Hoosiers looking to plant roots in...Oregon??? (Portland, Medford: crime, how much)

[malachai23]

I have about as much trouble posting photos on here as Silverfall does. So here are some links for you so you can get an idea of what the towns & surroundings look like:

Jacksonvills: Cycle Oregon: Photos in Historic Jacksonville | Cycle Oregon - OregonLive.com
Historic Walking Tours of Jacksonville Oregon
Trip to Jacksonville, Oregon pictures from oregon photos on webshots

Ashland:

Ashland Daily Photo
Ashland, Oregon Vacation, Business, Relocation and Travel Guide
(these appear to be Lithia Park Ashland Oregon pictures from pacific northwest photos on webshots

Sisters:

Sisters, Oregon Pictures, Photos & Pics
Sisters, Oregon pictures from scenery & nature photos on webshots
Sisters Oregon Guide - Visit Sisters

Bend:

Visit Bend Visitors Guide Visit Bend 2009 Visitors Guide
Kelly's 2004 trip to Bend Oregon

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by malachai23

I have about as much trouble posting photos on here as Silverfall does. So here are some links for you so you can get an idea of what the towns & surroundings look like:

Jacksonvills: Cycle Oregon: Photos in Historic Jacksonville | Cycle Oregon - OregonLive.com
Historic Walking Tours of Jacksonville Oregon
Trip to Jacksonville, Oregon pictures from oregon photos on webshots

Ashland:

Ashland Daily Photo
Ashland, Oregon Vacation, Business, Relocation and Travel Guide
(these appear to be Lithia Park Ashland Oregon pictures from pacific northwest photos on webshots

Sisters:

Sisters, Oregon Pictures, Photos & Pics
Sisters, Oregon pictures from scenery & nature photos on webshots
Sisters Oregon Guide - Visit Sisters

Bend:

Visit Bend Visitors Guide Visit Bend 2009 Visitors Guide
Kelly's 2004 trip to Bend Oregon

Glad I'm not alone...

When you are looking at the photos linked here just realized that they are post processed. I have taken shots at Smith Rock and Tumalo Creek in Bend and they are not as lush as the photos make them seem. Beautiful, yes, but not lush. Just keep that in mind.

Also, I personally prefer Sisters over Bend despite its more touristy aspect just because it is more green there. It's amazing just heading another 20 minutes away does for the landscape.

[new2used4you]

Originally Posted by DerbyFever

We recently visited the Portland/Gorge area and fell in love! We've been considering relocating for some time due to our son's severe allergies in the midwest (just outside Louisville, current allergy capital) and this trip has been a catalyst. We love the green & amazing scenery around Portland but aren't sure we could live with the rain & excessive dreary days.

We are now considering either Ashland/Jacksonville area or Bend/Sisters area. We'd planned to visit both areas, but our recent trip ended abruptly, hence I'm back in Indiana doing more homework...We'd appreciate any thoughts/ideas on either of these areas. I'm going to provide our "wish list" with the qualification that we realize there is no utopia and some concessions will need to be made...however, it's a starting point:
1.) Low allergies
2.) Good schools
3.) Family/kid-friendly place (low crime, safe, etc.)
4.) Weather (want change of seasons with no prolonged extremes...I hate IN's scorching hot summers with high humidity, husband doesn't want weeks of snow on ground)
5.) Landscape/Scenery (would like lush green with pretty mountain views...don't like extreme flat, barren/brown, or desert/canyon look)
6.) Access to water for powerboating (within hour, water warm enough in summer for skiing, decent size body of water)

Based on what I've heard/read, it seems either place could fit our "wish list" but there are pro's and con's to each place. I'm hoping for feedback to tell me whether we're on the right track and/or whether we're overlooking some points (good or bad)...Both places assuredly have less allergies than Louisville and websurfing seems to support both having good schools & low crime, so I think we're OK on the first 3 points.

