Seeking smaller towns, where to look? (Portland, Eugene: buying, school, to live in)

[Hawk J]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

They should put an In-N-Out up on Mt Hood.

They built one in Grants Pass & Medford...

[NW4me]

Originally Posted by AnthonyJ34

I've lived my entire life here in Southern California (not far from Long Beach), and the lack of pronounced seasonal climate shifts is a big reason that I want to relocate to someplace with more obvious seasons, albeit not too extreme. The other reason(s) fueling my desire to relocate are the traffic and congestion issues across the entire Southland as well as the outrageous housing/rent prices.

If I do relocate, I may return to my roots here in So. Cal eventually -- but I would like to at least give it the ol' Freshman try in a new area. The PNW sounds appealing, but so does a place like Colorado or even Arizona (in certain areas). I'd prefer a bit more cool than warm if I had to choose either/or. Places in the South such as North Carolina and Virginia seem nice as well, but the summer heat/humidity would likely be a no-go! Maine and Vermont are beautiful and enticing, but I'd be trading lack of seasonal variety for an excess in the opposite direction, mainly in the form of ice and snow and sub-zero temps. I don't know if I could handle that type of shift!

Have you ever visited Julian? A quaint little place in the mountains of E San Diego County.

It has seasons... even snow sometimes. And the area is known for growing apples.

Probably only feasible as a retirement or work-from-home destination,
because a town of 1,500 isn't apt to have a lot of good jobs.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Where in Oregon is that now?
I guess Oregon is slowly getting absorbed by Calfornia.

[Hawk J]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

Where in Oregon is that now?
I guess Oregon is slowly getting absorbed by Calfornia.

In-N-Out picked a good spot to build, right by I-5. Easy in-n-out......Grants Pass is a growing town. They keep building new businesses.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by Hawk J

In-N-Out picked a good spot to build, right by I-5. Easy in-n-out......Grants Pass is a growing town. They keep building new businesses.

They are going to build one in Salem next. I tried the one in GP. It's just another burger joint, and I don't think you will find one in a small town. One of my definitions of "small town" is if it is too small to have a McDonalds. You can usually get something to eat at the tavern. If it's too small to have a tavern, it's not a town at all.

[AnthonyJ34]

Originally Posted by NW4me

Have you ever visited Julian? A quaint little place in the mountains of E San Diego County.

It has seasons... even snow sometimes. And the area is known for growing apples.

Probably only feasible as a retirement or work-from-home destination,
because a town of 1,500 isn't apt to have a lot of good jobs.

Yes, Julian is a nice town, very quaint and idyllic! I actually prefer Idyllwild, California, though, since I have been going to that area since I was a kid -- we used to camp at Lake Hemet and visit Idyllwild during every visit. Plus, I think Idyllwild is one of the more beautiful Southern California towns, the way it's nestled in that forested valley surrounding by Tahquitz Peak and Mt. San Jacinto. It has a much more secluded, isolated feel than does the more popular places such as Lake Arrowhead, Big Bear, and even Wrightwood.

But relocating to the So. California mountains is definitely something I have been considering. I'd still get the fairly decent weather overall associated with the Mediterranean climate but have more pronounced seasons and more of an actual Winter and Fall -- without the extremes experienced in more Northern latitudes and without the intense humidity in summer that impacts large portions of the country.

I've even considered places up in or near the Sierra Nevada. Placerville seems nice, but it gets extremely hot in the summer, not much cooler than Sacramento. And Truckee would be nice in Summer but basically snowed in during Winter. Ha!

I do realize that no perfect place exists, however, so all one can do is settle on a place that checks off as many positives as possible while hopefully minimizing any negatives.

I'm actually typing this post right now from San Francisco, where I will be pet-sitting/house-sitting for the next several days, and I am thrilled to be up here where it is nice and cool. I left my home yesterday in Cerritos (down in So. Cal) where it has been in the 90s all week and arrived in San Francisco yesterday afternoon where the temperature was about 68. I love cooler weather.

[PNW-type-gal]

More appropriate to discuss California towns in the California forum, it's off-topic here - although there is some reasonable overlap between far northern California towns (Yreka, Weed, Mt Shasta, Crescent City, Dorris, Tulelake, Alturas) and Southern Oregon towns.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

They are going to build one in Salem next. I tried the one in GP. It's just another burger joint, and I don't think you will find one in a small town. One of my definitions of "small town" is if it is too small to have a McDonalds. You can usually get something to eat at the tavern. If it's too small to have a tavern, it's not a town at all.

Actually they are building it in Keizer. Which is the farthest north they can go with their current distribution system. I don't believe they have any plans for a distribution center in the Pacific Northwest yet. But it does look like that is the direction they are going, unfortunately.

Your perspective of defining small towns by being able to support a McDonald's is an interesting one, but I'm not sure how well that is going to work. There are cities over 10,000 that don't have McDonald's and some towns as small as 200 that do. There was a time when McDonald's required a city to have a population of 50,000 to even be considered for a franchise, or at least have an area of 50,000 to draw from. But these days those type of requirements seem to have gone out the window. Now it doesn't matter how little population there is, if somebody there wants to pay for a franchise, McDonald's is more then happy to sell it to them.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

You are much better off getting a local "to your door" delivery from a local place via Grubhub or DoorDash or UberEats or whatever.

Sometimes the extra 10 bucks (plus a cheap tip) is well worth your time.

Plus, the drivers seem to be decent sorts of fellows, who are always friendly and helpful....

I have Never, Ever, had any kind of issue.

[NW4me]

Originally Posted by AnthonyJ34

Yes, Julian is a nice town, very quaint and idyllic! I actually prefer Idyllwild, California, though, since I have been going to that area since I was a kid -- we used to camp at Lake Hemet and visit Idyllwild during every visit. Plus, I think Idyllwild is one of the more beautiful Southern California towns, the way it's nestled in that forested valley surrounding by Tahquitz Peak and Mt. San Jacinto. It has a much more secluded, isolated feel than does the more popular places such as Lake Arrowhead, Big Bear, and even Wrightwood.

But relocating to the So. California mountains is definitely something I have been considering. I'd still get the fairly decent weather overall associated with the Mediterranean climate but have more pronounced seasons and more of an actual Winter and Fall -- without the extremes experienced in more Northern latitudes and without the intense humidity in summer that impacts large portions of the country.

I've even considered places up in or near the Sierra Nevada. Placerville seems nice, but it gets extremely hot in the summer, not much cooler than Sacramento. And Truckee would be nice in Summer but basically snowed in during Winter. Ha!

I do realize that no perfect place exists, however, so all one can do is settle on a place that checks off as many positives as possible while hopefully minimizing any negatives.

I'm actually typing this post right now from San Francisco, where I will be pet-sitting/house-sitting for the next several days, and I am thrilled to be up here where it is nice and cool. I left my home yesterday in Cerritos (down in So. Cal) where it has been in the 90s all week and arrived in San Francisco yesterday afternoon where the temperature was about 68. I love cooler weather.

I'm originally from So Cal, but have lived in SF for many years... SF weather can't be beat, IMO.
Another place worth a look is Bishop (in the Owens Valley, behind the Sierras). Not quaint,
but a perfect location for accessing the great hiking on the east side. I'd be bored there in the winter,
though, because skiing doesn't interest me.
To keep the moderator happy and steer the conversation back to Oregon, there are some attractive towns
along the Oregon coast... I find the southern coast the most dramatic, and a town called Gold Beach is
in the center of it.