Oregon

The number of people moving here is quite high and housing prices are high and increasing. I pay a little over a grand for modest one bedroom apartment in Beaverton.Traffic seams to get worse every week

I am not a cultural giant but..

Portland is a very cool city with great public transit access and many things to see and do. You can hop a train into the city on the weekend and walk along the river front and explore the vendors and artisans of the outdoor market place and watch bands and other entertainment for free and choose from many differen food trucks .

The city has phenomenal restaurants, bars, bakeries and breweries. There is the legendary Voodoo Doughnuts. Many coiffee houses like Stumptown Coffee. There is one of the coolest bookstores on the planet Powell's Bookstores. You have the old Bagdhad Theater in South Portland that is not a pub/cinema in one of th he coolest neighborhoods in Portland.

There a great wineries in the area and the number of micro breweries making great beers and ciders and micro distilleries are increasing.

I find the people here to be very friendly. The pace is a bit slower then in the northeast where I'm from. The drivers are more cautious in an annoying sort of way to a Masshole who is used to driving in Massachusetts

The state has some stunning natural beauty. You have the many water falls like Multnomah Falls along the Scenic Columbia River Gorge Highway and the BonnevilleBonneville Dam with Salmon ladder where you can observd salmon. Sturgeon and other species returning to the streams that they were born to continue the life cycle. There are beautiful pristine beaches and some great seaside towns about an hour or so to the west for starters.