Vancouver Washington- Portland Oregon maze

[gregs45auto]

Visited my kids. Son lives in Woodland Wa. Daughter in Vancouver almost to Portland Or. What a maze of freeways. They tried to tell me how to get from one to the next. I told them they were trying to tell a blind man what the color orange looked like. They rode shotgun and laughed at the old man. Still I got to spoil the gkids. Gdaughter is almost 2. She had her blanket and a book, climbed up with me on couch and gave me the book to read to her. She owns me. :) greg

 

[BearBio]

Where is Vancouver, OR? Tried to find it on a map but couldn't.....

 

[SAJohn]

The whole Portland, Vancouver area was designed by some insane sadistic people. That is one area where I have to almost totally rely on my aftermarket navigator.

Vancouver is the part of Portland located on the Washington side of the river.

 

[gregs45auto]

MEA CULPA ! :oops: Vancouver is just north of Portland (across the river) and is in Washington.

 

[AJGUNNER]

I am 40-50 miles outside this rat race and I do everything I can to avoid it.

 

[Don Lovel]

I ran around Portland on motorcycle last year.
Bicycle riders are insane, obnoxious and rude, I can honestly say I never saw one obey traffic laws or stop signs.
The city patronizes their idiocy with green intersection blocks so they can slow traffic while retarded moron uncle Bob rides his recumbent bicycle through the intersection a snail speed all the while nursing his latte and texting.
Yuppie parents riding toddlers in the rain in the dark at 6am on bicycles with trailers, and I never saw any of them stop for a stop sign either.
I went to a dinner party and got to be the redneck turd in the punch bowl in a house full of fake lumberjacks with dead fish handshakes and femnazi bisexual vegan women, yeah I fit right in there.
At least the Sportster I was riding had slash cut drag pipes so I could set off car alarms on the narrow streets.
Sure am glad we were not visiting while Antifa riots are going on, the temptation to go on a shooting spree of bike riding Antifa would have overwhelmed me

 

[Fox Mike]

My wife was there about a month ago. She agrees, the roads are a bit much. She was visiting a cousin in Brush Prairie, OR.

 

[BearBio]

AHHHH!!!!!!!!

There is a Vancouver, B.C. and Vancouver, WA, so I really was confused and not being sarcastic. There is also a North Bend (WA), Bend (OR), and a South Bend (OR, I think). A Long Beach and a Lakewood in WA and also in Cali.


Our Regional Office is there. My niece lives in Vancouver and works for Nike.The one benefit is good rapid transit. From the Lloyd's Center, it's an easy (and FREE) tram to Jake's Crawfish, the Pendleton and Columbia outlets, Stamfords (a short walk), McCormick & Scmitts, Voodoo Donuts (both Voodoo and Voodoo II), and (lest someone accuses me of being a "porker") Powell's Books!

We usually drive in and park and don't use the car at all. Likely will be there next month.

 

[WAYNO]

Interesting what the outsiders see.

We have fewer freeways than most other large cities, and therefore a simpler freeway system. But the folks here just plain cannot drive.

I also live outside of Portland, but business takes me there too often. Our window of opportunity to get in and out of Portland is 10AM to 2PM. Earlier or later, and traffic will crawl, or not move at all.

I often have to drive thru Portland and into Vancouver. The drive is always a drag. The Vancouverites bellyache about Portland drivers, and they have a right to, but at the same time when I'm driving north thru Portland, 3/4 of the license plates on the freeways are from Washington. Vancouver is Portland's biggest bedroom community. Many of the Vancouverites work in and commute daily to Oregon. And Vancouverites are the biggest complainers of Portland's terrible traffic. :mrgreen:

WAYNO.

 

[WAYNO]

AHHHH!!!!!!!!
The one benefit is good rapid transit. From the Lloyd's Center, it's an easy (and FREE) tram to Jake's Crawfish, the Pendleton and Columbia outlets, Stamfords (a short walk), McCormick & Scmitts, Voodoo Donuts (both Voodoo and Voodoo II), and (lest someone accuses me of being a "porker") Powell's Books!

We usually drive in and park and don't use the car at all.

If you take mass transit in Portland, and you go to all the places you mentioned above, you very likely are a closet Portlander. That's the one good thing about mass transit and downtown. Keeps the weirdo's away from the rest of us.

