Ashland vs. La Grande? (Corvallis, Eagle Point: how much, university, living)

[Fiddlehead]

I have lived in Ashland for years, but I have always been curious about La Grande. The towns seem to share a number of features, such as semiarid/subhumid climate, nice mountain setting with great scenery, farmland around, small university in town, etc. Ashland is very expensive,liberal, and full of exurban immigrants. La Grande is conservative and seems to draw a local crowd. Ashland is a world-renowned tourist and retirement town. La Grande is largely an Oregon secret (very few people are sitting in their living rooms in San Jose, thinking... I can't wait to retire to La Grande!).

Which do you prefer, and why?

[Steve97415]

I prefer the Rogue Valley for both reasons of climate and culture. At one time, Walla Walla ranked rather high on our radar screen of potential places to relocate, and we spent a bit of time out there. But deal-breakers were the winter cold with snow and ice and...The Wind. When you live in a nice calm valley, it's easy to forget about how much the wind is a force to be reckoned with in basin and range/prairie biomes. And it seems to me, there's also something a bit two-dimensional about life in eastern Oregon. It's quite a long drive to get to anything other than sagebrush country and the mountains that rise up from them. The diversity of southern Oregon, from the coast/redwoods to the southern Cascades/Crater Lake, on the other hand, can only be matched by a few locations in northern California.

There's always a strong allure to a new place and that allure is based largely on novelty. But you have to ask yourself what's there after the honeymoon period is over. After a year at most, anywhere you live is familiar and routine. Having said that, sometimes you have to move on just to move on. That was my case in Corvallis. There was very little about it that I wanted to get away from. But twelve years there was long enough. The Groundhog Day Effect was starting to set in and my eyes needed some new scenery to rest upon.

As an experiment, you might go and spend a month in Eagle Point and see how it suits you. It's almost like eastern Oregon up there, and I suspect the sociopolitical climate is similar as well.

La Grande

PROS: Big-sky vistas, low cost of living, elbow room, proximity of mountain recreation opportunities
CONS: Remoteness, lack of career development opportunities, lack of cultural opportunities, snow and ice in winter, nagging wind much of the year, limited healthcare facilities in region.

Ashland

PROS: Upland Mediterranean climate, diversity of Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion, proximity of mountain/coast/lake/river recreation opportunities, Shakespeare Festival, progressively-minded, well-educated populace, great restaurants, farmers market and food coop, good healthcare facilities, relative proximity to attractive destinations in northern California.
CONS: Expensive, getting crowded and over-regulated, poor job prospects for most people.

I would also add that Ashland and La Grande are probably at opposite extremes when it comes to how easy it is to up and leave them. If you need to sell a piece of property in Ashland and price it at FMV, it will probably be sold in a few weeks or less. If you need to sell a piece of property in La Grande, it could sit on the market for years, even if attractively priced.

[Fiddlehead]

Thanks for this thoughtful post Steve. I think you brought up a lot of good points. I visited La Grande in 2005, when the housing bubble was roaring in the Rogue Valley. It seemed a good alternative, but the Rogue Valley does have some added dimensions that have broad appeal (mild climate, great diversity in landscapes).