Living in Portland: Good-bye City of Roses, Hello Never Ending Rain

We have loved it here so far. Portland, if you didn't know, is also known as the city of roses. (picture below is in the internatn'l rose test garden) Our first weekend here, we went to rose festival and parade, it rained, but that was clear back in June and it's been pretty dry here ever since then. Actually, the summers here seem to be pretty similar to Utah's except that there is a real beach near by and that the mountains are WAY TO FAR AWAY from where we live......

But alas, those sunny summer days are coming to an end. Every one that learns that we are from Utah says "do you like rain?" or some other wise crack comment like: "enjoy the sun now" or "come October, you better invest in an umbrella". And they are right. I got my first taste of winter in portland this week and it stinks. Even though the temp was only in the 60's, I felt like I was walking up old main hill in the dead of winter on my way from the bus to work. There is just something about that damp cold that is colder than the icy winds that blow down utah's canyons.

So, to keep up our endorphines and avoid seasonal affective disorder, we are thinking about joining a gym. They are so FREAKING expensive and I hate those macho retarded fake baked half naked stereotypical gym people that were so abundant in the gym I tried out this morning, but it seems to be the only solution I've thought of so far. Anyone else got an idea?