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Shea, I think you'd find what you are looking for here in terms of a self-sustaining homestead. The job market isn't great but that's the case for almost everywhere in the USA at present.
The schools here are not good. If you have kids and can afford private (around $10k a year) that's the way to go.
Melissa,
Check out housing near SOU in Ashland or go to www.dailytidings.com Also, you could check the college web site. Consider Talent, Oregon. Short commute to Ashland (10 minutes drive), and far less expensive. Also, you might try craiglist for Ashland to see a pic of the place. Ashland has a hospital but it's pretty small. Medford is not a bad commute and has more options for work in the medical field. Also, the airport is right there. Wouldn't want to live in "dreadford", however. Too hot & redneck-y. Wouldn't be bad to work there, though and commute. Ashland has more yoga than you can imagine. It's gorgeous and expensive UNLESS you can get student housing... then it's amazing. There is a joke about that it is 10-square miles surrounded by reality. Good luck! Go for the student housing if you can!
Cool I bookmarked that site and will look through it later when I have a change - on my way to work now.Thanks for the opinion and link
Melissa,
We are in the same boat...we are thinking about moving to Oregon from the NorthEast. After reading the other responses, perhaps we might want to reconsider. My husband has lost his job back in July and has been unable to find another. We thought we would look out west but it sounds as if unemployment is high. Not to mention the rainy days........
I love snow and sun. We have all of that here. The only negative are the bugs in the summer (black flys etc.)
Anybody.......is this not a good move? I need info for my husband.
We wanted to build a "green" house ( solar panels, etc.) have a self sustaining homestead ( chickens, gardens, etc.) Maybe this is not the state for us.
Would love some responses.
It's tough to make this decision. I've been researching for months now ... Maybe we should go east coast? I don't know ... we can always move later if we don't like it. I'm an RN so I think it'll be easier for me to find a job than some and Mike will be in college living off GI bill. Best of luck to you =).
Shea, you should start a thread of your own. I'm not sure if the mods would split this out into a separate thread... mods?
It sounds like you belong on the east side of the Cascade Mountains - the sunny, dry side of Oregon. Unemployment is indeed bad right now, but the green, self-sustaining homestead idea fits in perfectly here. The largest town on that side of the state is Bend. You can start looking more deeply at that area, and tell us more about what you're looking for and maybe some other places will come up in the discussion.
Shea, I do agree with one thing...Oregon is a good place if you want to go 'green'. Good luck on the job hunt though. My husband has been out of work since September and we thought about going to back to Oregon...nope...not going to happen. Besides, like I said in my past posts the schools really sucks.
As for Ashland...that place is "far out", IMO. It's beautiful, eclectic and very artsy but it is NOT dog friendly at all. Lithia Park...gorgeous...but dont take your dog there. And dont try to say HI to anyone you walk past. They will look at you like you are an alien or something.
Hi, I actually lived in St. Helens and thought it was really boring and too far from Portland. The area is out in the country and not connected to any other towns and you do get to know the people (too much). Anyway, there was a place not far from Portland on the other side of the city (east side) called Sandy. It is beautiful, small, right at the base of Mt. Hood and really close to Portland. And if I am correct close to a college also. If anyone wants to correct me about the college fine.
I loved driving through Sandy on our way to Bend, Mt. Hood etc. Not sure of the rent but it may be worth looking into. Oregon is lovely but you do get depressed from the lack of sun. Summers are great but they seem to be short after coming from other states. I started out in Nebraska, moved to Southern Cal, then Oregon and now I am in Eastern Washington. Portland has the least amount of sun. It is worth it just to say you lived there for awhile because it is a great experience..rain or shine.. Beautiful country!! And Bend Oregon is a really nice city also but fairly far from Portland...
Wow. Quite a dilemma. What struck me right away in your post was that you mentioned SAD. Can I be honest? You will not be happy in some parts of Oregon or Washington. I am living in Washington now, which has similar weather to Portland and the nearby towns, and it's all I can do to get out of bed between late October and (usually) June. (this year we're having a bit of a drought, so it's been unseasonably sunny and dry this spring.) I had no idea I had SAD until I moved up here. It's like no matter how much there is to do, how many people you meet, it gets so dark and colorless that it's hard to motivate yourself to do anything. Normally in a balanced climate, I am the sunniest and happiest person you'll meet.
Having said all that. Perhaps you could reconsider Southern Oregon, but perhaps not in Ashland proper. Southern Oregon gets the beautiful fall weather, the real winter (but with some sun!), and nice spring, and hot summers. I've spent so much time in Southern Oregon that I'd feel comfortable moving to Medford, to be close to the good stuff in Ashland, and the gorgeous rivers and lakes, but still get the sunshine I needed. There are several areas within Medford that I liked a lot. It's certainly not a big city, but if you were considering Ashland, I'd imagine that wouldn't matter.
