Staying at Crystal and Ricardo's house was a great experience. It's very clean and quiet and I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a place in NE Portland. It's an easy 5-10 minute walk to Woodlawn and Alberta with a lot of restaurants, bars, and shops as well as several grocery stores for longer stays. There is also a bus stop right around the corner for longer trips. Crystal and Ricardo are really friendly and easy to talk to. They are very knowledgeable about the area and can provide a long list of things to see and do. The house is approximately 4-5 miles from downtown and It's a great place to start out for either walking or cycling. It's hard to find a place in the area that you can't easily bike to and I recommend doing the 20-30 minute ride to downtown at least once.