Have you enjoyed any riots lately, downtown?

WAYNO.

 

[Heliman]

I live in Vancouver. I am with WAYNO, I only go to Portland between 10:00 and 2:00. I drove through Portland every week day to my job at the Aurora Airport for 25 years. Usually took 40 minutes to go to work and an hour to make it home. Round trip was 75 miles..... retirement sure is grand!

Dave

 

[Colonialgirl]

Gdaughter is almost 2. She had her blanket and a book, climbed up with me on couch and gave me the book to read to her. She owns me. :) greg

Funny how that works !!
My grand daughter is 18 and STILL owns me !!

 

[BearBio]

"If you take mass transit in Portland, and you go to all the places you mentioned above, you very likely are a closet Portlander. That's the one good thing about mass transit and downtown. Keeps the weirdo's away from the rest of us."

Never claimed to be a "closet Portlander". But you are right, keeps us visitors from the nut case drivers. Once I am park there, I'm "SAFE" at home plate. But, I did see a very hairy gentlemen with an afro riding the metro in a chain-mail teddy, a cod-piece and sandals==don't know where he kept any money or ID!

Seen two snowstorms in Portland and got back to my hotel alive. Coming back to the hotel, I saw two people hit ==one in a crosswalk and another on the sidewalk by people sliding in 1/2" of snow. A few years ago, Portland got 3" of snow and they closed everything down, literally. We got 26" and stayed open (I couldn't get anyone with authority to let us close==finally Forest Supervisor, NRCS Manager and myself jointly decided to close the building).

AS I said, we mainly go for the restaurants, which do beat Seattle.

Added:
1. True people cannot drive.
2. "Rush Hour" in Portland hasn't ever seemed that bad to me but I grew up in L.A. As a Masonic Brother who was a State Trooper said "People in L.A. are A-------=, but they do know HOW to drive freeways unlike people in the Northwest".
3. I agree the streets must have been designed by a bunch of colorblind kids with red & green crayons for one way!
4. Seattle is getting ALMOST as bad with all the bicyclists.

 

[WAYNO]

Added:

2. "Rush Hour" in Portland hasn't ever seemed that bad to me but I grew up in L.A. As a Masonic Brother who was a State Trooper said "People in L.A. are A-------=, but they do know HOW to drive freeways unlike people in the Northwest".

Portlanders have always been critical of L.A. drivers. And I've always corrected them by saying L.A. drivers are actually very good. Packed bumper-to-bumper, and they can still drive over the speed limit.

 

[BearBio]

Thank you, for that!

 

[Poco Oso]

Added:

2. "Rush Hour" in Portland hasn't ever seemed that bad to me but I grew up in L.A. As a Masonic Brother who was a State Trooper said "People in L.A. are A-------=, but they do know HOW to drive freeways unlike people in the Northwest".

Portlanders have always been critical of L.A. drivers. And I've always corrected them by saying L.A. drivers are actually very good. Packed bumper-to-bumper, and they can still drive over the speed limit.

I thought most Portland drivers were L.A. drivers now. :wink: Washington's the tag we fear over here.

 

[BearBio]

Someone does have to bring civilization there!

 

[Poco Oso]

If that's what you want to call it. :roll: Evidently skills and courtesy are not considered civilized up there. You can keep your civilization.

 

[Heliman]

AHHHH!!!!!!!!

There is a Vancouver, B.C. and Vancouver, WA, so I really was confused and not being sarcastic. There is also a North Bend (WA), Bend (OR), and a South Bend (OR, I think). A Long Beach and a Lakewood in WA and also in Cali.


Our Regional Office is there. My niece lives in Vancouver and works for Nike.The one benefit is good rapid transit. From the Lloyd's Center, it's an easy (and FREE) tram to Jake's Crawfish, the Pendleton and Columbia outlets, Stamfords (a short walk), McCormick & Scmitts, Voodoo Donuts (both Voodoo and Voodoo II), and (lest someone accuses me of being a "porker") Powell's Books!

We usually drive in and park and don't use the car at all. Likely will be there next month.

