It depends on the time of year you come, but for a quick list of things to do and see while in Portland:

• The Japanese Gardens – This’ll give you a great view of Portland, and is a beautiful place to just walk around.
• Portland Saturday Market – Open Saturday and Sunday. It’s a huge street market full of local crafts and foods.
• Washington Park and the Rose Gardens – Right near the Japanese Gardens.
• Portland City Grill – On the 30th floor of one of the tallest buildings in Portland. Go for the happy hour. Other times it’s too expensive.
• Pioneer Courthouse Square – It’s a public square downtown, where there are often fun events on weekends. Check the calendar.

..If you have transportation, you might try a day trip to the coast (it’s about 1.5 hours away by car), or Multnomah Falls (about the same, but east of town). If you’re a wine fan, you might visit some Wilamette Valley Wineries.

Although I’m not from Portland, I have a few recommendations. Firstly, if at all possible, don’t rent a car for being in the city. Portland has a fantastic public transit system and is the city of bicycle heaven! There is even the United States’ only urban aerial tram going from a downtown neighborhood to the OHSU campus.

If you’re looking for somewhere cheap to stay, I would recommend staying at the Hawthorne Hostel. It is on Hawthorne Blvd in Southeast Portland which has a few cool attractions, such as the Bagdad Theater.

I don’t know of more attractions, but I would recommend just wandering around in Downtown Portland or the Pearl District. Each of those places are pretty fun.

I’m not sure about the moving from another state thing. I have a friend who is trying to move there too and she hasn’t found anything solid yet.

My vote hands down would be to drive out into the Columbia River Gorge, there is an abundance of amazing sights, hikes, and drives.

If you’re heading out into the Gorge, along the Sandy River – stop at Tad’s Chick Dump. It’s quite possibly the best chicken and dumplings ever.

Moving to Portland, I guess can be a bit tricky since it’s a bit on the expensive side (depending on where you are migrating from), but as far as I am concerned it’s worth it. I lived there for 10 years before coming out to the right-coast, and I would go back. There’s plenty to do – too much to list, OHSU is a great school, and I know many people who have attended it – and the Doctors are top notch.

The biggest downside is the traffic. It stinks. HWY 26 is horrid, avoid it like the plague during rush hour. The school can be a pain to get to at times, since it’s on top of a large ridge, with steep roads. They are working on that though, the Gondola should be nearly done if it isn’t already. The other is the lack of sunshine in general. It is gray. Gray, gray, gray. It didn’t really bug me until I moved away and realized just how little full-on sun Portland gets during a typical year.

All that said, it’s a good size, with good people – I would go and check it out, you’ll probably like it.

It really depends on what you’re into.
Here are a few of the things I like doing in town:
1) Drive down the Columbia Gorge – great scenery. Be sure to get out of your car.
2) Willamette Valley wineries – about an hour SW of Portland.
3) Portland Beer Tour – there are a few companies that will take you to some good breweries.
4) Alberta Street art walk – cool places that have not become too trendy (yet). Other good neighborhoods are Hawthorne, Mississippi and St. John – in addition to the Pearl District and Old Town.

• There are a lot more things to do and see. Make sure you do some good research before you go. Have fun!

Though I’m now exiled to California, I grew up in Portland. It’s hard to recommend places without knowing your interests, but here are a few of my favorites:

Powell’s Bookstore
Powell’s has several stores around town, but the biggest (and I do mean BIG) and best is between downtown and the Pearl District, at 10th & Burnside. It’s one of the biggest bookstores in the world.

McMenamins
The McMenamin brothers have created an empire of brewpubs, including several that have been converted from historical buildings. Some show movies, too. My favorites near central Portland include the Kennedy School and the Bagdad Theater.

Shopping
Several neighborhoods in Portland have good restaurants and fun, independently-owned shops. Some of my favorites are Alberta, NW 23rd, SE Hawthorne, and Multnomah Village.

Waterfront Park
On the west side of the Willamette River, it makes a nice walk. Or cross the river and walk on the east side esplanade.

Downtown
Portland has a nice downtown. It’s always fun to people watch at Pioneer Square. Public transit is free downtown.

Council Crest Park
This point at the top of the west hills has incredible views on a clear day. It’s surrounded by residential areas and not obvious to find, so get a map.

Other ideas…
OMSI is showing Body Worlds 3, if you’re interested in that. The Oregon Zoo is quite nice. There are lots of outdoorsy things to do in and very close to Portland. I’ve heard that Portland Walking Tours has good tours, although I’ve never taken one myself.

I have a good friend who’s an OHSU grad, and another whose husband is a grad and mother was a prof there, and they all like it. :-)

I’d move back to Portland in a heartbeat if it weren’t for my job. You should be warned, though—it’s really gray and damp most of the year. If you’re someone who must have sunshine, you’d probably be miserable.

I second Japanese Gardens, Oregon Zoo, Powell’s and Saturday Market. I thought the version of Body World at OMSI was awful. I saw the much larger version of the show at MSI in Chicago four or five years ago when the bodies were freshly plasticized. They are looking dessicated and dusty now. I would also suggest the farmers’ market at PSU on Saturday morning.

Near OHSU is Tryon Creek State Park, an excellent nature-in-the-city kinda place. Goose Hollow Inn (owned by the family of a randy former Portland mayor—Google Bud Clark) for a Reuben sandwich and local beer on tap. When you get into town, go into any locally-owned coffee shop or the library and pick up copies of the free weeklies, The Portland Mercury and The Willamette Week for current events you might like to see. Or you can look at the online versions. http://www.wweek.com/ & http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Home Up and coming events I plan to go to are Green Sprouts Organic Familyfest on 9/22, Science Pub on the 24th, Polishfest (9/29-9/30), Greekfest (10/5-10/7), The Portland Marathon on 10/7, Aidswalk on Oct 14th. I’m going to try to fit an Octoberfest in there somewhere, too. Probably Dogtoberfest at the Lucky Lab Brewpub on Hawthorne (local celebrities wash dogs for charity.) I digress…

I’ve never had any problems in or around OHSU, but then I’ve only gone there as a patient. Parking might be an issue if you drive.

Moving to Portland was just as easy or difficult as any move I’ve done. Moving can be very stressful for most people, but I like moving. Housing is expensive here, but there are a lot of shared housing type situations. Especially in the neighborhoods surrounding the many colleges and universities. The one thing Craigslist seems to be good for is finding roommates. Definitely purchase a current city map if you do decide to go to OHSU. My map is now ten years old and completely out of date. New streets where there used to be none and dead ends where the streets used to go through…