There are a number of things I will really miss about Portland, but I think the #1 thing is my neighborhood.  Don’t get me wrong, I will miss my friends, but I have learned how to manage long distance friendships over the years.  What I have not done before is lived in such a great neighborhood.  I am not only talking about my neighbors, who really are all very friendly and nice – but I literally am talking about the location and part of town we live in.

Portland is full of really great little neighborhoods and I think this city is laid out in such a great way.  But, what I love about my specific neighborhood, called Woodstock, is that I can walk everywhere I need to go.

• The library: it’s just a short walk to a public library and the libraries here are awesome. I can request what I want online and they send it to my local branch and I just walk on down and pick it up.
• The bank: it may sound silly, but considering we visit the bank often (the joy of being self employed) and having it so accessible is wonderful
• The grocery store: it’s an easy walk to Safeway and an easy bike ride to Trader Joes – that’s pretty much everything we need.  We also love New Seasons which I could probably bike to if I wanted, but otherwise it’s a quick drive.
• Restaurants: we have so many great restaurants we walk to, including really yummy Thai food and a Mexican cart with one of my all time favorite burritos.  Also, there is a pizza place with my favorite slice of pizza ever.
• Parks: within equal distance from our house are 3 parks! One of those parks includes a big community center with a great pool and other classes.  We walk to the park quite often in the summer.
• Preschool: the preschool that Amalea attended this year was walking distance and after our experience I truly believe it is one of the best preschools in all of Portland (of course I am bias)
• The post office and UPS store: I make a lot of copies and mail a lot of stuff for my work so I have grown to love the UPS store
• Farmers Market: AHHHHH – I am so excited that a farmers market is opening every Sunday (summer months) in our neighborhood.  You better believe I will be there opening day and every Sunday after that until we move! (http://woodstockmarketpdx.com/)

We don’t ride the bus, but if we did there is also a stop just 3 houses away from us!  Pretty convenient and we have a few neighbors who use it everyday.  One of our new neighbors who just moved in doesn’t even have a car.  To me that says a lot – because if you live in the right location you don’t need it…and, well…I think we have a pretty great location. It is going to be hard for my leave this neighborhood and I don’t think we’ll ever live anywhere as convenient.

For those of you thinking this is not a very sentimental post please understand that for me it is. When we bought our house I knew I wanted to be in this school district and walking distance to the Woodstock neighborhood.  It was important to me and I have loved every minute of our 2 years on this street, with these neighbors and in Woodstock.  I will miss it greatly.