I finally visited Oregon (I live in MO). We went all over the state from May 20-30. We absolutely adored the state - so much scenic beauty. We started in Portland - stayed the night in Forest Grove after arriving late that night. We thought that was a cool little suburb with a cozy, home like feeling and some cool shops and stuff. So many people kept their yards up so nice there. Everywhere we looked were roses!
Then we immediately the next day wanted a scenic drive so we headed north .. stopped by St Helens first, which we thought was a cool small town. We ate at some awesome restaraunt downtown on the corner, but I forgot the name. St Helens felt cozy and had a true "small town " vibe- which is surprising being only 30 min out of downtown Portland - but we are afraid we might get bored there.
Anyway, then we headed to Astoria on the coast. The drive was awesome. We stopped at some little jewelry stores along the way in some small towns and all the people were friendly.
Astoria, surprisingly, ended up being our favorite place in the state. I never thought I'd want to live that far from a big city, but it felt so cozy there. We just picked up really great vibes there. Every day of our trip was sunny (unusual, I know). Astoria seemed to have so much artistic culture for being such a small place. The downtown area was pretty cool and with Washington being right across the bridge it seems an easy egt away. the bridge was cool..
Then we headed back to Portland and saw Jerry Seinfeld downtown. It was a blast ... and the next day we spent the day in downtown Portland and went to their Saturday Market, which was amazing!! the downtown there was awesome, though it'd take some getting used to that traffic (mike drove). I love the city, but i wouldn't want to live right in it .. I like more of a small place where people get to know each other.
anyway, then we headed south. we didn't stop by salem but now i am thinking we should've checked it out since i've noticed that they seem to have to most inexpensive house & rent prices of all it seems? i may only be able to afford salem from what i've seen? the willammette valley was beautiful and peaceful. i loved all the farmland everywhere. it was like art everywhere we looked. haha people who live in oregon probably get used to this beauty and think i'm disillusioned, but we just loved it.
Ashland turned out to be a big disappointment. So many people told me how awesome Ashland was and how there was such a cultural mix and so diversified and artsy. It was our least favorite place of all. Yes, there were some cool shops there, a farmer's market which was pretty cool, and some ok art galleries and the shakespear festivle was cool, if you like those type of plays, but as far as culture - everyone there we met, except 1 or 2 people, acted exactly the same! Overall, to us, it seemed like a bunch of uptight, wealthy people who thought they were better and too good to smile or say hi. They acted way too uptight ... and we did not feel the people in that town represented the spirit of most people from oregon we met.
Grants pass seemed like a laid back, old-fashioned, type of place but to us didn't seem like much would go on there. I think for older people it may be a good, quiet place.
Anyway, so astoria was a favorite place. Of course we only had a day or so in each area, so our observations were very limitied. We are mainly going by first impressions and the vibes we picked up at this point, but we will do our research, too.
We may check into a small town like scappoosse, which is like 20 min from Portland but with nature in between the two .. it is actually it's own little community but that close to Portland, which surprised us that it didn't all run together. we didn't check it out while we were there, but we might do so.
Anyway if anyone wants to see some of our vacation pics check out my myspace
www.myspace.com/unclejupiter. also, if we move there I hope to meet some of you from oregon. we will have no family there and fear getting there and being lonely! Its tough to think of moving away from my family here, but we feel like Oregon will be our home soon. Send me your contact info if you want to
malissa456@yahoo.com
Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with 700,000 other registered members. User profiles and some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your free account you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 15,000 posts/day about local topics and you will see fewer ads. 
My recent Oregon vacation ...
Linear Mode
