OT - Trip to Oregon

#1

So, recently I’ve started convincing my bf that Oregon would be a nice place to live.
I’ve wanted to move and live there for years now, and while he hasn’t been too keen on the idea in the past I must be wearing down on him cuz lately he hasn’t just flat out told me No. :mrgreen:

I’m also interested in going to the vet college in Corvallis there (I’ve read/heard it’s one of the best).
So, I’ve been looking online for info/statistics/yearly averages for Corvallis and Albany.

Last night as we were talking about it, he suggested we take a week-long trip to Oregon and see if it’s a place we (mostly him) wouldn’t mind.
I think a big lure for us is all the rain. We both love rain, thunderstorms, etc.

After he said we should visit (and I said we could go for my bday in August, or our anniversary in Sept) then he was wondering what we’d do for a week. And I said, hey, I’ll ask you wonderful ladies (and guys) if you have any suggestions.

So, I’m looking for places to visit in Corvallis, Albany, or Salem (cuz I’ve always wanted to go there).
Anyone have any ideas on what we could do? We’re really not like party animals or anything, and we do enjoy historical things. Oh, and anything free or cheap is good. :wink:

Thanks. :smiley:

Edited to add: I love animals, so anything with them is good too. :slight_smile:

#2

You are SO in trouble!!! Portland has at least 15 or 20 LYS!!! I’m not sure about Salem/Corvallis/Eugene but I’m sure they have tons too. Corvallis has a big university there so it’s a small town populated by students… It’s close to the ocean too. The ocean out here is breath taking. Big cliffs, sandy beaches, haystacks, curvy roads along the edge of the water. It’s great. But wait you like the mountains you say? Well they’re only an hour the other way! So we got it all. Mountains for skiing and hiking, valleys for cities and oceans for well oceans. Theres a higway, I5, that goes stright up and down connecting Eugene, Corvallis, Salem, Portland, up into Washington thru to Seattle.

I’m an east coast person so I’m not native but I’ve bene here over 10 years and I :heart: it here. People are friendly (not all grouchylike on the east coast. I swear the cold makes you grouchy) and the rain is som romantic. Makes it not so cold too. So you can jike and camp and alla that year round. We attract a lot of nature/tree huggun/granola types. A lot of hippies came here after the 60’s I think. So we’re a fairly progressive bunch. Mixed in with some conservatives that live in the boonies. I think Corvallis is more conservative. Salem is the capitol so lots of government buildings and stuff.

We do get floods sometimes. Maybe every 10 years or so. And then a few earthquakes but I think they’re exciting. They don’t do too much damage. Not like California and Mt St Helens will give us a little spurt now and then. On a clear day you can see both Mt Hood and Mt St Helens. And the rainbows!!! I’ve never seen so many rainbows in any one place in my whole life.

What else, oh yeah we got Powells in Portland. Salem has one of the coolest children’s museums. I’ve heard Salem is a good place to raise kids (if ya’ll are thinking about that). Portland is very kid friendly too. And dog friendly. If youwanna be a vet you will have PLENTY of clients.

OK I’m rambling now. But if you wanna know more let me know. I will happy to be your tour guide.

#3

That’s awesome! Just makes me want to move there all the more. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked…now I’ll just go and get my hopes up. :wink:

Thanks for the comment, it really sparked a few ideas on what we can do. :slight_smile:

#4

Here’s a cool site that lets you compare cities for all kinds of info. Just get a free membership. I love playing with it even though I’m not moving anywhere. :wink:

http://www.bestplaces.net/

#5

My only complaint as a native Oregonian against people from other states is this…
DON’T VOTE FOR A FRIGGING SALES TAX!!! :rollseyes:

Jeeeez…

Other than that, if you’re a competent driver in bad conditions I’m sure you’ll fit in just fine. :thumbsup:

#6

:lol:
Well, I haven’t voted yet, so I’m not too worried about it. :wink:

Down here, it feels like I’m the -only- competent driver. :rollseyes:

#7

My mother once had a conversation with a Californian that went something like this.

standing in the checkout lane, it’s raining cats, dogs, and assorted pygmy animals outside
Californian: Wow…
My Mother: What?
Californian: Everybody’s just…driving!!!
My Mother: . . . . facepalm

Seriously. To this guy, it was like a miracle that people could do the speed limit in the rain and not get in a 60 car pile up.

#8

Jan, that was fun … but I never did find the how important is the number of LYS question :slight_smile:

#9

What I found so odd about Oregon is that while it rained often, we rarely had thunder. Not like here in the deep south where we get thunder even without rain :slight_smile: But it is gorgeous and you will be much closer to wine country! Oregon wines are the absolute best! I never liked red wines until I moved to Oregon and tasted a good Pinot Noir! Mmmmmmm. I want to move back ot Oregon SO badly. Cost of living has sky rocketed since we left. Who let all those Californians in? :smiley:

#10

:mad: I don’t know, but I guarantee you that should I find them I will have some unkind words and maybe a few pokes with my needles to share with them…

#11

My last car didn’t have windshield wipers. …Well, it -did-, they just didn’t work. And up north, during the summer, we’d have days upon days of rain. Sometimes it’s light rain, but it usually it pours.

