There is a pretty strong libertarian movement going on in Oregon, and bitcoin has infected it.

I just created a meetup.com group for it:
http://www.meetup.com/Portland-Bitcoin-Group/

Only three people are on the meetup group so far, but the meeting this sunday should have many more as it has been passed around a lot in email.

Also, Intel is located in Oregon, and bitcoins are starting to get pretty popular on the intel campus.

Finally "it is full of alternative minded people" is totally right on.