Moving to Portland?

[OriginalWheelman]

It is very likely that I will be moving to Oregon in the near future. My wife has interviewed for a job, including a fly-in in-person interview that they paid for. We're expecting an offer this week, and if we accept it, we will be moving out there around September 1st. Time to pick the collective mind of NICO.

So I need some advice on the following:

- Obviously the car scene. We will be bringing the Miata. I will not be bringing the Z31. We're adults, I'm not looking to street race. I'm looking for tracks and sanctioned events. My wife has expressed interest in SCCA/NASA.

- Where are the good places to live? She'll be working in Hillsboro if she gets the job and she wants to be able to walk to work. It kind of limits the choices, but Hillsbroro seems very nice.

- We love the outdoors. Seems like we're moving to heaven for that?

- What do I need to know before I move there? I already know about the sales / income tax thing, but I am not entirely clear on how it works. It's just 0% sales and some% income?

- Vehicle licensing / inspection and drivers license stuff.

All in all I am excited to move back north. The people in the South are nice, but the heat is a beast I am not built to contend with. I can deal, but I'd rather be cold than sweaty, and the Mrs. agrees. She misses the winter more than I do.

[Bubba1]

It is very likely that I will be moving to Oregon in the near future. My wife has interviewed for a job, including a fly-in in-person interview that they paid for. We're expecting an offer this week, and if we accept it, we will be moving out there around September 1st. Time to pick the collective mind of NICO.

So I need some advice on the following:

- Obviously the car scene. We will be bringing the Miata. I will not be bringing the Z31. We're adults, I'm not looking to street race. I'm looking for tracks and sanctioned events. My wife has expressed interest in SCCA/NASA.

You didn't mention what part of Oregon you're moving to. It's a pretty big state. IF you're near Portland, there's PIR (Portland International Raceway) I haven't been on it but I've heard some good feedback about their road course. As far as racing, if neither of you have ever done it before, and don't own a race car (required for SCCA or NASA), you might try HPDE (hi performance driver education) first, which is a very inexpensive way to find out if that's something your want to pursue. Plus you can use your daily driver without mods. You could also try autocrossing, which is even cheaper and safer, but your track time is very limited compared to HPDE. But if the racing bug bites after trying it, then the quickest/easiest way to get a SCCA license is via a sanctioned racing school, like Skip Barber, Bertil Roos, etc.. But you're talking several thousand dollars to obtain it but on the plus side, you learn on THEIR cars. No extra $$ if you crash.

[OriginalWheelman]

As the title says I'd be moving to Portland. Specifically Hillsboro.

[Bubba1]

As the title says I'd be moving to Portland. Specifically Hillsboro.

Whoops, but regarding the rest of what I wrote beside that one sentence, I've been involved in the motorsport "hobby" for a couple decades, so I could probably answer questions if your wife is serious about getting into it.

[OriginalWheelman]

Cool. I didn't mean to sound rude. Sorry if I came across that way.

I'm going to look into HPDE and PIR. Thanks.

[szh]

I will not be able to comment myself, but I can say that my brother-in-law and his wife used to live in Tualatin (before moving further south to Molalla) and liked it a lot. It is quite nice in that area, but Tualatin is just about 20 miles from Hillsboro ... not walking distance, of course.

From what I understand from them, Hillsboro is also a nice place to live in. Houses are reasonably inexpensive, particularly if you are willing to live a bit outside town. As I recall, the big employer in Tualatin (and maybe Hillsboro too?) is Intel ...

BTW, they like Oregon a ton and would not consider moving elsewhere. His wife works for the DMV - not sure which office/town though - and has a reasonable commute. My brother-in-law works from home - web company, so easy to do remotely. Their current house is small (no kids), but they have a large size lot for their dogs to run around out back (area is fenced in) without any issues. Very safe living and quiet lifestyle to some degree.

