Oregon

I am aware of the problems, but what I'm looking for are the following:

1. Not needing to drive. Not at all. I resent every dollar I spend on the car and hate how I have to help pollute the environment to get anywhere. The increased traffic is the fault of people driving out of habit when they don't need to. For that reason, Vancouver is out. It's too car-oriented. Here in Minneapolis, younger people bicycle in all weather, but I no longer can.

2. Warmer winters. I grew up in Minnesota when it was much colder than it is now, but as I get older, I find winter pretty much intolerable. Walking is my favorite form of exercise, and I've been wary of walking in the winter due to two injuries (a broken elbow one year and a badly wrenched knee another) from ice.

3. Convenience. I love going to things like opera, ballet, foreign films, classical music, and live theater, and the Twin Cities have those in abundance, but they are spread out all over the metropolitan area instead of being concentrated within a few blocks of one another. And they require driving and parking (expensive). Yuck. The only things I attend regularly are the ones I can bus or walk to, and that's not much.

4. Better medical coverage. In 13 years, I have not found anything as user-friendly or as economical as Kaiser, and that includes what I see of their Medicare plans.

By the way, the best parts of Minneapolis and St. Paul are gentrifying in the same way as Portland. If I decide to stay here, I may have a great deal of trouble finding a place to live in my preferred parts of town.

At the moment, I can't afford to move anywhere. I would not move anywhere sight unseen, of course. If I can manage it, I'd like to spend a month in Portland and maybe a couple of other West Coast areas to scope things out before making a final decision.