There is a North Bend OR and North Bend WA. But just a Bend OR and South Bend WA. :roll: There is also a Newport OR and WA. The biggest confusion for outsiders seems to be regarding Vancouver WA. When I tell folks I am from Vancouver many say, "I didn't know you were from Canada!" There is a sign on I-5 northbound as you enter Washington that says "Welcome to Vancouver USA".

Dave

 

[BearBio]

If that's what you want to call it. :roll: Evidently skills and courtesy are not considered civilized up there. You can keep your civilization.

Like the sign: "Welcome to Oregon, now go home!" :P

Or, the town on Rt212 named "BORING" :lol:

We KNOW not to pass snowplows on the right==we DO NOT have to be told! :evil:

For those who don't know, eastern Oregon and eastern Washington have a rivalry, maybe because, as the sign says, it is so "BORING"!

 

[Poco Oso]

If that's what you want to call it. :roll: Evidently skills and courtesy are not considered civilized up there. You can keep your civilization.

Like the sign: "Welcome to Oregon, now go home!" :P

Or, the town on Rt212 named "BORING" :lol:

We KNOW not to pass snowplows on the right==we DO NOT have to be told! :evil:

For those who don't know, eastern Oregon and eastern Washington have a rivalry, maybe because, as the sign says, it is so "BORING"!

We only wish that's what it said. I always thought those signs were for the California converts.You know, the ones from L.A. :wink: Boring is boring, but that's not here. Can I take it this may mean that you won't be traveling our fine state? :D

 

[BearBio]

Actually, business takes me to Portland next month! I will be protected with my EDC until I get to the Columbia.

 

[Poco Oso]

Sorry man, I kinda lost my head for a minute there. I found myself sounding like someone else, railing against "the northern invaders". I can't recall the last time I was in Portland, and I don't miss it at all. Good luck on your trip.

 

[BearBio]

Dinner at Jake's, at least!

 

[exavid]

North of California there are three cities designed to cause road rage. Portland, OR, Seattle, WA and Vancouver, B.C. Any one of those cities should allow dueling and have pull outs along the highways to do that.
Portland has the antiquated Columbia River bridge which can be a nightmare, Seattle has the I5 bottleneck at the Convention Center and Vancouver has no freeway at all through the city. No left turn lanes in most of the city either.

You can't imagine how glad I am not to be driving charter and tour buses any more. That leads to madness.

 

[dougader]

I am 40-50 miles outside this rat race and I do everything I can to avoid it.

I'm about 35 miles out, but stay away as well. It's turning into a 3rd world crap-hole day by day. A place where 2nd Amendment Freedoms can be turned into jail time for protecting yourself from marauding @sshats.




And keep the LA speak out of Oregon, please. There is no The I-5. There is just I-5, Lloyd Center, Stanford's, McCormick & Schmick's, and Hwy 212.

 

[H Richard]

We will be visiting the Seattle,WA and then down to Astoria, OR next month. Plan to avoid Portland. I-5 up through Seattle other than mid day is horrible enough.

 

[BearBio]

We will be visiting the Seattle,WA and then down to Astoria, OR next month. Plan to avoid Portland. I-5 up through Seattle other than mid day is horrible enough.

I-5 through Portland or Seattle corridor is BAD any time of the day.

 

[Heliman]

We will be visiting the Seattle,WA and then down to Astoria, OR next month. Plan to avoid Portland. I-5 up through Seattle other than mid day is horrible enough.

Once you get out of Seattle :roll: , south on I-5 to the Kelso/Longview exit and follow signs to St. Helens, OR. Then west to Astoria via Hwy 30. Have fun!

 

[WAYNO]

We will be visiting the Seattle,WA and then down to Astoria, OR next month. Plan to avoid Portland. I-5 up through Seattle other than mid day is horrible enough.

Once you get out of Seattle :roll: , south on I-5 to the Kelso/Longview exit and follow signs to St. Helens, OR. Then west to Astoria via Hwy 30. Have fun!

Better yet... Avoid Chehalis/Centralia and Longview/Kelso altogether. :mrgreen:

West from Olympia to Aberdeen. Then south on the coast highway in Washington til ya cross the longest bridge you'll ever see, and you'll be in Astoria. And you'll enjoy nearly 100% of the drive. There's nothing on I-5 you'll enjoy.

I take these drives multiple times every year. I do whatever I can to bypass I-5 .

WAYNO.