I was moving the rest of my stuff one day, and the whole 2 hour drive I had it was just gushing. And me, with no wipers. And I was going 55-65 the whole time (minus a few towns where I had to slow down to 30)

So…I think I could handle driving in the rain. :wink:

And about the Californians? No offense to any here intended, but I can’t wait for that damn state to fall into the ocean. :evil: (I’ve had too many bad experiences from people from there.)

#12

Oregon is a great place to live, visit. Late summer early fall is the perfect time. Remember that Oregon rain is different than most of the world. It has been described as a soaking, gray drizzle. Most parts of the country has thunderstorms that move in and rain real hard then clear out. Oregon and particulary the valley (Portland south to Eugene) has long days of cloudy gray drizzle. My mom when she moved here from Iowa said the first winter in Oregon was the coldest she ever lived through. That said the sunny days are clear and you can see forever. Very green, lots of mountains, only an hour away or the coast again only an hour or less drive from the valley.
There is plenty of free or cheap things to do. Wine tasting is at the peak in Sept. , unlike many California winerys OR is often free tastings and you can take your own picnic basket and enjoy some beautiful views. Hiking and camping are plentiful, check out the Makenzie River outside of Eugene. Or hiking along the coast is beautiful. A longer drive to Crater Lake, or central Oregon (Bend area) gives you some high dessert area.
Enjoy.

#13

Yes the rain is totally different! I rarely used a raincoat or umbrella. Rarely got rainy enough to bother. I only remember twice in the 8 year span that I lived there that it actually RAINED really hard and we had threats of flooding in some of the low valley areas. I lived in Newberg, which is set in this bowl. To go north, east or west you have to go UP! We rarely got snow down in our little town, but we would get iced in and couldn’t get up to Portland. I had a great job that would let me take work home if I thought we were going to get iced in. I loved those days. I miss the wonderful four seasons that Oregon had. I haven’t had as wonderful produce since moving from there either. The strawberries, watermelons, blueberries and corn were all so sweet and lucious! Oh and I can’t forget the blackberries! They are everywhere!

#14

Oregon’s Seasons:
Rain, Road Construction, Hunting Season, and Freezing Rain

#15

:roflhard: :roflhard: :roflhard: :roflhard:

#16

:mad: I don’t know, but I guarantee you that should I find them I will have some unkind words and maybe a few pokes with my needles to share with them…[/quote]

AHEM!!! :wall: I don’t live there, but geez… :??

#17

I don’t know what it is about otherwise intelligent Californians that makes them vote yes on budget cuts to education and a sales tax, but it irks me.
I’ve just had lots of bad experiences with cali people. Prove me wrong, Jan! Please!! :!:

#18

Okay first of all… considering how populous this state is (2004 est. 35,893,799) how many have you actually encountered and had bad experiences with? 5? 10? Even 20?

As for the budget woes…don’t get me started. Even when we do vote something the idiots in Sacramento or someone else puts a hold on it. :rollseyes:

I will admit we have problems here, but I don’t think problems in Oregon can be blamed on us.

#19

Actually, there’s been an inordinate influx of Californians into Oregon. Mostly idiotic yuppies who think “Won’t it be nice to get out of the city?” and then bitch and moan when they have to drive 30 minutes to get to the grocery store. :rollseyes: Gee, Sherlock, maybe the city wasn’t so bad since you can’t just schedule your life better instead of running to the store on a whim?

#20

When I moved to Oregon as a young bride in '88 the nice Victorian homes were going for $50-$75K. BIG houses - multi story with finished attics and basements. We dawdled too long trying to figure out which house we wanted to buy. By the time we left Oregon in '94 the prices had quadrupled. My MIL was a realtor and she said for several years that there was a policy of asking where buyers were from. If they were from California they were told one price (higher) on the house and if they were Oregonians or from anywhere else in the country they were told a different (lower) price. Well, they caught on so the prices instantly went up. In a single 9 month period the prices on homes tripled! Californias where used to paying half a million for a house so they were finding paying $250K for the same size house a steal in Oregon. They found the valley a really cool place to live. It was between the two silicone giants (Seattle and San Fransisco) in wine country, and affordable housing. We’ve wanted to move back to Oregon so badly and we just can’t afford the difference in cost of living right now. My dh, a native Oregonian, is another one that wishes California would get zapped by aliens or fall into the ocean. He blames our not being able to move back to Oregon on the Californians migrating north.