OREGON - lush rainy hilly green landscapes...

[Nurse Bishop]

Yes Curry County has incredible biodiversity. It also RAINS. You can see that it rains up to 200 inches a year some places in the mountains. Because of the topography causing the clouds to rise and drop their rain. Yes, a temperate rain forest. But I can tell you, it rains like that at the bottom of the mountains too. At my place, at the fish hatchery across the road right up against the natl. forest, it rained 172" in 2012! At that location it is like a sqeeze chute for clouds. We shall now grow fins and fishlike lips because we will become like the Creature of the Black Lagoon. "Wild River Coast"-poo, sounds like a chamber of commerce name. They used to call it the Rain Coast. I like being a web footed moss back of the forest.

[Hawk J]

The "Rough-Skinned Newts" like it around there too... Taricha granulosa - Rough-skinned Newt

[Fiddlehead]

Hey Tiger Beer,

We'd love to have you and your clan here in Oregon. As for lushness, the whole northwest area (from Eugene northward) seems to cluster with W. Washington and SW British Columbia in my mind. Land of the mighty Douglas-fir and hemlock, viny maple and sword fern. Big, green rivers and rain, rain, rain. I think you could find affordable areas here and there throughout. Salem area seems to have avoided the housing bubble. Corvallis is pricy, but nice. Then again, many of the bubble areas have bubbled and burst by now, so they are more affordable than in the past. Seattle area would be the exception, it remains overpriced. Also, Bend is kind of a cool area. It is in the high desert, but within about 30 miles of the lush westside forests of the McKenzie Watershed. Nice combination of sceneries for one locale.

My favorite "northwesty" kind of area is actually Bellingham, WA. Lush, green, with the San Juan Islands to the west and the mighty forests and mountains to the east. You just expect to see an orca pop up everytime you gaze at the Puget Sound. Of course, you can find the lush forests most places in the Coast Range and Cascades.

Southwest Oregon, from about Roseburg south to the border is much more dry and brushy looking, in general. The grasses are annual, and so turn brown at the beginning of summer, like California. It has some gorgeous nooks and crannies though, terrific plant and animal diversity, and buttloads of poison oak. Hillbilly paradise. I find the climate down here a bit more to my liking. More crunch and less squish, and more starry night skies, but winters are still pretty cloudy. That just comes with the Pacific Northwest.