MAY 18, 2007

I recently read a comment someone made online where they said they totally love Portland but could never stand to live here because of all the rain. I just sighed and roll my eyes at that because Portland is far from being the rainiest city in the U.S. and yet rain is one of the things Portland's known for. Suffice to say it gets frustrating having an inaccuracy be one of Portland's main claims to fame, but maybe this study on the rainiest U.S. cities will set people straight.

The Southeast dominates the list with the top 10 rainiest cities all being in the South or Southeast while the Pacific Northwest doesn't even enter the list until Olympia, Washington shows up at #24. So take that all you people who say "Portland is great, except for all that rain." Portland's weather is pretty damn nice. Just ask the 8 billion Californians who move up here every year. Ahem.

As for other odd Portland misconceptions, in the same online discussion on how spiffy Portland is, someone from Utah said that they're moving to Portland soon and looking forward to it, but that one part of Utah they'll really miss is the mountains. Because, you know, here in the Pacific Northwest we don't have any mountains. All the mountain climbing, snowboarding, and skiing that goes on here, we do that right in the city streets. In the nonstop pouring rain. Ahem.

And coincidentally, today is the anniversary of Mt. St. Helens' massive eruption on May 18, 1980. I was in grade school at the time and the town I grew up in was just 20 miles from Mt. St. Helens and that eruption was one of the most bizarre, terrifying, and absolutely amazing things I've ever experienced.

Mt. Hood peaks over downtown Portland  

listening: U2 . reading: --

walk: 0 minutes . weight lost: 9 pounds

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