Miami to Oregon - Suggestions

[florigidge]

i came to eugene in fall 2003 after living all of my life (nearly) in florida (i'm 58). i grew up in miami and later as an adult lived in gainesville for 17 years until i decided to go to grad school here in eugene.

eugene is like gainesville (not jacksonville) only a bit larger when combined with springfield.

if you like cold, rainy, drizzly, continual low gray cloud base or hail or snow (up here in the east hills we had 6 inches to eugene proper's three or four) with very few bright blue skies with big puffy white clouds, then well, eugene is the city for you. summertime can find temps over 100 degrees (not all the time) but with no humidity so i tolerated it extremely well.

when i first moved here a fellow grad student from san francisco said: the only good month is july. he was pretty much right about that.

sure, there are the occasional bright blue days here and there during winter, depending on the winter, but that means it is doubly cold because all the warmer air escapes into the atmosphere.

but if you're a west coast person (i'm not) then you're not likely to have any problem living here. eugene, however, is regulated up the yin-yang. i'm a progressive and i don't consider all the regulation and also the scary police force as a plus. even in north central florida gainesville, where among the mix of academics, intellectuals, former south floridians, retirees, professionals, etc. there was a smattering of the old south - and yet, i never felt overregulated nor was i ever afraid of the police.

as an aside, the police force here does not have enough money to investigate home burglaries or misdemeanors (but do not hesitate to pull you over in your car for perceived speeding or selt belt infractions; someone just wrote a letter to the editor of the Eugene Weekly about this and i heartily agreed). i'd never heard of such a thing in gainesville - the lack of money to investigate crmes - but twice i've seen big headlines regarding this.

also, coming from miami you may not notice the change in prices of food or gas or restaurants (i know how miami can be) but after living 17 years in gainesville, i still suffer sticker shock when i buy gas or go to the grocery store. no matter what the price of gas, it's always higher here. and i've regularly had to pass up foodstuffs i'd normally purchase because i simply can't justify spending twice as much for the product as i am normally accustomed. i think however that it's a "west coast" problem, no just an oregon problem.

basically, i am hoping to move to the oregon coast where there is a possible job awaiting me, or go back home to florida. but that's my quick perspective from a floridian moving to oregon.

btw, portland is better.

[PNW2007]

Originally Posted by florigidge

i came to eugene in fall 2003 after living all of my life (nearly) in florida (i'm 58). i grew up in miami and later as an adult lived in gainesville for 17 years until i decided to go to grad school here in eugene.

eugene is like gainesville (not jacksonville) only a bit larger when combined with springfield.

if you like cold, rainy, drizzly, continual low gray cloud base or hail or snow (up here in the east hills we had 6 inches to eugene proper's three or four) with very few bright blue skies with big puffy white clouds, then well, eugene is the city for you. summertime can find temps over 100 degrees (not all the time) but with no humidity so i tolerated it extremely well.

when i first moved here a fellow grad student from san francisco said: the only good month is july. he was pretty much right about that.

sure, there are the occasional bright blue days here and there during winter, depending on the winter, but that means it is doubly cold because all the warmer air escapes into the atmosphere.
btw, portland is better.

The winter is supposed to be cold.....and wet.....so you're saying the weather is only good one month of the year? "summertime" isn't just July.

[nocoldiron]

I have complaints also but to say July is the only good month is silly.My husband who spent years in Florida had a good laugh about that.The lack of sun in the winter months and the all too frequent rain truly bothers him but the period between May and December is normally great.I imagine the grey weather for so many months is a shock to someone coming from such a sunny state.The cost of living here is what will drive us out.The state is beautiful!! So much of this state is rural with very low population density,all you see is beautiful scenery and little towns.We love the great outdoors but since we can't afford to own it and pay gas prices to see it,it leaves a bitter feeling.My husband broke a tooth the other day,I called six dentists and the standard cost to pull it will be between 225 and 300 dollars,not including prescriptions for pain medication and possible antibiotics.My car was towed home last week (bad distributor),the tow bill for a 15 mile tow was 97.00.These things are common everyday occurances but can spell disaster to those with no savings.We know we have to get out but also that we will miss Oregon,it has to be experienced by a nature lover or an outdoorsman,

[PNW2007]

Originally Posted by nocoldiron

I have complaints also but to say July is the only good month is silly.My husband who spent years in Florida had a good laugh about that.The lack of sun in the winter months and the all too frequent rain truly bothers him but the period between May and December is normally great.I imagine the grey weather for so many months is a shock to someone coming from such a sunny state.The cost of living here is what will drive us out.The state is beautiful!! So much of this state is rural with very low population density,all you see is beautiful scenery and little towns.We love the great outdoors but since we can't afford to own it and pay gas prices to see it,it leaves a bitter feeling.My husband broke a tooth the other day,I called six dentists and the standard cost to pull it will be between 225 and 300 dollars,not including prescriptions for pain medication and possible antibiotics.My car was towed home last week (bad distributor),the tow bill for a 15 mile tow was 97.00.These things are common everyday occurances but can spell disaster to those with no savings.We know we have to get out but also that we will miss Oregon,it has to be experienced by a nature lover or an outdoorsman,

Dentist quote sounds correct, towing sounds correct. No insurance? I have been living in Miami/Fort Lauderdale for 5 years, and grew up in the northwest, it is one of the nicest places to live. I am moving back in 5 days as are many others in Florida are relocating to another state for several reasons. But did Oregon become that expensive to live within 5 years? Gas is about a quarter more in Oregon than it is here, but that shouldn't be the reason for leaving! Well, good luck, but I think you'd regret it.

[Pen Cap Chew]

Well I grew up in Oregon so I'm really kind of clueless about it being overly expensive. I never thought that life was expensive living here. When you grow up your entire life in Oregon you don't know any better I guess. I suppose if you lived in a cheaper area then come here it seems outrageous but life has always been doable here and I'm far from rich. But then again I'm single and don't have kids.

[nocoldiron]

Depends on what you are use to-I am from the Midwest,I can go to Oklahoma and buy a new brick house and acreage for 120,000 dollars and pay 60 cents a gallon cheaper for gas.My house will not appreciate dramatically but I am not working on my portfolio,I live on a fixed income.Even with sales tax,I will still save 10-15% on food and retail.My utilities will be the only increase over Oregon.I can sell my house here,pay cash for a much nicer one and still save on my other expenses.The price of real estate has changed radically here in 5 years.My neighbor whined when I nagged him into buying a house down the street for 75,000 (cause the guy who bought it the year before him paid 40,000) and the following year it was worth 175,000.He could have bought the house behind him for 96,000 and it went back to the bank and sold for 235,000.True,property is in a bit of a downturn here right now but not by much.All this in the 3 1/2 years I have lived in this location.People move here from California,Hawaii,Alaska and the east coast and it is a cheaper cost of living.Any one who has not lived here in the last 5 years is in for a shock as far as prices go.I'll miss Oregon but not the stress that not having enough money brings.Beauty does have it's price.

[MurphyAllie]

The comments about the police in Eugene were bothersome, to say the least.

We are still planning on coming out to look in March. All of the input from the forum has given me a lot more perspective.

Allie