A few things you should know about Portland

  1. Not everything you see on Portlandia is true. 
  2. It rains here, but not as much as you might think. Portland receives less rain each year than Boston, New York, Seattle, and St. Louis. That said...
  3. It is cloudy here a lot. In fact Portland averages 222 days a year for heavy clouds (>80% cloudy), plus another 74 partly cloudy days. In 2011, Portland went 41 days in a row without a clear day. There's a reason people drink so much coffee here. It's called self-medication.
  4. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Portland is also famous for its beer industry. 
  5. Portland has the highest concentration of small, independent coffee roasters in the United States, and if you take a walking tour of the coffee scene, you will reach your caffeine limit long before your feet get tired. 
  6. When it snows in Portland, the city shuts down. Don't bother with fighting it. Just enjoy the day off.
  7. "Couch" rhymes with "pooch" when it refers to the street north of Burnside.
  8. RCTID stands for "Rose City till I die" or "Rip City till I die." 
  9. The Starlight Parade, held during the Rose Festival, is one of the city's best events. 
  10. Portland might be the only city in the world with its own alumni band.
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