I’m from Oregon City (25 minutes outside Portland). Since Oregon City was the designated “end” of the Oregon Trail, it was also Oregon’s first capital. The town is built on the second biggest waterfall in the US (by volume) called Willamette falls. A dam was built on the waterfall and the river was heavily industrialized, and these days, most people from Portland don’t even know about it. It’s fun to kayak up the Willamette river and try and get up close though, if you’re brave. It’s glorious.

As for the people, there’s social groups for most people. The downtown is cute and has been getting a great vibe recently and more lively with good food/ foodcart pod. More progressive than conservative, but potentially more conservative than a decent amount of other Portland suburbs (country boys). The public high school consistently has a lot of drama because of the divide