As for the other points on the wish list...Pro's of Ashland/Jville would be the mild weather but possible con is I'm wondering how barren/"brown" this area gets? Pro's of Bend/Sisters would be what sounds like amazing scenery and lots of surrounding lakes but possible cons are whether the weather gets too cold (esp. at night in summer, as well as water being too cold for watersports), whether this area is too touristy (?), and I'm also left wondering about scenery...some things I read about Bend area sound like there's a lot of green while others emphasize the "desert" aspect, so unclear on this. Thanks to all for any input/suggestions!

you may want to know that in is snow in the winter in sisters/bend and very hot in the summer. Winter in eugene is not the same as always not sure what going on but the rain has been less.

[malachai23]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

Glad I'm not alone...

When you are looking at the photos linked here just realized that they are post processed. I have taken shots at Smith Rock and Tumalo Creek in Bend and they are not as lush as the photos make them seem. Beautiful, yes, but not lush. Just keep that in mind.

Also, I personally prefer Sisters over Bend despite its more touristy aspect just because it is more green there. It's amazing just heading another 20 minutes away does for the landscape.

Yes - I agree - the Bend area normally looks not so lush. It was surprisingly difficult for me to even find the pictures that I found! There are a lot of pics available on the internet showing the surrounding majestic landscapes and various mountains, but hardly any actually showing the towns. And of course when you *do* find pics of the towns they are always the ones that make them look the greenest! LOL It's a shame I couldn't find you more pics of the towns because especially in the cases of Sisters, Jacksonville, and Ashland there are some great old buildings and cute "main streets"! And Bend also has a fairly large historic area as well.

I also prefer Sisters over Bend. But you will not have as many choices there as far as shopping, dining, basic ammenities, etc. If you don't mind commuting to Bend for these necessities then it would not be a big deal. Do keep in mind that in the winter the roads can be snowy.

[DerbyFever]

Thanks for giving me all the stuff to mull over, you guys (and gals) are the best! OK, as for Bend vs. Sisters...the data I'm using for school comps. is primarily from 2 websites--schooldigger.com and greatschools.com, both are great. When doing city comps., overall Sisters is ranked higher (#39 of 220; Bend is #76 of 220); however, when I started looking at the performance of specific schools, Bend looks a lot more promising with schools. (Also on a side note, Fiddlehead, the situation you describe about schools in Oregon I think unfortunately has become more commonplace all around the country with school budgets being slashed significantly.)

Also in doing a few real estate searches I'm shocked at the "deals" to be had on the market in Bend--it's actually quite distressing as I know things must be horrendous on the other end of the deal. Like malachi23 said, Sisters is quite a bit more expensive with not as many deals though I love the description of it being situated within a forest surrounded by mountains as well as Silverfall's notation that it's significantly more green. Not much into the "Old West" motiffs or themes but Sisters otherwise sounds like its charming & quaint. The lack of humidity all over OR sounds great, I can't even imagine after 38 years of mugginess!

Thanks also for all the links, I especially like the "real" pictures from Kelly's 04 Bend trip, it's pics like that give a real feel for a place. I noticed these pics were taken in March--I'm wondering how much different the landscape would appear if they would've been in April, May, or June. It looks like the lawns do have grass (which is important to us)--is that correct? If so, are they green for a while? Bend looked a bit shrubby from the pics but then again things here look shrubby in March as well. I spent a lot of time in Southern Florida growing up and one of the things I hated was the lack of grass, with so much being dirt & sand. If that's predominant in any of these places give a heads up please as that would be a definite deal-breaker.

Thanks, Fiddlehead, for your candidness about the downsides of both areas. Uprooting ourselves to move across the country is a major step so I surely want to go in with both eyes wide open. Yes, we already explored home prices before our trip in July so were aware of the higher home prices throughout OR but especially in pockets (Lake Oswego, Sisters, Ashland, etc.) as well as the fact that the economy had tanked. It's perplexing to see the huge housing inventory & deals in Bend and lack of both in Ashland. Some of the things you describe about Ashland are quite unappealing and are actually making us edge more toward Bend/Sisters at this point such as...in Ashland: the smaller housing inventory & larger price tags, the relative brown/barrenness of the area beyond 3 spring months (things actually get quite brown in the Louisville area also around late June/Julyish each year), the schools seemed OK but not great in Ashland (#55 on city rankings but lack of great individual schools), and we're not really into the snobby types if that's the majority of the population.

