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we went to grants pass on our vacation recently (went all over oregon! =)) and it was ok, but definitely not our favorite place. it did seem mellow and peaceful to us, but like it might get dull ... and that's probably why there is a drug problem!
I grew up in Salem/Portland area and if you like seeing the sun and suffer from SAD, i'd say honestly stay away from that area. they get a lot of rain and clouds are a constant thing. Not that it doesn't get nice in the summer, there are a few weeks of sun but none the less it rains a lot! I am currently living in Southern Oregon. I live in Medford and work in Ashland. It's a nice area, the weather is way better here. It gets hot in the summer (80-100s) but the spring and fall seasons are full of sun and 70-80 degree weather. We do get some snow but usually not that much, I think this year we got at the most about 2 inches and it was gone in a day or so. As for the comments about the wind, I've never had any problems driving because of the wind... it does get windy but not that windy.
I work in property management in Ashland. I manage apartments, houses, and condos all over the medford/ashland area and really it's not as expensive as I've noticed people making it out to be. I rent a townhouse style loft for 525 a month in Medford, mine may be a little high since i have a large dog which makes it hard to find a place but its in a great location and i've never had any problems. I rent apartments/townhouses across the area, generally our 2 bedrooms range from 475 to 650, depending on location and sq. footage. We have one bedrooms for 350 to 500. That's in Ashland and Medford.
Ashland is a laid back college town, my friends call it hippyville because you can't go 2 blocks without seeing someone with dreads and no shoes walking around. Personally I hated it at first but it's kinda grown on me, although I hate most of the people. if you don't have dreads or dress with hemp they are too good for you. There are many neat and different things to do here, the city offers many things to do from shakespeare festival to indie movie showings to numerous art/craft fairs. Beware about moving to ashland if you like to big box store shop (walmart, fredmeyer, target...) as the city does not allow them. Medford is where I live. It's a normal town, there are tons of resteraunts, a mall, lots of shopping but it does still feel like small town. Medford has Rogue Community College, it's a nice CC and I have many friends that go there and enjoy it. there's lots of little towns around medford and Ashland that are nice and have good prices. Talent and Phoenix are nice towns between medford and Ashland. I hate Grants Pass I have to admit, every time I'm there all I see is rednecks, nazi swastikas, and children on leashes... not my cup of tea. Maybe I'm just getting one side but it's a side i don't like
If you like being outdoors SO is great! We go hiking, biking, camping, kayaking, snowshoeing and most of our favorite places are within an hour from our house but still out there enough that you don't run into other people that often. feel free to email me if you have any other questions! lyssat83@yahoo.com! Good Luck!
thanks for the reply and info. i will email you, too, and save your info. you may be able to help us find a place if we decide to move that way. we are so torn right now about where in oregon to go. i agree that i think the weather in SO would be sooo much better for my mood. mike wouldn't care either way probably since he loves cold weather and doesn't care much if it is sunny or not. we may try astoria for a couple years or year, then move to medford SO area for him to finish his school. i wrote recently about how our vacation turned out - so if you get time check it out =).
we absolutely loved oregon ... however, i'm with you. ashland was my least favorite place of all (i expected it to be one of the coolest). everyone told me that there was so much artsy, diversified culture, ect., ect., there ... but i did NOT get that impression at all. sure there were some cool places downtown ... but everyone i met, except maybe 1 or 2 people, all seemed the SAME. like a bunch of wealthy, uptight, snotty people ... and i am not typical a judgmental person at all. mike and i couldn't wait to get out of there, as it was ruining the awesome vibe we had gotten in every other oregon town. it was just a very snooty, uptight vibe there ... and not diverisfied IMO ... i actually do like the fact that they don't support big stores much, lke wal mart and such ... cause i am very into supporting local since i think it helps build stronger, friendly, closer communities.
i am surprised by the prices you mentioned as i have not even seen many that inexpensive. i will definitly get with you if we move that way. Everything I've seen on Craigslist in ashland is atleast like 700 for a decent place .. and usually much more. I need to check more often I guess, but we won't be moving to Ashland anyway. i'm applying soon for my oregon nursing license and we need to move by mid august, so we'll see which path we end up on.
