Actually "Beaverton is a Shithole" was the title of blog entry the *first* time I went out there, in 2003. A trip probably very much like yours, I took a hike at the lovely Tualatin Hills Nature Park (which has no hills to speak of but is a rare island of native woods and wetland) and then discovered, like you, that "downtown" Beaverton makes Gresham look like a model town. I was interested to learn however, from a historical plaque, that Beaverton was in fact named for the huge numbers of, what else, beavers, that inhabited the area when most of it was still a swamp (diminutive pieces of which you can glimpse from the MAX as you ride through central Beaverton, evoking, for those with enough imagination, the giant tangled wetland it once was.)

Dan, I think you're being too kind to Beavertron. the real term for it is "Shithole". I went out there today to check out a couple nature parks. the parks weren't bad, the "developed areas" around it were. And downtown Beaverton? Does it even exist? Besides a token block of old turn of the (20th) century buildings and a real nice library, "downtown" b-ton is nothing but high-traffic streets, parking lots, car dealerships, and strip malls. Even Gresham is better than that. Made me happy to get on that eastbound MAX...

I've heard "End of Suburbia" is good. I hope it plays around here sometime soon. Hmm... okay i just went to the website, maybe i'll buy it and do a screening myself.

Go see End of Suburbia (www.endofsuburbia.com). Not that you need to, but go see it anyway. Your Beaverton piece is an excellent illustration of the horrors of suburbia.