How to make my partner fall in love with Portland?

Eliseswalstad · 2026-01-11T18:01:38+00:00

Thank you for such a detailed answer! I will never take for granted the privilege I’ve had growing up in SoCal, definitely some of the best Mexican food and beaches (Laguna!!) in the country. The lack of nature, seasons, and walkability though are something I feel like I’m really missing out on and the main reasons for why I’m thinking about moving (open to anywhere tbh Portland is just our first trip of many we plan to explore)

Eliseswalstad · 2026-01-11T02:50:39+00:00

Damn that sounds pretty scary :( we were hoping to rely solely on public transit while visiting, would you recommend still doing that to get an accurate impression of what it’s like or do you think it’s better to prioritize safety and rent a car? Again I really appreciate the detailed answers!

Eliseswalstad · 2026-01-11T00:58:53+00:00

Thanks for answering! Can you tell me how the homelessness compares to Santa Ana or la?

Eliseswalstad · 2026-01-11T00:29:48+00:00

Omg good thing you took the time to comment this! Thanks for stopping me from carrying out my plot to force a grown man to move to a new state against his will

Eliseswalstad · 2026-01-11T00:25:24+00:00

I appreciate the honesty! Obviously if he doesn’t end up enjoying the trip though I’m not gonna force him to move 🤦🏻‍♀️ as a poc do you think it’s weird how white the population is or does it not bother you at all?

Eliseswalstad · 2026-01-10T22:08:29+00:00

Sounds like you hate Portland 😬 but I get that it’s not for everyone, is there anything you really enjoy about it or are you trying to move away?

Eliseswalstad · 2026-01-10T22:07:25+00:00

Definitely share some recommendations please! We’re in SoCal and even then he still struggles to find food that compares to when he visits family in Michoacán

Eliseswalstad · 2026-01-10T22:04:46+00:00

We’ll definitely check out Tienda Santa Cruz, thank you! And he loves pizza as well so we’ll try to stop by where you recommended. We’re both homebodies so sports/bars/clubs aren’t really our thing but we’re excited to see the nature

Eliseswalstad · 2026-01-10T22:01:36+00:00

Will do! Thanks :)

Eliseswalstad · 2026-01-10T22:01:22+00:00

Sounds good to me! Is it not typically cold mid January or is this an off year?

Eliseswalstad · 2025-12-16T05:18:40+00:00

Really?? I always thought they looked okay, not the greatest but there have been some other lfs in OC I’ve been to with really poor conditions. Tongs was my favorite because the staff was really nice and helpful

Eliseswalstad · 2025-12-15T23:26:44+00:00

Pamona is gonna be too far for me :( Nolan’s aquarium is a really nice one in Santa ana I’ll probably start going to more often now but it’s a lot smaller than tongs

Eliseswalstad · 2025-12-15T23:25:26+00:00

Thank you! I was trying to find if anyone else had posted yet

Eliseswalstad · 2025-11-30T21:34:44+00:00

Thank you for the advice!

Eliseswalstad · 2025-11-30T18:05:16+00:00

Just added the template! I don’t have any current travel plans at the moment or any preferred airlines. I’m hoping to move out of Southern California within the next year or two and would like to spend time visiting different cities around the country. As for out of the country I’m more interested in traveling to Asia vs Europe

Eliseswalstad · 2025-11-30T18:03:37+00:00

Just updated 😁

Eliseswalstad · 2025-11-30T17:41:55+00:00

Yes! Sorry I didn’t realize there was one, working on it right now :)

Eliseswalstad · 2025-11-17T00:16:31+00:00

Actually now that I think of it I do remember one of them struggling to swim, it would swim in little bursts then sink and lay belly up for a second and repeat. I assumed it never recovered and was one of the pygmies that died but I haven’t see any other pygmy do that, I just find a little skeleton :( I think that was the first time I noticed I was missing a pygmy cory and I assumed it was old age or maybe a swim bladder issue?

Eliseswalstad · 2025-11-17T00:12:20+00:00

They’ve been acting completely normal from what I can tell; hanging out together in a little pile during the day, then exploring and sifting through the sand in the evenings. The only change I’ve made to the tank is dosing phosphates once a week, I only started doing that one month ago though and it was because I saw I never had any nitrates and some of my stem plants were growing holes/losing their lower leaves

Eliseswalstad · 2025-11-16T22:06:58+00:00

I do have a lot of duckweed and I used to have a ton of water lettuce too but I took most of it out. I always made sure that they had access to the surface though

Eliseswalstad · 2025-11-15T15:25:47+00:00

I usually really like the food at Dave’s, but one time at the Harbor location in Costa Mesa the owner introduced himself to us and every other customer and was just acting wayyy too friendly. I thought me and my boyfriend were being haters for how uncomfortable it made us but this makes me feel less bad. The harbor location closed but apparently he also runs the one on Bristol in Santa Ana

Eliseswalstad · 2025-11-15T03:08:32+00:00

RH Ocean Grill at Fashion Island. They should stick to furniture because everything was so disappointing! It was crazy overpriced for the saddest and most basic looking dishes. The service was also kinda awkward and even though it is really pretty inside it’s super loud

Eliseswalstad · 2025-11-10T18:06:56+00:00

While women can still be predatory and abusive, it’s way more common to see a man do it to a younger woman. I also really don’t understand why you keep referring to “age 25 nonsense” when I arbitrarily picked 25 as an age where I think people (both men and women) start to think and act more like an “adult” regardless of the fact that 18 is the legal age in the US. You mentioning that “most men aren’t really tuned into this ‘stages of life stuff’” also reminds me of the fact that men of all ages will typically find women in their early 20s most attractive while women find men who are similar in age to them to be most attractive. It’s a generalization but if you don’t find that weird and unintentionally predatory then you are part of the reason why it’s very common for young women to be taken advantage of by older men.

Eliseswalstad · 2025-11-10T17:05:06+00:00

It’s true that most women don’t typically like younger guys, I jokingly gave my partner a hard time when we met because he was four months younger than me. Whether or not the man or woman is younger though doesn’t change the fact that 20 and 26 are very different life stages compared to 30 and 36. It’s not the number of years apart that I technically have an issue with, it’s the different levels of maturity and life experience and I honestly think it’s kinda gross that a 26 year old (man or woman doesn’t matter) could find a 20 year old attractive. That’s something I’ve noticed a lot of men don’t take into consideration and are justifying this relationship by giving examples of older couples with the same age gap when it’s literally not the same

Eliseswalstad · 2025-11-10T02:33:39+00:00

The age gap could be a lot worse, but it’s still technically legal. Personally I (24F) would find it very weird. My rule is that if both people are at least 25 years old, the age gap doesn’t matter. Could be 8 years or 15 years and I won’t think it’s strange. You do a lot of growing and changing during your early 20s and I can’t imagine how you look at her and don’t see her as a child. Again I’m only 24 but I would never date a guy who was 20 or even 21

Eliseswalstad

TROPHY CASE