How does Eugene compare to Boulder, CO? (Bend: winter, town)

[Copsgirl73]

Originally Posted by ukiyo-e

I visited my son in Eugene a few days ago (he's a grad student there, second year). I was not impressed. At all. I lived in San Francisco for many years, so I've seen my share of homeless people, druggies, and sketchy types, and I actually have a pretty high tolerance for "colorful" people, but proportionately speaking, it seems out of control in Eugene.

I'm vacationing in Boise right now, and in three days I haven't seen one homeless person (though I've seen two church-run shelters), only two small pieces of litter downtown, and have enjoyed the 25-mile-long greenbelt (bike/walking/jogging trail) along the Boise River and some of the 130 miles of hiking and mountain biking trails on Camelsback Park, that start right on the edge of the city. A lot of people chain their bikes to their front porches here, something that would be inconceivable in many cities. My son's was stolen on the OU campus the third day he rode it to school, and he's decided not to buy another one because the police told him bike theft was so rampant and they rarely recover any.

My son enjoys living in Eugene because he's very immersed in his graduate program and likes his department, and as a long-distance runner, he's found several friends to run with. But the homeless people and druggies even annoy him, and it wouldn't suit me as a retired person.

Ugh, the petty theft/crime and drug use is really bad. I loved living so close to all the running trails but rarely went on them because of so many transients living on them. Normally they wouldnt bother me but there is so much drug use in their culture there I saw so many who were just whacked out. On the trails, in the parking lot at Walmart, at the bus station and all the time on the streets downtown in front of my son's school. So glad I dont live in that environment anymore

[Boulder Towner]

Originally Posted by Copsgirl73

Oh my gosh, it doesnt at all, except for being a college town. I spent some time in Boulder a year ago...such a neat community. Cute shops, LOVE Pearl Street, great restaurants. Great outdoor sports, awesome weather.
Eugene is gray, cold, rainy, full of homeless people and other colorful (Occupy) protesting groups. Very blue collar, very college oriented. Skiing is too far away. Eugene summers are nice though so there is that.
Boulder (to me) has more to do, more going on, less rain and more sunny days. Eugene bleeds liberal, not sure if you prefer that or not but it was a bit much for us

You guys on here have really made me think about what a neat place we live here in Boulder. We do have our share of homeless street people and they are annoying at times. We moved here from the seattle area back in the spring 2011. The whole first year I kept thinking "It's sunny again today?" But we do have our own troubles like fires that bring in smoggy smokey air in the summer. And our recent floods. Housing is damn expensive here and so is the cost of living. Mostly we miss our kids and grandkids in Tacoma and we wanted to go back closer and thought U of O might be a comparable city to Boulder. Another town we are told is comparable to Boulder in climate and a nice place is Bend, Oregon. We saw the you tube video of your ******* dude... omg Boulder has its crazies but that was really something LOL. Especially since my honey is a metro driver and was thinking to relacate to Eugene and driver for LTD.

[Boulder Towner]

My last reply I was saying NUT---- Dude

[Copsgirl73]

Originally Posted by Boulder Towner

You guys on here have really made me think about what a neat place we live here in Boulder. We do have our share of homeless street people and they are annoying at times. We moved here from the seattle area back in the spring 2011. The whole first year I kept thinking "It's sunny again today?" But we do have our own troubles like fires that bring in smoggy smokey air in the summer. And our recent floods. Housing is damn expensive here and so is the cost of living. Mostly we miss our kids and grandkids in Tacoma and we wanted to go back closer and thought U of O might be a comparable city to Boulder. Another town we are told is comparable to Boulder in climate and a nice place is Bend, Oregon. We saw the you tube video of your ******* dude... omg Boulder has its crazies but that was really something LOL. Especially since my honey is a metro driver and was thinking to relacate to Eugene and driver for LTD.

I was thinking to myself "I wonder if they considered Bend". Bend is cool. Weather is better than Eugene (drier, more sunny days, snow) and the community is a lot better too. That is actually where we moved to when we left Eugene. Havent looked back. My husband travels for work and has to drive to Eugene weekly. The first thing he wants to do when he gets there is leave.
Housing in Bend is cheaper than Eugene (when we, for a nanosecond, considered buying there). Bend is definitely more comparable to Boulder than Eugene.

[ukiyo-e]

Originally Posted by Copsgirl73

I was thinking to myself "I wonder if they considered Bend". Bend is cool. Weather is better than Eugene (drier, more sunny days, snow) and the community is a lot better too. That is actually where we moved to when we left Eugene. Havent looked back. My husband travels for work and has to drive to Eugene weekly. The first thing he wants to do when he gets there is leave.
Housing in Bend is cheaper than Eugene (when we, for a nanosecond, considered buying there). Bend is definitely more comparable to Boulder than Eugene.

I've visited Bend three times and it would be my first choice of a place to live in Oregon at this point. Of course, it has its issues like anywhere, but from my visits my impression is that it's clean, has great outdoor activities with better weather to enjoy them in, and has some really fine restaurants.

[Boulder Towner]

Originally Posted by Copsgirl73

I was thinking to myself "I wonder if they considered Bend". Bend is cool. Weather is better than Eugene (drier, more sunny days, snow) and the community is a lot better too. That is actually where we moved to when we left Eugene. Havent looked back. My husband travels for work and has to drive to Eugene weekly. The first thing he wants to do when he gets there is leave.
Housing in Bend is cheaper than Eugene (when we, for a nanosecond, considered buying there). Bend is definitely more comparable to Boulder than Eugene.

Does it snow all winter in Bend? How much does it snow.

[ukiyo-e]

Originally Posted by Boulder Towner

Does it snow all winter in Bend? How much does it snow.

Head over to the Bend Forum. There are regular posters over there who will tell you (and argue with each other) all about the weather!

[Copsgirl73]

Originally Posted by Boulder Towner

Does it snow all winter in Bend? How much does it snow.

Not ALL winter but Bend does get snow. I think last year there was very little snow here.

[Steve Pickering]

Bend and Boulder are very similar.

[peacegrrrl]

I can't wait to get the heck out of Eugene, Oregon. It is truly a foul place to live. I liked it while I was in graduate school because it was different from Arizona (green, lush, rainy); and at that time I was way too busy to notice how f-ing boring and whacked-out this town actually is.
11 years I have been stuck here now, and I am literally going to go crazy if I do not get out of here and get to some place nice like Boulder or FC!
If you choose to live in Eugene and are not going to be immersed in some serious educational program at the UofO be prepared for some culture shock. I thought it was going to be full of cool hippies. Wrong!!

Think homeless, mental illness, METH, mid to lower grade buds (and people who will rip you off, not kind), and people that have never been outside of Oregon, think 0 diversity and no African American people, racism is rampant outside of Eugene and Portland (just FYI), my God I could go on and on. I truly am so sick of Eugene.

I have been robbed 4 times- lost my laptop, clothing, kayak, etc. etc.
The place is overrun by drug addicted methheads that ride around on little bikes with backpacks. Super sketchy men are everywhere, and the hippies (super duper crunchy ones at that) are usually totally stuck-up for some unknown reason (oh, that is right they are Country Fair Family and therefore so much holier than thou). Sorry, this town is just a royal PITA!

I would strongly suggest not leaving Boulder for a timber town that has seen better days. I have a job that keeps getting worse (salary is lower now than it was 3 years ago- and I have a Masters). The town also has poor air quality and it is rarely sunny from October until July. I mean like 20 days in a row of no sun, seriously. You have to take Vitamin D to survive here and not get deficiency.
But some people think it is the Best Place Ever! They are mainly from Ohio and Kansas. Just FYI!