American lawyers may know of some New Brunswick lawyers.
If you still don’t get a response, poke me I have people who live up there who can poke the lawyer.
I love your Portland story. I get really antzy sometimes and wish I could pick up and move. I’m not brave enough to do it though. With our two stable jobs, 3 kids, and family within a few hours drive, I feel like we are tied down. I’ve been itching to get out of Kansas for my entire life. One day, I’ll get fed up enough with the schools, and get the courage to cut my ties to the area.
Great story Lord Panda! I have a similiar drunken shopping cart story, but I never got in trouble. =D
Best of luck with the move. My FIL lives in that area, and he LOVES it. A little too cold for my desert blood, but beautiful none the less.
See, if you were singing IN THE NAVY, you’d have gotten away with it. :::nods:::
and welcome to the left coast… i can now stalk you! oooooo…. a coast drive in the mustang.
I for one agree with wedschilde, about the singing and the stalking too.
Yay for west coast. or north west actuelly.
Reece,
No stalking needed. We would be thrilled to have you over to the new place.
We would do San Dog but I saw a video where a Jets fan, got jumped and arrested
by the cops at a Chargers game. Your police are too scary there. I am looking forward
to being a hippy.
oh god you have NO idea. i’m a raiders fan and the stadium cops here are pretty… brutal. you’d think we were in the middle east :::grins::: and hell, not like you guys can’t come visit and we can show you a panda or three. or four. i think we have four now. maybe even five. i can’t tell. they got catholic when they’re over here ::::grins:::
and i’d grab a hotel
nothing says guest is here too long than someone staying underfoot. :::grins:::
seriously would love to take kasuge up the coast.
You know, even though San D police are scary, just three hours north is a beautiful coastal hippy town in California… ::grins:: Reece says it’s too rural though, lol! (but we have amazing schools)
Awsome port story. I say too bad the Navy did away with dress whites
You guys looked mighty fine in them!
Gordon – I currently live in Portland and would love to stand you a drink when you arrive. The fact you are staying for 6 months means you can come for the best time (Spring through Fall).
And I would be honored to take you up on that. We are actually planning on staying in OR but we are going to rent a place for 6 months while our GA places sells and we find a home either in Portland or Salem. Ilona has been fairly firm on the no more moving thing.
I will second Stewart’s comment (I suspect its my husband, Stewart, responding). We love Portland so would be happy to supply any infomation that would help your relocation.
I’m new to your website but have been devouring your books over the last month – imagine my delight at finding out you are moving to my city! Here’s another Portlander offering an assistance in relocation, and I’m a librarian, if that helps any
I thought Portland was really rainy. Maybe I’m wrong. I’m in Montana, maybe you should check it out here. I think we are having the mildest winter out of all the states!
I have heard that to, but honestly it is raining here, right now. I don’t see how it could be all that worse, plus we might get to see snow there. Our kids do not even remember what snow looks like and I know Ilona misses it. I will just have to get one of those fancy sun lamps.
Besides, don’t you worry about Dick Cheney popping up and shooting you in the face?
FYI – Dick Cheney is from Wyoming not Montana. I will allow my state to take the blame for that from Montana. Although he was born in Lincoln Nebraska, he was raised in Casper, Wyoming.
While Montana is stunning, I love being a native born Wyomingite. You just have to learn to deal with the wind. Alot of wind.
No Gordan that is where I live, south texas. Dickhead did it just north of us, asshole came back to Texas along with Failure! I think the whole lot still live here. I shuddrer!!
I had a vendor that use to sell me jewelry and he said he googled failure and a picture of Bush showed up lol
Gordon, I have been to Oregon many times and I agree the people are wonderful ! Many of my friends have moved from So. CA to Oregon/Washington, and would never move back. We moved from So. CA to Texas Gulf coast, job move. It’s not the worst but I want to be on the West Coast. I am crossing my fingers and doing a little dance for a transfer to Portland, or Seattle. Great story, thanks for sharing
*whispers* But I don’t want you to leave Georgia.
I suspect from somethings you said that you don’t live far from my hubby’s family farm.
Even though we only go up there about once or twice a yr I got a small thrill thinking…”Hey, Ilona & Gordon are right down the road.
