Thank you Caffeinated and Littlenova for your words or encouragement and recommendations. I spent Thursday through Sunday wandering around Baltimore. i was incredibly impressed with MICA's facilities, the philosophy of Mount Royal and I fell deeply in love with Baltimore. I felt, for the most part, just as safe as I do here in Portland and people were a whole lot more willing to connect and have a conversation. There are so many brilliantly creative projects coming into fruition there.
So... thank you all for your words.
I put the down payment down yesterday and now I am looking forward to the move come August!