- Brett and I are slowly getting stocked up for the girls’ arrivals next week. The day before yesterday we shopped at Trader Joe’s, and yesterday we did our Costco shopping. So far we’re still under budget – I had forgotten how much less food costs here. We were almost overwhelmed when we stepped into our Portland Costco after shopping at our little one back on Kaua’i, and the amazing amount of selection as well (with a few exceptions though, prices on Kaua’i are the same as they are here). We still need to go to Winco, mainly to restock some travel supplies but also to pick up some bagels for our traditional Christmas morning breakfast. After that we will make a stop at New Seasons market for a couple of things and take YaYu to the big Fubonn Asian market after she arrives to get her supply of noodles. I am doing all cooking here at the house while we’re in Portland except for us going out once for pizza and once for dim sum while we’re together.
At least there’s no snow (for now) - Winter is coming. Actually, from what I can tell I think winter is already here. It was clear but only 34 degrees when we landed in Boston the other day. Portland has had rain and overcast skies and temperatures in the mid-40s since we arrived, all the things that drove us to move to Hawai’i a little over four years ago. Brett and I had toyed with idea of possibly settling in Seattle after we finished the Big Adventure, but after a few days in Portland we both know there is no way. I don’t know what we were thinking.
- We are not big TV watchers, but our Airbnb here in Portland has full cable, including all the premium channels, like HBO, Showtime, etc. so Brett and I are going to watch Season 4 of Better Call Saul, and I’m thinking when we’re done I may settle in and try to binge watch Game of Thrones. Meiling is bringing her stick with her so we can access Netflix. I think a month of TV watching while we’re here and Brett and I will be good to go for another year.
This big poinsettia will be just the right amount of Christmas decoration for us this year. - Before we got to Portland, we thought we’d get a small Christmas tree, but now that we’ve seen what’s out there and the prices, we’ve decided not to. Instead, we bought a big, beautiful poinsettia at Trader Joe’s and with the girls’ blessings that will be the extent of our decoration this year. We’re currently working on getting all the girls’ presents wrapped but are also trying to keep that as low cost and simple as possible. We bought some inexpensive red and green twine when we were in Florence, and will wrap many of the gifts with kraft paper and newsprint and then add some string to make things a bit more festive. We also saved shopping bags along the way and those will get used as gift bags. The most important thing is we will be together with the girls and we want to stay focused on that.
- I’m seeing the dentist this afternoon and have my fingers crossed that my broken tooth won’t be as bad as I think it is, and that it will be salvageable. I was able to get my red glasses fixed at Costco while we were there – they were slightly damaged when I fell in Florence in November but are as right as rain now. Brett and I also continue to get better each day, but our colds this time have really dug in their heels. One of the problems for us is that the air is so dry (as it was back in Portugal and on all the planes) and that seems to keep things aggravated. But, we are no longer coughing nor having to blow our noses as much so hopefully we will be back to our healthy selves by next week. YaYu arrives in Portland next Monday night, WenYu on Tuesday, and Meiling will be here on Thursday. All three will be staying here until we leave in January.
The Occasional Nomads 
Seattle is usually milder but maybe more rain..summer temps are less than here, too. Wished I had thought to offer to get a tree for you. My former partner at the salon lives in Estacada on a defunct tree farm so the trees are free. Got a pretty Noble fir and was told by my friend that her’s was $145.00 in Portland!
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I think Seattle would be a great location for us . . . except for the weather. Neither of us wants to deal with this again. If it were just a couple of months that would be one thing, but the gloom goes on way too long.
The house is actually too small for a tree, especially once all five of us are here. I told the girls we could set on up in their bedroom and they said no thanks!
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Funny! We lived in Portland and just by looking at your photo could tell that was it. We also lived for many years in Seattle; the weather is equally depressing and the real estate prices are out of site! We’ll be in Portland for the holidays too; family and little ones will make it bright in spite of the weather. Hope that all goes well at the dentist, and have a great holiday together!
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The prices in Seattle, even for an apartment, made us catch our breath for a moment, but it’s the weather more than anything that has us rethinking where we might settle.
Hope you have a good Portland Christmas with your family as well. Our house is small, but cozy and I know we’ll have a good time, tree or not.
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Gosh, I think Seattle would be positively amazing, given it’s proximity to so many amazing places, including wondrous Vancouver Island. However, I get that the weather is also a big factor wherever you settle. I do try hard not to take our consistently mild coastal weather here in S. CA for granted.