Hope that you find your answers. I'm not trying to be gloomy, but if you visit the area now, during this unprecedented spring weather, do your homework and know that it's quite unusual this early in the year. Near Seattle, they were saying that this Memorial Day weekend was the "first time in THIRTY years that it was dry and sunny for all three days of the weekend." Just sayin'
I was! going to be moving to Grants Pass,OR as I'm getting over Long Beach,CA my birth place.
But as I do with every single thing I research the hell out of my actions before I make a choice to do something.
I was looking at a really nice place, 3 bedroom 2 bath house super cheap compared to LB.
BUT! the crime rate in this small town is greater than Long Beach it seems.(just check the courier there local paper they list all the crimes and citations) Also with a massive drug problem, poor schools and a linch the little guy government mentality.
This is the best part As I was searching for a street that Google maps didn't list for a better idea of exactly were in Grants Pass it was(the house) I had to call the local police to find out.
Funny thing is the nice girl (who is a cop)That was answering my questions about the street and other stuff about moving there said and I quote.
Don't move here we have a really bad meth problem! As soon as I can find away to move back to
California I'm going to! End quote. So if the local police tell you to not go to a place it's most likely a good Idea to listen.
Also if you read Ilovegrantspass.com you will see that allot of the people there are getting robbed so others can do,sell and manufacture meth and other drugs. I know to not always believe what you read and that most stuff if not the majority of the stuff you see on the internet is BS. But when the locals and the police say that it sucks in Grants Pass I'm sure to listen.
This really blows as I love the outdoors and had my hope set really high on moving.
cool thanks! we didn't get a chance to check out sandy while there, though we wanted to. we may look more into it. we may look into scappoosse which we noticed is super close to portland but seperate. we lovvvved astoria. we may try there for a while, though i doubt we want to permanently live there with so much rain and so little sun. it'd be a fun get away for a couple years. never thought i'd want anything that far from the city, but we have portland one way and seattle the other and lots of cool little surrounding towns. astoria has so much culture for being so small ... we felt so cozy there.
yep, that is my biggest fear of moving to some areas of oregon. we visited from may 20-30 and absolutely loved it!! like you said, though, we visited when it was unusually sunny weather ... and that's what all the locals kept reminding us of. it was sunny every single day of our vacation. we surprisingly LOVED the vibe in astoria. i never wanted to be that far from bigger cities ... but there is portland one way and seattle the other, i guess ... though maybe it does get boring? i don't know .. i think it'd be a fun get away for a couple years, but i'm sure it's even rainier and gloomier there. we are going to do our research veryyy well. and if we do move there for a couple years i will have to get a sun lamp or whatever people get to fight off SAD. i think it would take a huge toll on a persons emotional health. we did love southern oregon, too, but the vibe didn't flow as well with us for some reason. also, i thought we would love ashland - but nope. yea, they had some cool shops and art stuff ... but honestly i have never met such a stuck up group of people in my life, imo. everyone told me "there is so much culture there" .... not imo - almost everyone i met seemed the same ... like very rich people who were too good to say hello or smile and a just very uptight crowd. it was our least favorite town in all of oregon. so, anyway, if we do move there we should meet if you're not too far over in washington. what are do you live? email me at malissa456@yahoo.com if you want to keep in touch. we won't know a soul when we move to oregon and that is scary. we don't want to end up lonely with no friends! but i think we'll love it and meet people quickly. i have a feeling we may end up in astoria for a while - probably in august we'll move there - with our sun lamps - for a couple years while mike gets his associate degree and then we'll move by a 4 year college. you can also look up my myspace page www.myspace.com/unclejupiter to see our oregon pics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by trixie09
Wow. Quite a dilemma. What struck me right away in your post was that you mentioned SAD. Can I be honest? You will not be happy in some parts of Oregon or Washington. I am living in Washington now, which has similar weather to Portland and the nearby towns, and it's all I can do to get out of bed between late October and (usually) June. (this year we're having a bit of a drought, so it's been unseasonably sunny and dry this spring.) I had no idea I had SAD until I moved up here. It's like no matter how much there is to do, how many people you meet, it gets so dark and colorless that it's hard to motivate yourself to do anything. Normally in a balanced climate, I am the sunniest and happiest person you'll meet.
Having said all that. Perhaps you could reconsider Southern Oregon, but perhaps not in Ashland proper. Southern Oregon gets the beautiful fall weather, the real winter (but with some sun!), and nice spring, and hot summers. I've spent so much time in Southern Oregon that I'd feel comfortable moving to Medford, to be close to the good stuff in Ashland, and the gorgeous rivers and lakes, but still get the sunshine I needed. There are several areas within Medford that I liked a lot. It's certainly not a big city, but if you were considering Ashland, I'd imagine that wouldn't matter.
Hope that you find your answers. I'm not trying to be gloomy, but if you visit the area now, during this unprecedented spring weather, do your homework and know that it's quite unusual this early in the year. Near Seattle, they were saying that this Memorial Day weekend was the "first time in THIRTY years that it was dry and sunny for all three days of the weekend." Just sayin'
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Your big move...
