Where in Oregon should I live??? (Portland, Eugene: to rent, hotels, townhome)

[kittypawz11]

This post is actually for a very good girlfriend of mine. She is currently living in Alaska of all places and is thankfully relocating for her job. She works at Ecolab. We are both from Texas so do not know much about your area.
Her company has a bunch of open positions thru out the state of Oregon and Washington so she can pretty much have her pick.

She prefers to live in a small town b/c then her "territory" would be small and she wouldn't have so many clients and thus would have very flexible hours. The bigger the city, the more hotels and restaurants, hence, the more hours she'd have to work.

She does not want the small town to be too far from a major city b/c she is in her early 30's,single,and would like to be able to get to the city easily if she wants to go out,shop,or travel(major airport).
She would like the town to be clean...suburbia perhaps, or even a college town maybe? She'd like someplace where she can rent a little house,townhome or duplex that allows dogs and do her daily jog around the treelined neighborhood. Small town feel with a "main street",ice cream parlor,corner market...a place where everybody knows everybody. Like the town Julia Roberts moved to after getting away from her husband in Sleeping With the Enemy! You get the idea.
She does NOT want another blue collar army base town like the Fairbanks dump she is living in now. She is very pretty and there are SLIM PICKINS where she is at,god help her. LOL.

If it were someone else asking me the same question but in Texas, I would suggest Round Rock(outside of Austin),New Braunfels(outside of San Antonio) or McKinney(outside of Dallas).

What are some suggestions in Oregon?? Thanks so much!!!

[davefr]

Here are just a few suggestions:

Tillamook - 70 miles to Portland and definatly a small town feel. There are plenty of other towns on the Oregon coast with the small town feel but the summer tourism might be a turn off. Tillamook has a little less tourists because it's a tad inland from the coast.

Corvallis - About the same distance to Portland as Tillamook but you also have Eugene and Salem closer by. It's a major university town so that might be a turn off.

Cottage Grove - Small town feel and close to Eugene

McMinnville, Sherwood, Forest Grove or McMinnville - all within 60 min of Portland but Sherwood and Newberg are almost becomming suburbs of Portland. McMinnville is still it's own little city.

Southern Oregon has quite a bit to offer but there's no "major" airport and no "major" city.

Portland is the "major" city with the "major" airport. Ask her how far she's willing to be from Portland. IMHO you need to be at least an hour a way to really get what she wants in a small town.

[scone]

Originally Posted by kittypawz11

She does NOT want another blue collar army base town like the Fairbanks dump she is living in now. She is very pretty and there are SLIM PICKINS where she is at,god help her. LOL.

If it were someone else asking me the same question but in Texas, I would suggest Round Rock(outside of Austin),New Braunfels(outside of San Antonio) or McKinney(outside of Dallas).

What are some suggestions in Oregon?? Thanks so much!!!

That was funny about the slim pickins... but I get you about Round Rock. Forest Grove is a nice college town, as is Corvallis. (Although HP may be moving). Roseberg is a very pretty town, but not a college setting. Personally, I'd vote for Eugene, if she's o.k. with a very liberal 'Birkenstock' feel. Salem has a college, but it's mostly 'bureaucratic' types (it's the state capital.)

Outside of that, most of the other schools are around Portland.

[no one special]

There's George Fox University in Newberg- that's an ok area. And not too far off from the major city. Eugene and Corvallis are fun areas. But I wouldn't say everybody knows your name. I would think that would be more of a place like Molalla or Canby where you would be known well by your neighbors. Nothing like the place "Sleeping With the Enemy" is around here though. You might write to "Pleasantville" and see if there are any openings there. Ha!

As far as 'slim pickens'...well, I am not sure what kind of pickens one needs but I wouldn't think a small town would bring too much to the table. I would then lean more toward Corvallis and Eugene if Portland is not an option.

[Clinton167]

I love Forest Grove and miss it terribly...hopefully I'll make it home someday. It's my perfect small town.

[tiffela74]

hey Clinton167....
i had my HS years in Forest Grove....it IS a very nice little town...my dad still lives there and they LOVE it. Small enough to have that small town feel, close enough to pretty much anything. And Im hearing terrific stuff about the HS these last few years....
Its small enough that I got caught and told on by some neighbors and folks that knew my folks when I was out doing some typical teenage pranks that I shouldnt have been doing. Hated that back then, would LOVE that now that ive got kids of my own! lol

[Silverfall]

I live in Salem and if I were single this is not the place I would choose to live. Great family town, not so great singles town. I personally would stick close to Portland or Eugene, but it depends on what you like to do.

Suburbia in Portland...I like Lake Oswego, but expensive, Beaverton, Tualatin, Wilsonville are the eptiome of Suburbia but nice place to live.

Silverton down here in the valley is a wonderful small town, but not sure if that is too far from a major city or not for you.

I think it really depends on what she likes to do with her free time.

[delta07]

I haven't seen anyone suggest Bend yet. I just moved here a month and a half ago, but so far I am loving it. The city is considered a "small town," but I think it's a small city. The pop. is around 100,000 (even though the last census says it's around 76,000). It's a bit further away from the big cities (ie Portland is 3.5 hours), but for the size it really has a lot of big city ammenities. There are fabulous restaraunts, great shopping, and easy access to the outdoors. Bend seems to have a lot of 30 somethings that are single, and plenty of activities to keep you busy. I have been to a music festival, Brew festival, and numerous free concerts in the park and Les Shwab ampitheater. Bend is also a very dog friendly city. I have 2 labs and a cat, and I had no problem finding a place to rent. I would suggest she make a trip to Bend, as well as other places in Oregon, to see what she likes before committing to the move.

[davefr]

Originally Posted by delta07

I haven't seen anyone suggest Bend yet. I just moved here a month and a half ago, but so far I am loving it. The city is considered a "small town," but I think it's a small city. The pop. is around 100,000 (even though the last census says it's around 76,000). It's a bit further away from the big cities (ie Portland is 3.5 hours), but for the size it really has a lot of big city ammenities. There are fabulous restaraunts, great shopping, and easy access to the outdoors. Bend seems to have a lot of 30 somethings that are single, and plenty of activities to keep you busy. I have been to a music festival, Brew festival, and numerous free concerts in the park and Les Shwab ampitheater. Bend is also a very dog friendly city. I have 2 labs and a cat, and I had no problem finding a place to rent. I would suggest she make a trip to Bend, as well as other places in Oregon, to see what she likes before committing to the move.

Bend hasn't been mentioned because the OP indicated that proximity to a major city/airport is important.

[delta07]

Originally Posted by davefr

Bend hasn't been mentioned because the OP indicated that proximity to a major city/airport is important.

True, but I also think Bend has quite a bit to offer in terms of big city type ammenities.

I was just offering my opinion about Bend from a person in their early 30's as well.