*sigh* But I understand wanting your kids to actually go to school.
Good luck and I hope the move goes smoothly and the place you pick makes you happy.
*off to sulk in the corner*
Gordon: It’s a wonderful choice. Such a beautiful area and more temperate climate. But if it’s snow you want, throw the kids in the car and come up to VA! Because of el Nina, we have a lot more of it than the Pacific Northwest. I’m looking at 32+ inches in our backyard and we have more coming on Monday. You all are more than welcome to stay with us (we are not stalker/shifter/murderers and have extra guestrooms)! In any event, good luck with the move. I think it will be a great one once it’s over.
Gordon – Nice story!
Years ago of friends of mine who were in the Navy – I remember similar stories quite fondly. (I firmly resisted pressure to join – at the time they were just letting women onto boats – I wasn’t looking forward to being a ground-breaker.)
I’d like to pile on with the rest of the Northwest gang – welcome (in advance) to the area. Happy to help you get oriented. Maybe we could all take you to a neighborhood McMenamin’s and introduce you to area microbrews.
I’m guessing Oregon beaches are different from Georgia beaches, but you should be about an hour from the beach and an hour from the mountains (surf and snow). Something for everyone.
Are you getting snow today? CNN claims snow in GA.
No, just the normal cold drizzle. One time many years ago when Ilona and I were in Atlanta I do remember it being bitterly cold and snowing. According to my daughter, locals here get very defensive when you mention that it does not snow. Someone told her that it once snowed in 1991. I told her that if it happened before you were born it does not count.
It is in fact snowing at this very minute, the girls are outside playing in the what I would call frozen rain but still they are exited.
If y’all want snow, hop in the car and drive to Atlanta. We got it. Quite pretty.
Navy guys have the best stories. An author buddy of mine (retired Navy) shares them with me every now and then. I just have to get him drunk enough first. They’re always worth the bar tab.
*That’s right, not only am I an ex-sailor who works out at the YMCA and enjoys Broadway musicals, my old boat has a very tangible connection to the frigging Village People.*
My husband and I both laughed at this!
When I was a dorky teenager I got booted from a WallMart for pushing a loud, drunken friend (who was over 21) around in a shopping cart at 1 am. (the only WallMart is a town over and used to be open 24/7)
Welcome to Oregon. (when you finally get here)
Your Navy trip to Portland was probably during Rose Festival. That’s the only time I recall having Navy ships in town, at least that many of them. Always fun to see the ships lined up along the river and the sailors walking around town.
And then maybe you can have a book signing at Powell’s. The staff at the Cedar Hills store do a great job with signings. I’ve been to quite a few signings there.
Aren’t you getting snow now? Doc Vin did his residency in Atlanta and it snowed on us 2 years out of 3.
Great story. The kids will be SO happy to have the ammo on you being bad LOL
Did you guys have Kate Daniels based in Ga before you moved there?
Hmmm, never lived in the north-west – well besides Alaska, but I don’t think of that as north-west, just north, LOL
Hopefully you find the perfect rental and schools!!
I wish you a safe journey. I am hoping to move back to Portland. I have a call-back interview in 2 weeks. I lived there 20 years ago (after moving from Altanta) and it broke my heart when I had to leave for another job. Portland is a very welcoming city, with lots of fun things to do.
Best wishes on the move! I spent about 10 years in Seattle and 3 in Portland, only drove through Salem a time or two. After growing up in southern Arizona, I was amazed by how green everything was in both areas. Green = rain, which was actually nice after years of dry. I do remember some very severe ice storms in the time I was there. I’d never seen ice 3 inches thick on a car before – just on the side that faced winds coming off the gorge.
FYI, I have a fear of heights so my friends thought it was hilarious that I was living in the town with the most bridges (some quite elevated) in the area. Talk about panic attacks everytime I drove in Portland.
It’s bizarre and rude that none of the New Brunswick immigration lawyers never got back to you, but why not contact ones in a major urban centre, like Vancouver or Toronto? Most big cities in Canada have a population base that is roughly 40 to 50% first generation immigrant, so there are a LOT of immigration lawyers around.