What a wonderful holiday season you have to look forward to! I would imagine the girls are all excited to be returning to Portland? Over here we will have just one of our two daughters with us, but plan to Skype the other on Christmas morning in order to enjoy watching our granddaughters opening their presents.
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One of the reasons we glommed onto Seattle was because of the location, and how easy it would be to get over to Japan. Also, our son and family come over every summer so that would be a good reason too. But, we know that with this winter gloom we would be miserable very quickly. We have several other options to consider though.
The girls are getting excited about us “getting the band back together.” We always have a good time, and the girls get along well. We don’t send presents over to Japan – too expensive – we either send money or like this year, will bring belated presents along with us. We’d love to Skype except the time difference makes it difficult – our DIL always sends loads of pictures though.
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You sparked a memory of the Christmas my younger daughter was in S. Korea working as an English teacher. We kept Skype up all day, and when we were in our PJs sipping coffee in the AM she was in her street clothes sipping wine, then vice versa in the evening as we ate dinner – we put our laptop at the end of the dining room table so everyone could see and talk to her as we ate.
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I was trying to figure out when we could Skype with our son and family, but there were only a couple of narrow windows where it would work, and then everything else would have to come together (kids’ schedules, son’s work schedule, etc.). Our DIL is very good about sending us photos and videos of the grands, so that helps somewhat. It’s going to be heaven living so close to them for three months next year!
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I think Season 4 of Better Call Saul was my favourite thus far. 😉 Enjoy!
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Looking forward to it – the show has yet to disappoint!
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Florida is having a cold spell too 40’s and 50’s but since we have been running abnormally hot (in the 80’s) it’s a nice change. It doesn’t seem to matter where you live in the U.S. you’re going to get some kind of a weather event.
Hope you and the girls have a wonderful Christmas.
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I agree – we had spells in Hawaii of bad weather (i.e. LOTS of rain and flooding – warm rain, but still a mess). I think we had done a very good job of forgetting about the winter weather here!
Can’t wait for the girls to get here next week!
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My Son and family lived in Renton, Maple Valley and now Ravensdale. About a 20 minute drive from Sea-Tac and beautiful views of Mt. Ranier 🙂
I’ll bet you are all excited to ‘have the band back together’!! Have a great time!!!
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We love the Seattle area, and have friends that live there. Our son went to law school there and has many friends in the area – he and his family come for about six weeks every summer so his son can attend summer camp there (maintain his English language skills) – so it would be a great place to see more of them. But, we just can’t see ourselves dealing with this weather again. Time to come up with a Plan B!
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This is so exciting to read! Glad you all will be together for a bit. Even a small string of Christmas lights hung on the wall can be very festive. And inexpensive. You all will enjoy your time no matter the decorations I’m sure!
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Thank you for the lights idea! We were at Target today and should have picked up a string. Oh well – there is still time! I may get one more poinsettia from Trader Joe’s too – they’re so affordable.
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I’ve only been to Portland once on a business trip a few years ago. It was in August and we had very nice weather so maybe I was just lucky, lol! I was only there a few days, but I did manage to go to the Fubonn Asian market with a co-worker and that was quite an experience. I remember eating at a very authentic noodle restaurant and there was a store that sold items from Japan. You could spend an entire day there and not see everything.
I’ve never been to Seattle so I can’t give an opinion, but after living in Kauai, you might be spoiled! Seriously, I think it will be tough to decide where to settle because you’ll be comparing it to Kauai.
Hope you got good news at the dentist.
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Summers in Portland are lovely, but they don’t last long. And, most Portlanders are screaming for rain again by the end of August!
Fubonn is an experience. We’ve been going since they opened (the location was formally the site of Portland Community College’s SE campus – I taught there many times). We’re going to take YaYu the day after arrives so she can get all her noodles and hot sauces and I can pick up a few ingredients I need.
Kaua’i did spoil us in many ways, but it’s also helped us appreciate other aspects of different locations. We will always miss it and treasure the time we had there.
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Never been to Portland. Seattle was lovely to visit but between the weather and the angles of the streets, my arthritis and busitis would be dead meat. I ended up walking down to everything from the W hotel and being unashamed of taking an uber up-even if it wasthree blocks.
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Oh yes, Seattle has hills. We still like the urban feel of it though, and that we could live somewhere in the city and have everything we need nearby, within walking distance. And, we love the greenness but of course that comes from RAIN, and plenty of it. We left Portland to get away from it (and the cold) and do not want to go through those winters again much as we love everything else about the Pacific Northwest.
