Portland has overwhelming natural environments within an hour or two, and even in the city, too; fantastic global cultural fusion, represented by the Chinese and Japanese gardens and by hundreds of Asian and European food carts; the biggest, craziest, most social day or night literacy center in the U.S. with “Powell’s City of Books,” and last but not least, from “Tuba Christmas” (with 200 tubas) and “Drunken Santas” with 1,000 Santas to tech meet-ups and un-conferences like pdxgroups, barcamps, and Ignite — people in Portland know how to self-organize.

Pacific Coast at Manzanita, Oregon	Mt. Hood near Portland, Oregon
Tuba Christmas, Portland, Oregon	Japanese Garden, Portland, Oregon
Chinese Garden, Portland, Oregon	Powell's Books, Portland, Oregon