With the exception of the province of Quebec, which has tweaked its immigration laws to make it easier for Francophones to come to Canada, a Canadian immigration lawyer from BC is going to be just as knowledgeable as one from NB. In fact, the former is likely to know more than the latter, having been exposed to a bigger client base. In other words, just because you want to move to NB doesn’t mean you can’t get excellent legal counsel from a Canadian immigration lawyer based in a different province.
Good luck with your next move, but I hope you won’t let your frustration with the NB immigration lawyers deter you from eventually moving across the border!
Sending good thoughts for the move. I, too, was secretly thrilled to know you lived so close, well, I’m in SC, it’s sorta close. I’m hoping y’all find your true home in Oregon. *G* Your Navy story is great, btw.
Welcome to God’s Country! PNW is the BEST place to be. One of my favorite memories was taking an afternoon boat ride around the Portland port. BBQ on the water, was quite enjoyable.
Keeping fingers crossed that the move will be smooth – from another Oregonian.
Awesome story! (Love the image of the shopping cart ride on the esplanade!)
I’d also guess you were here for Rose Festival, and yes, the Navy gets lots of love around Rose Festival time. (Interpret love to == exactly what you think it means – drinking, lots of company and opportunities to get laid.)
Rain – that’s the one place I really have to reset you. The Pacific Northwest in the western seaboard is exactly like Ireland. In fact, many people call the strip of green that is the predominant feature out here a temperate rain forest. We don’t get inches of rain per downfall, not at all like the east coast rains, but we have a gentle drizzle that to the unsuspecting seems to start around 1-Nov and peter out around 5-July. If the issue with rain is grey, dark and damp, the Pac NW is likely not for you, unless you’re only here from July to Sep. We have (lots of) beautiful days wedged in the other months, and we don’t ever get really hot (people here whine at 80); but we don’t have the sleepy southern daylight thing either. Additionally, we’re at latitude, so in Dec, Jan it really is sunrise nearly at 8 and pitch black out by 4. We make up for it in summer (sunrise can be as early at 5, and sunset near mid-summers is nearly 11). So, while I absolutely love the amenities (beach about 75 minutes from town; mountain just a little longer eastward), Powells, rarely extremes in weather; if you’ve got Seasonal Affective Disorder at all, living in Portland is like giving your SAD steroids.
That said, should you still end up here, I too would happily stand you a beer or 2, and show you some of the jewels unique to the area.
And if you’re here by the first week in June you can head downtown and watch the Navy ships dock for the Rose Festival (sort of like NY fleet week)- it’s great to watch them arrive cause they go through the raised bridges with the water spouts on and all the sailors lined up on deck. (They’re even still required to wear their dress whites when they leave the ships)
2 quick things:
1. Was a home health and hospice nurse for years. Went in MANY hundreds of homes with dogs. Got bit about 25 times over the years. By small dogs, only small dogs. NEVER once by a large dog. I made the owners of the little dogs put them up before I walked in the door.
2. Just last week watched a Weather Channel show on the rainiest cities, the cities in the southeast won the top 8 or so. So, anyone thinking of moving from the southeast to the northwest would be fine.
Love the story! I just went to Portland this last summer and it was beautiful. And Powell’s was just amazing. (Unfortunately I had no room in my bag for more books, I already was bringing back Pinot Noir.) People were lovely, we walked everywhere (even when warned it was far) and had a great time. If you want less rain but more snow you might want to think about the high desert on the other side of the Cascades. My folks retired near Mt. Bachelor/Bend and love it there. It is amazing the difference in climate (and resulting flora), though some years you can get a lot of snow…
Having grown up in both New York and Eugene OR, I am familiar with changes. I also worked/lived in CA for 16 years. Now we reside in Corvallis and often get up to Salem and Portland. Welcome to the area. While it does rain…a lot, it is also wonderful in the spring, summer, and fall. I cannot tell you how please I am to see such a talented author join our community in Oregon!
WOW! If she does a book signing, I might get to meet one of my favorite authors! I’m living in Cincinnnati and have decided it’s way past time for a change and settled on either Portland or Salem, probably Salem. Great minds, I guess. I hope to meet you both there. Out of curiosity, what breed are Dell and Luka? One the main reasons I decided on Portland is that it’s the second most pet-friendly city in the US and Denver (no. 1) had no appeal at all.