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Just got back from Portland and a wonderful dim sum brunch at HK Cafe in Eastport Plaza at 82nd and Holgate. Highly recommend. Our previous dim sum spot was Wong’s King on Division, but HK is better, imho.
The darkness at 4:15 pm in Portland was a bit startling.
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Dark at 4:15 in the winter, still light at 9:30 pm in the summer! It was a shock to us as well when we first moved here.
Love, love, love both Wong’s King and HK Cafe, and have been to both many times. When we arrived there was only Legin (Division and 82nd, since torn down) and Fong Chong’s in what used to be Chinatown. Wong’s King was supreme for a while, but I remember when HK Cafe opened and Chinese friends said it would surpass Wong’s King.
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I love the PNW, but now that we’ve lived in California, it’s a super tough sell & I don’t think we can live there full time in retirement. We are currently talking about selling our house in the bay area, moving to somewhere in northern California with better prices but good weather, and also spending a few months on the coast, to be near family. we also talk about spending a month in Hawaii every year as well. It would be great to have three houses, so we could maximize weather in each place! 😉
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I think what I miss most of all is the sunshine. Even if it’s cold, if the sun is shining I’m OK. But here (and Seattle there’s so much overcast and gloom. For many years it never bothered me until the last few years we lived in Portland, when I started getting super depressed during the winter. We have looked at a few places in Northern California too, but every place we like has been threatened by fire in the past couple of years so we’re not real sure that’s the place for us. We’d be back in Hawaii if it didn’t cost so darn much to get the kids over and back to see us, or for us to get to the mainland to see them.
A house on the Oregon coast, one in Hawaii, and one in Northern California – what’s not to like about that?
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I hear the trees at Costco are $30 and nice
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Yes they are! We saw them the other day, and we also drove by the tree lot where we always bought our trees when we lived in Portland, but unfortunately there is no room in this house for a live tree. It would make the whole place smell so wonderful though. I so miss putting up a live tree – there is nothing like it!
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DH was living just north of Seattle when we decided to get married, and I was in the Midwest on the east side of Lake Michigan. When we compared sunny/cloudy days, they were within one day of each other’s average. We were shocked, but this is home and both families are nearby, so we decided on Michigan. There are days when I really wish I was back in the Bay Area, but the cost of everything out there still shocks me when we visit. That said, we always plan a “trip to the sun in the early months of the year”, and we both traveled to warmed places while we worked. At this point, we’re beginning to discuss whether we should be somewhere warmer for a longer stretch as we age. For now, though, neither of us is particularly depressed in the dark months. I do always get a kick out of being out and about when the sun comes out in the winter. People are absolutely giddy.
I love that poinsettia and I’m sure you will all have a great time together. Cheers!
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The cold and rain, even the gloom didn’t bother us for a long time . . . until it did. Not sure what set off the change either. I could put up with it in short bursts, but here it starts in October/November and goes on for 6-8 months, non-stop. If it was only for a few months we could deal with it, but we were tired of having to “hibernate” all winter (of course we loved, loved, loved all the green, and the firs, etc.). So, one of the things on our list is that there is sun a MAJORITY of the time. Does that place exist? If so, can we afford to live there? are what we’re researching now.
We’re going to put up a string of lights in the living room, and add another poinsettia, and with the presents out it will look great!
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Funnily enough as a native Portlander (and I’ve lived other places, including Seattle and the weather blessed San Diego) the Portland rain and gray just doesn’t bother me that much. I mean by April/May I’m SO ready for sun but the winter goes quickly and it’s not that cold. And I love love love the great weather in the summer/fall. But I can understand those who just can’t tolerate the gray. And having lived in Seattle for three years (I also went to law school there) I don’t think the weather is noticeably different from Portland’s. I will say though that as much as I love Seattle, and as much as people complain about the traffic in Portland, the traffic in Seattle is abysmal… I will be very interested in seeing what you two come up with after the great adventure! I can certainly see how having 6 weeks with your beautiful grandchildren and son and daughter in law who live so far away would e a HUGE draw for Seattle! Maybe you could be snowbirds?
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The snowbird plan is sounding more and more attractive to us all the time! I wish I knew when and WHY things turned for us, weather-wise in Portland. I just remember coming down the stairs on one of the first cold, rainy days of the season and thinking “I just can’t do another year of this!” It was strange because I had never felt that way before, and to have it come so strongly. I told Brett a little while later and he had thought the same thing! It still took us a couple of years to get over to Hawaii, but at least we were on the same page.
Agree about the traffic in Seattle vs. Portland. In Seattle though we could live without a car. There are not a lot of other places we could do that.
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