oregon coast homes, education, good weather (Portland, Eugene: appointed, good schools, living)

[anjelique]

I'm looking at towns like, Astoria, Brookings, Cannon Beach or Coquille OR. Looking for a good place to raise my teenagers, good schools, warm weather with lots of sun. Does anyone have any suggestions. Also looking at the cost of homes, needs to be 3 or 4 bedroom. Would like to have a place picked out before summer.

[hamellr]

I don't think Oregon is the place for you, especially the coast. Rain, wind, misty rain, clouds, rain that is actually fog, grey days are all the norm for the coast. We have three, maybe four months of sun and warm weather (over 55F) on the coast. The rest of the time you can pretty much expect to wear wind breakers and waterproof hats.

If you've got teenagers, stay away from Brookings (old people,) and Coquille (which isn't on the coast anyways, it's about twenty miles inland, and has all the bad parts of being a small rural town, but few of the good points)

Astoria or Cannon Beach might be fine, but both places heavily rely on tourist dollars.

[Malibusurfer]

Well, your title does not really go together for Oregon coastal towns... There are homes - yes, schools are ok, and weather - sun is hard to find...
Of your towns listed, Coquille would be your best bet for sun during the summer but it is not right on the beach. Here in Oregon when the temp inland gets over 85 or so, the coast "fogs up". Coquille is inland just out of the fog bank and temps vary from 65-80 during the summer. Brookings for a "on the beach" town might have the best weather, but you cannot escape the fog their either during the summer... Spring and fall are the best weather (sun) at the coast. I don't know much about schools, but not much to do outside of going to the beach for kids or a trip inland to a bigger city...
I'm sure more people will jump in for you...

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by anjelique

I'm looking at towns like, Astoria, Brookings, Cannon Beach or Coquille OR. Looking for a good place to raise my teenagers, good schools, warm weather with lots of sun. Does anyone have any suggestions. Also looking at the cost of homes, needs to be 3 or 4 bedroom. Would like to have a place picked out before summer.

I am thinking you might be confusing the Oregon Coast with the California Coast. The Oregon Coast is very short on sun and warm weather. It is much of the time misty and cool. Some people like myself like that very much but if you are looking for sunshine and lots of it you will be disappointed.

Oh and an additional thought; you might want to move your post to the Oregon forum for more replies. Eugene is not a coastal town.

[delta07]

I agree with all the other posters here, that the Oregon coast is not what you are looking for. The coast of Oregon reminds me a lot of Alaska in the summer. A warm, sunny day on the coast is rare, even in the summer. I've been there in the dead heat of August, when it was hot inland, and it was maybe in the 60s, foggy and misting. If you are looking for warmth and sun on the ocean, you will need to go much further south-California or Florida are probably your best bets. You might consider Texas as well.

[oldtrader]

I'm looking at towns like, Astoria, Brookings, Cannon Beach or Coquille OR. Looking for a good place to raise my teenagers, good schools, warm weather with lots of sun.

When the weather is hot in the inland valleys of Oregon, the coast is under fog. The springs and fall are the best weather periods on the Oregon coast, and are not really warm. I lived for many years on the Oregon Cost overlooking the ocean from our home. The tourists would rush over to the coast after having moved to Corvallis, Eugene, or Portland areas from Southern California expecting to have warm beach weather in the summer when it was hot at home like they were used to in California. Surprise. Surprise. It would be cold and foggy and they needed a jacket to be outside and stay warm, but they had not brought one with them. If you want to surf on the Oregon Coast, you have to wear a wet suit or you will find you are into a hypothermia state.

Rule Of Thumb: The warmer it is in the inland valleys, the colder and foggier it will be on the coast. The marine air moves in from the ocean, and is blocked over the coast by the thermal barrier built up from heat inland.

For what you are looking for on the west coast, you have to go below Mendocino County in California. The most western part of the lower 48 states is in that area, and everything south of it on the coast is a warm weather type climate, and north of it is cold weather type climate. The summers summers are foggy and cold, and the winters are rainy, with neither of them being sunny and warm.

[haggardhouseelf]

What made you think of Oregon? I am just curious.

The summers on the coast are usually pretty dry (very little if any rain) and can be warm (not hot) and sunny, but the summers are short here. And even in summer, on the coast the highs are in the 60's... maybe 70's... and the lows at night dip into the 40's. There might be like a week or two that it actually gets hot on the coast... usually the southern part of the coast. The Oregon Coast is no Florida or California. Oregonians aren't exactly known for our tans.

Personally I think I would have loved being a teenager in Oregon, but that's because I love the outdoors, hiking, beachcombing, stargazing, watching wildlife, etc. It really depends on your kids where they would be happy growing up. Some kids would be bored to pieces living on the coast, others would love it. There aren't any big cities on the coast. Most towns are pretty small and feel more like quaint, sleepy, villages.

Jobs are very hard to come by on the coast. I don't know much about the schools at all, but there are websites online that provide more info on that. Shopping? Fred Meyer, small grocery stores, no CostCo. No indoor shopping mall like bigger cities have. You'll do a lot of driving up and down hwy 101 to get what you need.

I don't mean to be a downer, I'd love to live on the coast personally! But with kids, I dunno... hubby and I are sticking with Eugene (about an hour from the coast and two hours south of Portland) until the kids finish school.

[Connie J Lewis]

Originally Posted by haggardhouseelf

What made you think of Oregon? I am just curious.
I don't mean to be a downer, I'd love to live on the coast personally! But with kids, I dunno... hubby and I are sticking with Eugene (about an hour from the coast and two hours south of Portland) until the kids finish school.

Having been raised as a kid in the Eugene/Springfield area, then moving to the coast as an adult, I highly recommend you continue to VISIT the coast as you wish. Moving here... well, please do your homework first. Looks can be deceiving (or not if you happen through CB/NB). It's rather embarrassing when family and friends come to town and are unwilling to return... like EVER! Most of the people we know who do not live here continually as us if we're STUCK here. We often wonder the same.

There are miles of differences between the two communities although only a couple hours separated.

Unless you want to drive a BIG O truck with BIG O tires, and eat cheese, drink boxed wine, and maintain room for both your BIG O rifle and your BIG O fishin' pole in the window of your jacked up rig (and don't forget the chew)... you may not actually like it here.

IF you ever contemplate a move to the area - I strongly recommend the EASTSIDE of town. Lower crime, better weather, and the potential to be their own city again one day (easier than most locals realize).

Sorry to be so stereotypical in my descriptions. We've met some of the nicest people on the planet in Coos County. I think they moved away. LOL I'm pretty certain their kids did just as soon as they got a chance to!

I would not recommend Coos Bay/North Bend for anyone with school age children or serious health conditions, unless you homeschool your kids and take care of your own health issues. If you care at all about local politics, this place could drive you to drink... boxed wine!

[haggardhouseelf]

We'd definitely live on the northern coast if we ever did move to the coast. Yachats would be the furthest south we'd consider; Maybe Seal Rock, Nehalem Bay area/ Manzanita...

There's too many of those house-eating sand dunes elsewhere (have you seen that! OMG!) ... and rednecks. (No offense to the rednecks out there... I'm from a family of rednecks myself... to each their own... we don't mind rednecks in small doses... but just don't really want to live among a lot of them full-time...)...

But... yep... the coast is an awesome place to visit. Even the rednecky areas.

[Steve Pickering]

Connie, why do I get the feeling I know you. As the rest have said. The Oregon Coast is not what you are looking for.


Did you notice the OP (Original Poster) never comes back and tells us how it worked out. (Well a few have, but that is the exception.)