Z

[Jesda]

Great place to live, lots of food and drink options, lots of friendly people, low crime, beautiful scenery, tolerable cost of living.

Like Seattle, traffic is becoming unbearable as Californians flock to the north to escape. If you enjoy city living, the Alphabet and Pearl districts are clean and safe. Lots of immigrants live directly south of the city or southeast where it's a little cheaper and less congested, though as the population grows these areas are becoming cleaner and more costly to live in.

The high-crime areas you want to avoid are generally to the north. That said, Portland isn't as clearly segregated as older, more traditional cities so there's a little bit of everything good and bad in most parts of the city.


If it were me, I'd find a place in Lake Oswego, a quiet upscale suburb. It's expensive, but to me, as a car owner, I'll pay more to keep my things safe and be in a neighborhood where I can go for a walk at 2am and never lock my doors without any concern for my safety.

[OriginalWheelman]

Everything I read makes it sound like a really great place to live. And the Mrs. and I love to do outdoors stuff, so it couldn't be better.

[OriginalWheelman]

It is now official. Nxer has accepted her offer from Intel and we were moving to Hillsboro! I didn't want to say anything specific. I can't imagine where saying something would cause a problem but why risk it? They want her to start on August 18th so we're going to be moving in a hurry.

[nissangirl74]

Congratulations all around: promotion, new location, new home, new opportunities.

[Jesda]

It is now official. Nxer has accepted her offer from Intel and we were moving to Hillsboro! I didn't want to say anything specific. I can't imagine where saying something would cause a problem but why risk it? They want her to start on August 18th so we're going to be moving in a hurry.

East of Portland metro are some spectacular driving roads, especially this one:
http://traveloregon.com/trip-ideas/scen ... r-highway/

[nissangirl74]

Portland happens to be <35 miles from Canby, Oregon, the site of one of the biggest Datsun meets in the entire US. Expect house guests.

[OriginalWheelman]

Congratulations all around: promotion, new location, new home, new opportunities.

Ty.

East of Portland metro are some spectacular driving roads, especially this one:
http://traveloregon.com/trip-ideas/scen ... er-highway

I've been drooling over the roads out there. After growing up with the glacial valleys and the Appalachians, the midsouth is kinda.... boring.

I um, may have went overboard but i will do this one day.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/45.5226 ... !3e0?hl=en

And I'm moving there with a brand new Miata...

Portland happens to be <35 miles from Canby, Oregon, the site of one of the biggest Datsun meets in the entire US. Expect house guests.

Well we're going to be living in a 1 bedroom for a while but if you don't mind the couch come on by!

[MinisterofDOOM]

It is now official. Nxer has accepted her offer from Intel and we were moving to Hillsboro! I didn't want to say anything specific. I can't imagine where saying something would cause a problem but why risk it? They want her to start on August 18th so we're going to be moving in a hurry.

Rock on! What does she do that landed her a job at Intel?

[OriginalWheelman]

She is a software engineer. Her title now is Linux Distribution Engineer.

[Jesda]

Niiiiiiiiice

[szh]

It is now official.

Congratulations!

Nxer has accepted her offer from Intel and we were moving to Hillsboro! I didn't want to say anything specific.

That was my guess! Although I was not entire sure!

They are the big employer in Tualatin (which I knew about), but I was not hundred percent sure on Hillsboro.

Z

[szh]

East of Portland metro are some spectacular driving roads, especially this one:
http://traveloregon.com/trip-ideas/scen ... r-highway/

The Columbia river is also a place where a lot of wind-surfers like to play.

Years (actually ... decades ) ago, a co-worker and I went to see them in some gorge where the wind was essentially continuous and steady, so people could go back and forth across the river on the waves(!) without ending up way down-stream. I have pictures somewhere ...

Z

[Bubba1]

]
Congrats and good luck with the move.

[frapjap]

Congrats! Good luck getting everything together quickly! Hopefully they cover the moving expenses and give y'all some awesome relocation assistance.