Fortunately I have a job in which there is a national shortage and a constant demand so it would necessitate doing some searching to find an opening & going from there. The husband has a much tougher situation. He's self-employed with 3 small businesses so it will be a much larger matter of selling them and essentially starting over somewhere else. This has been the biggest factor that's prevented us from relocating in the past but we're closer now than we've ever been and the big catalyst has been our son's allergies. We're quite serious now and this is requiring more in-depth research, Q's & A's.

On the bugfree side of things...how bugfree are we talking? Bugs & mosquitoes are a major issue in Southern IN and I can't imagine how liberating it would be to not deal with this problem! I recall in Denver there being very few (if any) bugs and also hearing there were NO dust mites there, a big plus. Anybody know about dust mites in Bend/Ashland (kind of obscure question)?

A very broad question...what are the political vibes in these areas? We don't really lean strongly in one direction or the other but honestly it would be refreshing to get away from the common mentality in our region that screams "My way is the right way and all other ways are wrong". If we can find something more along the lines of "Live and let live", that would be a huge improvement. A place leaning a little more on the liberal/progressive side of things wouldn't be so bad, though not to the extent of what I've heard about, say Eugene.

Are there any other pro's/con's that anyone can think of that we haven't covered on these areas? Thanks again to all for the great info. and I can't wait to hear more!!

[Silverfall]

Sisters is more green, but it is still shrubby. It just seems to have more Pines and then it is nestled with the 3 Sisters mountains right there.

I think Kelly's pictures are pretty reflective of Bend. I was just there in August and it was browner then. People do have lawns and water them. Downtown Bend is very nicely done, and those shots of the park are of Drake Park which is really nice. It's not cactusville out there, but it is high desert so it is just more arid and dry. It is very different than the Gorge, but still beautiful.

Yes there are mosquitos there and it can be bad at some of the mountain lakes. We didn't have any problems when we were there in August, but we weren't at any lakes/rivers at dusk. My friend that lives there says they can be bad.

[malachai23]

Originally Posted by DerbyFever

Also in doing a few real estate searches I'm shocked at the "deals" to be had on the market in Bend--it's actually quite distressing as I know things must be horrendous on the other end of the deal.

Yes, Bend was not spared during the recent economic crisis. It was especially hard-hit due to the fact that its houses were selling for three times what they were worth. Bend had become quite a destination for out-of-staters for a while, and for many of them buying a house that was three times what it was worth was still less expensive than the houses in the neighborhoods where they moved from. I feel so bad for some of these folks who thought they were making a great economic decision just to have everything fall out from under them.

Originally Posted by DerbyFever

Thanks also for all the links, I especially like the "real" pictures from Kelly's 04 Bend trip, it's pics like that give a real feel for a place. I noticed these pics were taken in March--I'm wondering how much different the landscape would appear if they would've been in April, May, or June. It looks like the lawns do have grass (which is important to us)--is that correct? If so, are they green for a while? Bend looked a bit shrubby from the pics but then again things here look shrubby in March as well. I spent a lot of time in Southern Florida growing up and one of the things I hated was the lack of grass, with so much being dirt & sand. If that's predominant in any of these places give a heads up please as that would be a definite deal-breaker.

Bend does tend to have that "dry and dusty" look to it most of the year. But that's not to say people don't have lawns that they keep watered, and trees that are not native to the area have been planted. Green things (aside from a few pine trees and sage brush) don't tend to grow naturally very well in the bend area. If you want grass you will have to keep it watered. A lot of the houses in the Bend area are actually built into more wooded (pine) areas and the groundcover has a unique look to it. When the pine needles fall off they collect on the ground just as deciduous leaves around here do. It gives the ground kind of a prickly carpeted look that is so unique to that area. Of course you can (and should) keep them raked up. But you will see them collect like that along the roads and open spaces. Another unique thing about the area is how a lot of the roads have a reddish pink look to them and that is from the red volcanic rock that is mixed into a lot of the pavement mixes and also layed out in the winter for traction (no salting in Oregon). So - long story short - it's a high desert, and high desert things grow there naturally. With the lack of rain that falls on the other side of the mountains, you also naturally lose the "lushness" of the landscape.

