Moving to Oregon?

[gonemom]

I just spent a glorious, hot, de-rusting week in Eugene house-hunting & such. I am moving my family back to OR after being a Navy wife for WAY too long (my husband can taste his freedom from NAS Whidbey Island). I realize no town or city is idyllic en masse but to come back HOME and put up with the weather & politics of the I-5 corridor area will be a god-send after being up here. Rain? Please....at least when the skies are grey down there, they eventually DO something other than contribute to the suicide rate (NAS WI is #1 in the country, now; there's bragging rights for ya). Whidbey Island has its beauty but I will tolerate the crappy water situations, the rainy days, the power-tripping yokel cops & all the awkward growing pains of the I-5 corridor Californication just to be back where I'm given smiles freely & fit in. I am a native Californian & long time Washingtonian & I have seen the "modernization" of both states go to Hell in a hand basket. If Oregon wants to be the most "inconvenient" state then I say Bravo. The twisty rules to get your car licensed, or be a real estate broker or whatever else, are fine with me. It keeps the Instant Gratification Junkies at bay and it is my opinion that that mind-set ruined our Northern & Southern neighbors. Utopia is a state of mind, not a zipcode.

[mikegriffis]

Hello Jenny,
My wife and I and our 18 mo. old daughter are considering moving to Oregon. We are sick of the heat and the cost of living near San Diego CA and need something new. My wife is a teacher, so she would need a teaching job there. We really would like to live in a place with seasons, not too much snow in the winter though. We also need a home to rent (approx. 2000 sqf) with a guesthouse for my parents. We like the idea of living in a smaller town, but the city is also OK. Do you think Corvallis would be a good place for us, or do you know of other cities that might be better for us?

[crperrier]

hi, me and my boyfriend (soon to be husband) are anxious to move to Oregon. We currently live in LA, California. And its kind of getting old. We are 20 yrs old, we love the outdoors. we love snowboarding, and rainy nights. we want a quite neighborhood where we could start thinking about starting a family, but yet we dont want to be too far out from civilization. we are also looking to get two jobs each when we get out there. i am currently working two jobs to try and get us to Oregon faster =]
if anyone has any good input on where abouts we can settle down and live a nice normal life without all the BIG city competition going on like it is here, that would be very helpful..

He have looked alot into Cottage Grove, but we want to see what other choices we have as well.
thank you =]

[haggardhouseelf]

Coming from LA, I would think Portland would be a better fit for you guys, or perhaps Bend. Cottage Grove is a tiny, rural-feeling sort of place. It's definitely got it's charm, but you do sort of feel like you're in the middle of nowhere when you're there. You mentioned wanting to at least be somewhat near civilization... Perhaps a town outside of Portland or a place like Eugene, Corvallis, or Bend would be more your thing?

Portland has some great little suburbs that are woodsy and beautiful and very near places to ski and play in the snow... lots of outdoorsy things to do all over Oregon. Portland is a very cool town! We're in Eugene, and have been here for a few years, and we love it. It's the perfect-sized town, but we've in the past year or so begun avoiding the downtown area because of all the weird people and strangeness. We used to go to the downtown Library and Saturday Market almost every weekend, but we got really tired of smelling pot and feeling creeped out. We use the library hold system to have our books and media sent to a library that's closer to where we live now, and we just wait for the holiday market to buy local crafts and goods. We are members of a CSA so we don't have to go to the Farmer's Market anymore.

Anyway - don't want to turn you off of Eugene. We love it here, but the city doesn't seem to take certain issues very seriously. They talk a lot, but you don't see a lot being done. One time they gave a bunch of people tickets for jaywalking and that was like a big story, but the young kids walking around openly doing joints are still doing that... and the homeless still don't seem to have a place to go... and lots of other weird stuff that you see downtown. For you guys in your 20's without kids it might not be a big deal, especially coming from LA , but for people like us with kids, it's definitely not something we want to be around if we can help it.

[crperrier]

What about Harrisburg. i heard that place is very nice as well. we want to live in a small town. ive lived in LA my whole life, and ive seen many weird and strang things that go on around here. trust me they are all BIG talk around here as well. They like to keep saying things are gonna get better, but really they are gettin worse. Me and my boyfriend are tired of LA. Everyone here has to be better then the next. We are waiting til we get up to Oregon to start a small family. Cause raising a child down here, is too hard. We cant wait to move up there. Eugene might be too big for us. we dont mind driving 20 min into town if we have to. I mean i drive over 100 miles here everyday. =]

we just want a place were its snows, where the neighborhood is beautiful and doesnt have so much crime, we want to rent a home or a townhouse. if possible to rent a home we would want one with some property. =]

[haggardhouseelf]

Harrisburg is close to Eugene, and parts of it are nice. Every year they have a big 4th of July event. I don't really know too much about Harrisburg, so hopefully someone else will respond. Harrisburg and Junction City to me just sort of feels like a bunch of farms. I don't really care for the feeling out there personally, because I like more woodsy areas with more hills and trees... but if you like flat, wide-open sort of spaces with lots of farms around then you might like it.

Oakridge is really nice. I think they get more snow than we do in the Valley and the town is tucked away in a more wooded area. We really love Oakridge, from the time we've spent there, and have been considering buying a home there. It's a small community, not too far from Eugene but still a good drive... they have some sweet little houses out there. From what I hear the scariest things to watch out for in Oakridge are the stray and feral cats.

[Pen-Cap-Chew]

Oakridge is beautiful, a great place for hiking and mountain biking but I wouldn't move there personally because it is way out in the middle of nowhere. Cottage Grove is a better place because it is close to Eugene (about 20 miles) when you want a bigger city to go to, and cottage grove has lots of trees, a large lake, and is a nice little town overall.