I grew up in Salem/Portland area and if you like seeing the sun and suffer from SAD, i'd say honestly stay away from that area. they get a lot of rain and clouds are a constant thing. Not that it doesn't get nice in the summer, there are a few weeks of sun but none the less it rains a lot! I am currently living in Southern Oregon. I live in Medford and work in Ashland. It's a nice area, the weather is way better here. It gets hot in the summer (80-100s) but the spring and fall seasons are full of sun and 70-80 degree weather. We do get some snow but usually not that much, I think this year we got at the most about 2 inches and it was gone in a day or so. As for the comments about the wind, I've never had any problems driving because of the wind... it does get windy but not that windy.
I work in property management in Ashland. I manage apartments, houses, and condos all over the medford/ashland area and really it's not as expensive as I've noticed people making it out to be. I rent a townhouse style loft for 525 a month in Medford, mine may be a little high since i have a large dog which makes it hard to find a place but its in a great location and i've never had any problems. I rent apartments/townhouses across the area, generally our 2 bedrooms range from 475 to 650, depending on location and sq. footage. We have one bedrooms for 350 to 500. That's in Ashland and Medford.
Ashland is a laid back college town, my friends call it hippyville because you can't go 2 blocks without seeing someone with dreads and no shoes walking around. Personally I hated it at first but it's kinda grown on me, although I hate most of the people. if you don't have dreads or dress with hemp they are too good for you. There are many neat and different things to do here, the city offers many things to do from shakespeare festival to indie movie showings to numerous art/craft fairs. Beware about moving to ashland if you like to big box store shop (walmart, fredmeyer, target...) as the city does not allow them. Medford is where I live. It's a normal town, there are tons of resteraunts, a mall, lots of shopping but it does still feel like small town. Medford has Rogue Community College, it's a nice CC and I have many friends that go there and enjoy it. there's lots of little towns around medford and Ashland that are nice and have good prices. Talent and Phoenix are nice towns between medford and Ashland. I hate Grants Pass I have to admit, every time I'm there all I see is rednecks, nazi swastikas, and children on leashes... not my cup of tea. Maybe I'm just getting one side but it's a side i don't like
If you like being outdoors SO is great! We go hiking, biking, camping, kayaking, snowshoeing and most of our favorite places are within an hour from our house but still out there enough that you don't run into other people that often. feel free to email me if you have any other questions! lyssat83@yahoo.com! Good Luck!
Ugh, I'm sick of these Grants Pass stereotypes. The people in Ashland are way too cliquey and stuck up for their own good. There ARE a few good apples there, but mostly it's full of people who thumb their noses at anyone who comes from a different socioeconomic background than they do and who doesn't fit into the same lifestyle as them.
Grants Pass is NOT a racist town, is NOT hick, and is only slightly redneck at times. Grants Pass is way more down to earth than Ashland is and people here generally don't go around acting like they're superior to every other human being on the planet. Though there are those people everywhere, these kind of people seem to be overrunning the streets in Ashland. Grants Pass has the same kind of metaphysical bookstores, fair trade shops, herb shops, funky restaurants, and alternative people you'll find in Ashland, just in smaller doses. We have several organic grocers that people come FROM ASHLAND to shop at. And somehow we can sustain all of those businesses here in Grants Pass... Maybe, like some Ashlanders I'm met have said, "It's not as bad as I expected."
Is Ashland a nice town? Yes. I'm glad I live near it so I can catch an indie film or a good professional play now and then. But would I want to live there in that elitist, exclusive environment? Not a chance in h-e-double hockey sticks. I'll take a few hicks, who are generally just as or more tolerant than the Ashland folk, and the more diverse socioeconomic structure of Grants Pass ANY day.
yes i agree. my vibe of grants pass, in the short time we were there, was that yes it may have a few redneck types but that it seems to be a laid back, maybe at time dull place but i'm sure there are things to keep people busy - i noticed some cool places, too, like you mentioned - i will tell you, mike and i were RELIEVED to enter grants pass after visiting ashland. people seemed REAL in grants pass. i've never met so many phoney seeming people as i did in ashland, and like i said i do not like to judge. i have never picked up a fake/bad vibe like that in any other US town i have been to. so, yea i think grants pass seems like a pretty cool laid back, real place. it definitely fits in better with the down to earth vibe we picked up all over oregon than does ashland.