Originally Posted by DerbyFever

On the bugfree side of things...how bugfree are we talking? Bugs & mosquitoes are a major issue in Southern IN and I can't imagine how liberating it would be to not deal with this problem! I recall in Denver there being very few (if any) bugs and also hearing there were NO dust mites there, a big plus. Anybody know about dust mites in Bend/Ashland (kind of obscure question)?

As for the bugs, Oregon is *relatively* bug-free, or much more so than compared to a lot of other areas of the country. There was actually a thread on this very thing recently - you might want to look for it and read it over. It might have been in the Portland-specific forum. In general, Oregon's biggest bug problem is probably the spiders. There are a lot of them. I know that Southern OR (Ashland/Jacksonville) have Black Widows. I had them all over my apartment when I lived in Ashland. Also there are Brown Recluse in the valley west of the Cascades. I'm not sure about poisonous spiders east of the Cascades, however. Do keep in mind that there are rattlesnakes in the areas you are looking at. But you will not see them in town. I wouldn't say there is a huge mosquito problem in Oregon either. I mean they are around, but I wouldn't say they are a problem. I really don't know about the dust mites - sorry!

Originally Posted by DerbyFever

A very broad question...what are the political vibes in these areas? We don't really lean strongly in one direction or the other but honestly it would be refreshing to get away from the common mentality in our region that screams "My way is the right way and all other ways are wrong". If we can find something more along the lines of "Live and let live", that would be a huge improvement. A place leaning a little more on the liberal/progressive side of things wouldn't be so bad, though not to the extent of what I've heard about, say Eugene.

You are in luck, Oregon is very much a "live and let live" state. There is a high number of Libertarians in Oregon. Your Democratic enclaves are going to be Portland, Eugene, Ashland. The rest of the state is pretty solidly Republican as far as stats go. But like I said, many of those folks are more along the lines of Libertarian. Of course that is a huge generalization, please realize that. I'm sure you could dig up some solid city-by-city and county-by-county stats online pretty easily. Even Eugene, with its reputation of being ultra-liberal, has a fairly solid population of conservative voters. It's actually quite a diverse city, socio-politically anyhow. I think however you "sway" will be your business and nobody is going to like you or dislike you because of it. They may want to debate you, but they aren't going to hate you Oregon can be a bit "kooky" - even in the more conservative leaning areas. Just be prepared for general "kookiness" and you will be fine.

[DerbyFever]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

Sisters is more green, but it is still shrubby. It just seems to have more Pines and then it is nestled with the 3 Sisters mountains right there.

I think Kelly's pictures are pretty reflective of Bend. I was just there in August and it was browner then. People do have lawns and water them. Downtown Bend is very nicely done, and those shots of the park are of Drake Park which is really nice. It's not cactusville out there, but it is high desert so it is just more arid and dry. It is very different than the Gorge, but still beautiful.

Yes there are mosquitos there and it can be bad at some of the mountain lakes. We didn't have any problems when we were there in August, but we weren't at any lakes/rivers at dusk. My friend that lives there says they can be bad.

Something about brown just seems depressing to me...on the other hand, everyones' comments about Bend and Sisters make them sound very picturesque. I would love to live in the Gorge/Portland area although I don't think we'd like so many overcast days. It's more important to me to live somewhere where there are many sunny days--I fear anywhere too close to Portland would be lacking sun. When we visited Portland over the summer it was gorgeous beyond comparison though I've heard that's confined to a few short months each year. We visited Hood River and it looked nice but I can't find any decent schools around, I even checked across the bridge into WA. Besides, I'm not sure that even HR would have significantly more sun than Portland. I'm more tolerant of variations in weather (barring the 100 degree heat index days like in IN & KY) than lack of sun. And I don't mean I need California sun, as somehow I think that'd be too much.

As for the bug problem. Everything is all relative and I can't imagine bugs being any worse than here. While annoying, that's a small price to pay if we can meet most of the other things on our wish list. No place is perfect. I'm actually less concerned about bugs in general than dust mites b/c the mites are a major allergy issue for myself and my son.

