Portland and area? Or San Francisco/Sacramento?

invisible · Aug 6, 2008

Help a fellow photographer choose a US city to spend the last 10 days of the year. It's going to be either Portland or San Francisco/Sacramento.

I need your help 'cause I don't know much about any of these cities.

The place should:
- be small enough to go almost everywhere interesting on foot (or have a good bus/metro system)
- be safe enough to carry $2,500 in photo equipment, day or night
- be nice & photogenic
- have museums, aquariums, zoos, etc.
- an interesting national park nearby would be a plus

So, where would you go if you were me? Portland, or San Francisco/Sacramento?

Thanks for the input!

Dweller · Aug 6, 2008

I live in Portland, but love both cities. As for Portland:

- be small enough to go almost everywhere interesting on foot (or have a good bus/metro system) [check] Great bus system and lots to see downtown.

- be safe enough to carry $2,500 in photo equipment, day or night [check] I have spent many nights wandering around with my gear. Without fail, every time out I have had someone stop and ask about it.

- be nice & photogenic [check] It's a beautiful city with lots of things to see.

- have museums, aquariums, zoos, etc. [2 out of 3?] Museums and a Zoo, but "THE" aquarium is in Newport which is about 3 hours from Portland but is a beautiful part of the Oregon coast in its own right.

- an interesting national park nearby would be a plus [check, check, check] The Cascade mountains are an hour or so East, and the coast is an hour or so west. What are you looking for in a park? We have Crater Lake to the south which is simply stunning. Timberline lodge is on the west face of Mt Hood and is a national historic monument, and then are the Oregon caves and the John Day fossil beds. Silver falls is a state park and offers many opportunity's for hiking and photography of water falls.

I could go on and on, like I said I love it here. 10 days will give you plenty of time to really see a lot the state has to offer, but I have some concern about the time of year. Portland itself rarely gets snowed out, and when it does its for a day or two usually, but some of the places I mentioned will be more difficult (or even impossible) to get too if too much snow has fallen.

nealjpage · Aug 7, 2008

I'd also give a thumbs up to Portland. It's quickly becoming my favorite city, surpassing San Francisco. Dweller's analysis is spot-on.

Mitica100 · Aug 7, 2008

I'd go for SF, I have never been to Portland but I understand is gorgeous. However, being that I went many times to SF, I can say that's got it all. Sacramento is not as exciting though, compared with the other two. If the plan is Portland or SF/Sacramento, then I'd opt for Portland.

invisible · Aug 7, 2008

Mitica100 said:
I'd go for SF, I have never been to Portland but I understand is gorgeous. However, being that I went many times to SF, I can say that's got it all. Sacramento is not as exciting though, compared with the other two. If the plan is Portland or SF/Sacramento, then I'd opt for Portland.

Emm... I'm not sure I understand what your choice would be

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'm starting to lean towards Portland...

Mitica100 · Aug 7, 2008

invisible said:
Emm... I'm not sure I understand what your choice would be

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'm starting to lean towards Portland...

Well, if it was SF by itself, with no Sacramento, I'd go for it. That's why in the end I opted for Portland.

invisible · Aug 7, 2008

Ah, makes sense. Thanks for the clarification and your comments above.

monkeykoder · Aug 7, 2008

Sacramento is about as boring as a city can get... It isn't even a college town (even though there is a college) basically it has the capitol building...

invisible · Aug 8, 2008

Eh, not much support for San Francisco... Really didn't see that coming...

nealjpage · Aug 9, 2008

Don't get me wrong: I LOVE San Francisco. I just think that PDX is more photogenic. And I'm of course biased ;-)

monkeykoder · Aug 9, 2008

Actually San Fransisco is pretty photogenic I just don't know that I would trust walking around in the middle of the night with photo equipment in large portions of the city.

Jon0807 · Aug 12, 2008

I'm from the San Francisco area and tho I haven't been to Portland, I know that SF has alot of photographic opportunities. But as others have said, I wouldn't go to Sacramento, I'd spend it all in the entire Bay Area and as far down as Monterey and Carmel if you have the time and means to travel. But if you were to only stay in SF, you can get anywhere pretty easily with public transportation. And I'm sure you've seen tons of pictures taken from SF so those speak for itself about the beauty.

Whichever you choose I'm sure you won't be dissapointed

invisible · Aug 13, 2008

Holy crap, now San Francisco is catching up!

Thanks for the replies, guys!

Hawaii Five-O · Aug 13, 2008

Although there is always mount St. Helens in Orgen and Mount Hood which are neat.

nealjpage · Aug 13, 2008

Photographing PDX from Forest Park with Mt. Hood in the background is really beautiful. Also, PDX has some awesome bridges. The St. Johns bridge in the fog is quite breath-taking. The coast is a short drive away, and the Columbia River gorge is awesome.

I dunno, dude. Either would rock.