One of the most common questions we get is, "Hey Ben & Jenny, how in the heck fire did you pick PORTLAND!?!?!?!", like we're abso-Smurfly insane...Well, reason #1 is, we're abso-Smurfly insane.But truthfully, there are several reasons Why Portland. When Jenny was a little girl, her family passed on a transfer to Portland, because it was not a good time in their lives to "uproot" from home base. So Jenny has always thought to herself, "What if..." about Portland. In 2001, she came out to Portland to look for a job - but the timing was bad; her flight was scheduled for 9/12/01 and ended up being pushed to 9/17/01. When she got here, nobody was hiring because there was such uncertainty following 9-11.Ben came to Portland for a week on a graduate school interview in 1999 at Oregon Health Sciences University, and fell in love with the city. Unfortunately there were five spots for students that year, and Ben came in sixth place (of about 300 applicants). He was "wait-listed", which means if one of the first 5 invited declines to attend, he would have gotten in - but all 5 of them took their spots. As you can see, these minor failures made us only more determined to get here. So now we're awful proud of ourselves - 'cause we did it!!Portland is one of the most beautiful places either of us has been in the States, and it has a lot to offer. It is a picturesque city surrounded by beautiful hilly countryside and the Cascades Mountain Range to the east. The north is bordered by the mighty Columbia River, and the Willamette River splits the city north to south - our house is about a mile east of the Willamette. The area immediately encircling Portland is the Willamette River Valley, one of the most renowned Pinot Noir producing regions in the world, among other grape varietals.Portland is also a city of many farmers' markets, and the local population is highly supportive of local produce, Oregon-made products, and sustainable agriculture and business practices. These are all ideas that we take very seriously, and helped to keep our eyes focused to the Northwest.Mostly, we just like the way the people have treated us since we came here. Our neighbors K & M have been the most supportive neighbors we could ever have imagined, and we're even considering inducting them as actual "friends"... someday...Things that put Portland on the map? Here are a few. Starbucks? Nope. That's Seattle. But perhaps you've heard of Tazo Tea, or Stash Tea; both based here. Nike Shoes is our largest corporation, based just outside Portland to the west. Of course there's also Columbia Sportswear. We are also known as the Rose City, and have an annual Rose Parade which brings visitors from all over the world. The Portland Rose Gardens are internationally famous, and one of our favorite places to wander. Some other interesting things? Powell's City of Books in downtown Portland is the largest independent used and new bookstore in the world. Portland is home to more micro-breweries per capita than any other city in the world (some you may have heard of are the Rock Bottom Brewery, or Widmer Brothers). Yes, that's right, even more than any city in Germany. Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons, is from Portland, and often puts subtle references into his shows. The most interesting thing to us about Portland is that we LOVE it. This is where we bought our first home. This is where we have our first child. This place is where we think of when someone says "Home" - although neither of us grew up here. It is our sincere goal to convince all of our friends and family to move here, and to convince all of the Californians to stay away (just kidding!! - local joke there...). 