[DerbyFever]

Originally Posted by malachai23

Yes, Bend was not spared during the recent economic crisis. It was especially hard-hit due to the fact that its houses were selling for three times what they were worth. Bend had become quite a destination for out-of-staters for a while, and for many of them buying a house that was three times what it was worth was still less expensive than the houses in the neighborhoods where they moved from. I feel so bad for some of these folks who thought they were making a great economic decision just to have everything fall out from under them.

Yeah, I recently read an article published a few years back rated Bend as 1 of the 5 top overpriced markets. Still it seems inevitable that it will recover somewhat, even if not to the same inflated value that it was. I just wonder how long that will take. It's very interesting to me, though, that Bend seems more of an independent self-sufficient city than Sisters yet looking at some house listings it appears that the Bend market has suffered far worse than any other place I've seen in OR including Sisters.

Originally Posted by malachai23

Bend does tend to have that "dry and dusty" look to it most of the year. But that's not to say people don't have lawns that they keep watered, and trees that are not native to the area have been planted. Green things (aside from a few pine trees and sage brush) don't tend to grow naturally very well in the bend area. If you want grass you will have to keep it watered. A lot of the houses in the Bend area are actually built into more wooded (pine) areas and the groundcover has a unique look to it. When the pine needles fall off they collect on the ground just as deciduous leaves around here do. It gives the ground kind of a prickly carpeted look that is so unique to that area. Of course you can (and should) keep them raked up. But you will see them collect like that along the roads and open spaces. Another unique thing about the area is how a lot of the roads have a reddish pink look to them and that is from the red volcanic rock that is mixed into a lot of the pavement mixes and also layed out in the winter for traction (no salting in Oregon). So - long story short - it's a high desert, and high desert things grow there naturally. With the lack of rain that falls on the other side of the mountains, you also naturally lose the "lushness" of the landscape.

This dry and dusty description sounds depressing to me, but maybe I'm making an inaccurate comparison. Whenever I picture dry & dusty all I can imagine is Southern Florida, which was always very depressing looking to me. I don't mind watering our own lawn (we have to do it here as well due to the scorching heat) but I do like to be surrounded by some green. I'm wondering if my mind on that would change once I get to actually visit the area since it sounds like there's so much other beauty that would offset the scrubbiness. Thanks for this description, it's very helpful. I actually have no knowledge whatsoever of high desert although its sounding like the weather is highly variable (in terms of wide temp. swings from night to day) as well as the dryness in the land/vegetation. And no salt huh?? How do they keep the roads clear?

Originally Posted by malachai23

As for the bugs, Oregon is *relatively* bug-free, or much more so than compared to a lot of other areas of the country. There was actually a thread on this very thing recently - you might want to look for it and read it over. It might have been in the Portland-specific forum. In general, Oregon's biggest bug problem is probably the spiders. There are a lot of them. I know that Southern OR (Ashland/Jacksonville) have Black Widows. I had them all over my apartment when I lived in Ashland. Also there are Brown Recluse in the valley west of the Cascades. I'm not sure about poisonous spiders east of the Cascades, however. Do keep in mind that there are rattlesnakes in the areas you are looking at. But you will not see them in town. I wouldn't say there is a huge mosquito problem in Oregon either. I mean they are around, but I wouldn't say they are a problem. I really don't know about the dust mites - sorry!

Hate hearing this, I HATE spiders. I can tolerate mice & snakes easier than spiders. Again, you gotta take the good with the bad so as much as I hate them I suppose I could learn to live with them. Don't worry about not knowing about the dust mites, I can research that later but I'm guessing there would be a minimal problem if at all due to the dryness & elevation. They need humidity to survive.

Originally Posted by malachai23

You are in luck, Oregon is very much a "live and let live" state. There is a high number of Libertarians in Oregon. Your Democratic enclaves are going to be Portland, Eugene, Ashland. The rest of the state is pretty solidly Republican as far as stats go. But like I said, many of those folks are more along the lines of Libertarian. Of course that is a huge generalization, please realize that. I'm sure you could dig up some solid city-by-city and county-by-county stats online pretty easily. Even Eugene, with its reputation of being ultra-liberal, has a fairly solid population of conservative voters. It's actually quite a diverse city, socio-politically anyhow. I think however you "sway" will be your business and nobody is going to like you or dislike you because of it. They may want to debate you, but they aren't going to hate you Oregon can be a bit "kooky" - even in the more conservative leaning areas. Just be prepared for general "kookiness" and you will be fine.

