GOODBYE PORTLAND IT’S BEEN FUN

If you leave, just say goodbye Portland. That’s all.

Portland visitor’s say goodbye Portland when they leave. Maybe they’ll be back, maybe not.

Saying goodbye Portland says it all. You came, you saw, you didn’t stay.

If you did stay, if you decided Portland was the only place in the world for you, then you need to get out more. But the city is big enough to hold converts. Just don’t over do yourself.

For others, people long on years and short on time, goodbye Portland is different.

They saw the rise of a sleepy secret of a city, a place famous for good manners and bad beer, grow into a destination of urban manners and great beer.

No more Blitz on Burnside. Hello Brewery Blocks.

They saw the inner west side spring up like wheat fields, like early corn, like Chicago after the fire. Except Portland didn’t need to burn first.

Say goodbye Portland from an eastside view balcony on the 11th floor and this is what you’ll miss.

Goodbye Portland river city.

The Willamette River defines Portland as much as the bridges across it.

This water way was the first mass transportation for a city bent on streetcars, light rail, and bus lines.

Early on you took the river to where you were going. Either that or walk. Anything but a rump busting wagon ride.

Goodbye Portland means goodbye to Bridge City. Goodbye Burnside, Morrison, Hawthorne. Goodbye Ross Island, goodbye Marquam.

Like a diamond reflected in silver, goodbye. You won’t see those lights at night again.

Goodbye Portland traffic cluster.

You won’t dream of an auto free eastside once you move away.

No more questions about burying the freeways into ditches or tunnels. No more theories on traffic jams and the sequence of emergency events.

Goodbye South Waterfront and the towers built on soggy bottom. No more telescoping the windows of far away neighbors.

“Where is everyone going,” will never come up. Out of sight really is out of mind.

Goodbye Portland bank towers.

So much of Portland life happens between Big Pink and building on the left, the one time First Interstate tower, which when finished prompted many Portland traditionalists to say, “Never again.”

From this angle the banks are a nice contrast to the Steel Bridge lift towers. The old and the new.

Big city types call this a small urban space. Rural Oregonians call it a place to avoid.

Portlanders call it just right. They wouldn’t change a thing, even during change.

That’s how Portland grows. Don’t change the change.

Goodbye Portland Rose Garden.

That’s the roof of the Moda Center, home of the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon’s entry in the NBA.

Seattle used to have a team, but now they don’t. Portland said goodbye to the Seattle Supersonics years ago and reserve a tear for a new team up there.

Basketball made it interesting when Portland won their title in 1977 and Seattle in 1979. We braced for big games in the future, and got them.

Now the big Seattle games come when OKC visits the hardwood.

No more Northwest rivalry.

Goodbye Portland smiles.

One of the sweet things about living in an urban hub is the people you see.

If you’re having a bad day, a new face might brighten things up.

If you miss a loved one, a stranger might look just like them and make you smile.

That secret smile is pure Portland magic.

Like the saying about ‘everyone fighting a battle we know nothing about’, Portland is full of people winning that battle. You can see on their faces.

If you’re winning that battle where you live, share your smile.

If you’re moving your 91 year old mom out of the urban core and closer to you, you’re winning.

If you’re sharing your time with the family moving their mom, you’re winning.

Finally, if you help with the move and quiz the son on his writing projects and try to pump him up in a hard time, you’re winning.

How do you win your battle?