Do yourself a favor don't move to little oooooold grantspass. Try checking out Eugene I feel intuitivly this is the calling somewhere in that area. I'm comming from plenty plenty of experience. Grants pass is a beautiful little town with a bad drug problem by teens with notthing better to do than their meth and stealing. It is sad and if I had the answer I'd fix it myself but where do you find the kind of motivation these kids need? Its parents too, parents making and giving out the drug(s) or atleast not having expectations or something eeh. It just is sad. Don't get me wrong, it's safe to visit... Redwood inn is great! It's not children of the corn but again it's sad.
yes i agree. my vibe of grants pass, in the short time we were there, was that yes it may have a few redneck types but that it seems to be a laid back, maybe at time dull place but i'm sure there are things to keep people busy - i noticed some cool places, too, like you mentioned - i will tell you, mike and i were RELIEVED to enter grants pass after visiting ashland. people seemed REAL in grants pass. i've never met so many phoney seeming people as i did in ashland, and like i said i do not like to judge. i have never picked up a fake/bad vibe like that in any other US town i have been to. so, yea i think grants pass seems like a pretty cool laid back, real place. it definitely fits in better with the down to earth vibe we picked up all over oregon than does ashland.
Sorry, I didn't mean to totally hijack the thread, Melissa! I just get carried away sometimes with my emotions...
Anyway, Grants Pass is pretty darn uneventful, for better or worse. It's got cute little wannabe-artsy things going on now and then, and is a great town. Just not lively and probably not what you're looking for as you've figured out I think... It was ranked by Time as one of the 10 best affordable places in the world to... *drum roll*... retire. And it is more of a family/retiree town really.
But in response to your original post (I haven't read through all the posts in this thread), I agree with above poster... I think Eugene sounds great for you. I'm not sure if you've considered it or if others have suggested it. It has Lane Community College which is among the best C.C.'s in the country. Its vibe is really more how Ashland "should" be or how you expected it to be. It's more laid back and more hippy-ish, and there's quite a bit to do really. It's only an hour and a half from Portland. It's cozy, it's nature-y, and it's very community oriented. It's home to the Oregon's flagship public university (U of O), and that brings in a lot (relatively) of culture. It's still kind of affordable too. I mean, it's a little on the large side of the definition of "town," but the people there (in my experience) are among the friendliest in the whole state, if you can believe it. Not a lot of elitism or exclusivity to be found anywhere there. I think it is the quintessential Oregonian town, really.
we went to grants pass on our vacation recently (went all over oregon! =)) and it was ok, but definitely not our favorite place. it did seem mellow and peaceful to us, but like it might get dull ... and that's probably why there is a drug problem!
My first time in this thread, so I read like your first post and one of your last. Sort of know you got over here.
We are in Beaverton, where I've spend 40 years. Just moved back from 3 years in southern Oregon. I like living within a short drive of the coast, wherever we have lived.
Grants Pass is one of my favorite small towns in southern Oregon. Medford has more stuff, and Ashland a bit more culture - noticeable just from the gardens and landscapes driving into town. Too political of a small town for me though.
We ended up living in Ruch, which has a Jacksonville address. It's in Applegate Valley, throug which Hy. 238 connects Medford and Grants Pass. It's a premium area to live, but not very expensive. The climate is a notch up from Medford, Ashland or Grants Pass. It has it's own vineyard appellation now too.
We have a home for sale there right now, and I'm stopping through to make sure it's dialed-in after the renters move out. Doing that on our way to the redwoods. We are going to stay at Harris Beach State Park at evenings. That's why I like the valley so much while there - close proximity to the coast. Medford is where I did business, and shopping was pretty close. And it put the coast and redwoods within 2 hours - where I went every two weeks to hike, camp or take a drive.
The rogue river is nice for many folks too.
Here is a pic of Applegate Valley - we lived near the blue arrow.
"The Applegate" is very expensive as is Jacksonville. Neat little town but only the Britt for entertainment. However, MedfordAshland has about anything anyone could want and it's only about a 5 mile drive from Jacksonville. Lots of fresh and wonderful fruits and veggies all over the area!
My SIL lives in Jacksonville but is contemplating a move to the coast even though she's only about 2-3 hours from her favorite coastal places. Her house will sell for at least $750k...maybe more, depending on how many Californians are searching out the area.
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Southern Oregon