Actually when you look up individual cities on the main part of citydata (not the forums) info. is provided at the bottom of each city's profile about % of Dems. vs. Republicans. As long as people aren't trying to force feed me something I'm OK, I actually enjoy hearing peoples' thoughts on things especially when their opinions differ from my own. And if OR is overrun with kookiness, then I should fit in just fine.

[malachai23]

Originally Posted by DerbyFever

This dry and dusty description sounds depressing to me, but maybe I'm making an inaccurate comparison. Whenever I picture dry & dusty all I can imagine is Southern Florida, which was always very depressing looking to me. I don't mind watering our own lawn (we have to do it here as well due to the scorching heat) but I do like to be surrounded by some green. I'm wondering if my mind on that would change once I get to actually visit the area since it sounds like there's so much other beauty that would offset the scrubbiness. Thanks for this description, it's very helpful. I actually have no knowledge whatsoever of high desert although its sounding like the weather is highly variable (in terms of wide temp. swings from night to day) as well as the dryness in the land/vegetation. And no salt huh?? How do they keep the roads clear?

Really, Bend is quite picturesque - not depressing at all!!!! It is not the same type of "dry and dusty" that you are envisioning. Oregon's high desert is actually a very unique and stunningly gorgeous landscape. It is not your "dusty Southern Florida" (I've been there, I know *exactly* what you are talking about!!), nor is it your SW cactus or California Joshua Tree type desert. Yes, an actual visit to the Bend area to see it for yourself would be ideal, but in the meantime you can look at pics online. There are a TON of pics of nearby destinations - just Google "Smith Rock", "Deschutes River", "Lake Billy Chinook", "Three Sisters", "Mt. Bachelor", "Deschutes National Forest", "Crooked River Gorge", "Sunriver", "Ochoco National Forest", "Black Butte", "Newberry Crater" ... that should give you thousands upon thousands of photos to sift through online!!

Yes, temps swing wildly from day to night and summer to winter, and the land is extremely dry. There are often forest fires in the area in the summer because of that. Most are naturally caused by lightning strikes.

Nope - no salt on the roads in Oregon. It's bad for the environment - you know, gets into ground water, etc. They use some sort of organic de-icer. And if it snows they plow. And then the rock is spread out on the surface for traction. In the Willamette Valley they use crushed river rock type of rock. And in the Bend area they use the red volcanic rock. You know, whatever rock is more common in the area. A lot of people get studded tires in the winter in Oregon. I think November 1st is the day you can legally have them put on and there is always a rush during the first couple of weeks at the tire stores. I never used studded tires though. I don't think they are necessary. Especially in the Willamette Valley on the other side of the mountains where it snows but once or twice a winter and then you spend the rest of the winter ripping up the bare roads with your studded tires. Don't get me started on THAT. LOL I used to drive up to the mountain all the time and didn't even use chains. Sometimes chains are *required* though on the passes. Keep that in mind.

Originally Posted by DerbyFever

Hate hearing this, I HATE spiders. I can tolerate mice & snakes easier than spiders. Again, you gotta take the good with the bad so as much as I hate them I suppose I could learn to live with them. Don't worry about not knowing about the dust mites, I can research that later but I'm guessing there would be a minimal problem if at all due to the dryness & elevation. They need humidity to survive.

Sorry - you wanted the good the bad and the ugly - so I had to mention the spiders Really though, I don't know how bad the spider problem is on the east side of the Cascades... since it's higher and drier maybe they aren't as bad. Maybe someone will chime in and confirm yea or nay!

Hey - just wondering, have you also considered Redmond? It is a small town just north of Bend and I really like it a lot. It, like Sisters, has changed a lot over the past few years and gotten a bit more "upscale" - but it still retains a lot of what made it the western town I loved to visit as a kid. It has some great little home cookin' cafes, art galleries, independent shops, etc. It's a bit larger than Sisters but nowhere close to as large as Bend. I don't know - just a thought.