Eyes on Eugene, Oregon

[mistermo]

Originally Posted by lavi

Newport is great for seafood. Riding? Not so much. Yes, lot's of folks do coastal route touring. I wouldn't say riding on 101 is a pleasurable experience though.

PDX/metro area, Bend (more for mtb/gravel), Eugene.

I think the riding in Roseburg is pretty good....but that's way south along I5.

Just move to PDX. It's a zoo and expensive. But the riding is amazing.

Medford? Ashland?

[miguel]

Don’t move to Astoria, they don’t want you there

[72gmc]

Ashland > Medford

Re the original post, I've never been very excited about Eugene* because it's just sprawl when you're not right next to campus, at least what I've seen. I can't imagine it would be very fun trying to get out of that sprawl to a quiet road. It's a ways further north, but have you looked into the McMinnville area? I'm not familiar but a friend went to college there, and loved it.


*It's not a Duck thing, although I will never go back to Autzen. I'd love to attend a track meet at Hayward.

[robt57]

Wife still works SE PDX. I am retired and we are just south of Oregon City.

We originally thought we'd move out more into the woods when Elaine retires. But honestly wildfires and us getting evacuated changed that plan. Looks like we will just stay here, every thing is Hop/Skip/Jump from here.

Last week we shot to Depot bay, played on the coast for a few days. Wife got a all day spa day in Happy Valley for b-day. Few times over summer we did Sisters and some great riding. Quick drives toward downtown tons of food to eat with friends/meet-ups. Quick bike rides to downtown tons of places to trek up and down and all around. Quick bike rides to Boring, well @ 64 they are not so quick anymore for 50+ miles.

[Kirk007]

Originally Posted by 72gmc

Ashland > Medford

Re the original post, I've never been very excited about Eugene* because it's just sprawl when you're not right next to campus, at least what I've seen. I can't imagine it would be very fun trying to get out of that sprawl to a quiet road.


*It's not a Duck thing, although I will never go back to Autzen. I'd love to attend a track meet at Hayward.

Actually getting out of town to quiet roads is quite easy. Good network of bike lanes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tandem Rider]

We're in Bend, but everywhere in OR is just a few hours away. We don't hesitate to head for PortlandSalemEugeneCraterLakeSummerLake etc on a weekend. I would look for somewhere that has things that you are comfortable with because "really cool stuff" is a weekend away. Allergies, jobs, housing, weather, and neighborhoods are more important for day to day happiness.

[bironi]

Good luck Harth.
Hope you land in a place that fits well.
I'm somewhat familiar with your choice options, but of another generation.
I hope you like Bellingham.
It is the most likely place I would chose if I left Olympia.
I'm sorry that housing prices just keep soaring.
It's a lose-lose deal.
By

[pdxharth]

Thanks Byron.

While you’re here, why don’t you tell us more about why you like Olympia? This thread has drifted enough so that is on topic.

Originally Posted by bironi

Good luck Harth.
Hope you land in a place that fits well.
I'm somewhat familiar with your choice options, but of another generation.
I hope you like Bellingham.
It is the most likely place I would chose if I left Olympia.
I'm sorry that housing prices just keep soaring.
It's a lose-lose deal.
By

[FriarQuade]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Newport is cool for a visit, but pretty isolated if you wanted to live there. In Oregon, as you move away from the major cities, the median number of teeth per mouth falls pretty sharply. I wouldn't be comfortable living along the Oregon coast, or anywhere but Bend east of the I-5 corridor.

We're all a bunch of toothless hillbillies in Oregon, make sure to tell all your friends in SoCal!

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by FriarQuade

We're all a bunch of toothless hillbillies in Oregon, make sure to tell all your friends in SoCal!

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by Loren090

I lived in Corvallis for about 3 years until somewhat recently. Not sure you would consider Corvallis but the riding is perhaps better and maybe a somewhat less pricey housing market?

Always seemed like a toss up when I'd visit Eugene, definitely a lot more going on with music, breweries, restaurants but also sort of felt a bit pricier with more people as a 'small' city.

I think the out the door riding in Corvallis is among the best I've lived. Gravel roads for miles in the Mac Dunn. Plus some awesome singletrack for MTB. You can pretty much bike there from anywhere in town. I didn't go onany road rides but some really nice paved loops you can ride on any direction including an awesome ride up Mary's Peak. And can't emphasize enough how great Alsea Falls is.

Not sure I'd move back there but certainly not a bad place to live. And I had 2 summers of bad forest fire smoke and had had enough of that. And that was before that near apocalyptic season 1-2 yrs ago?

I retire in two years from the Coast Guard and we are planning on moving to Oregon/South Washington... Generally we've been eyeing up the Wilsonville/Canby area in Oregon or Vancouver in Washington, but this is the third or fourth time I've heard about Corvallis... I'll be working, but, thankfully, will already have a pension coming in so I can deal with a bit lower paying job if I have to...

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

Port Townsend, Poulsbo, and BI are all on the list too - but housing costs is a major unknown in any of those.
.

Just moved from that area this past summer... beautiful, but all three are VERY expensive to buy a house... BI is where all the folks who work in Seattle, but want to not live in Seattle live ($$$$), Poulsbo is the quant little Norweigen town where all the Seattle City dwellers go to "get out in the country", so it's packed on the weekends and not so "small town" anymore ($$$), Port Townsend is my favorite of the three as it has all the charm of BI or Poulsbo, but is far enough out that the Seattle folks have to really want to get out of the City to there... you can get to Sequim pretty easily that has all the major stuff. ($$$).

We were pretty happy in the Port Orchard (sits between Gig Harbor/Tacoma and Bremerton). Small town enough, pretty affordable for the area, and easily accessible to all the stuff you'd want... pretty good riding as well.

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by miguel

Don’t move to Astoria, they don’t want you there

was stationed in Astoria for about 18 months... beautiful in the summer/early fall is really miserable in the winter... if you like wet, rainy, grey, then you'll love it. I just spent 3 yrs in the Puget Sound WA area and it was tons better than Astoria in the winter, just sayin'...

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by pdxharth

Thanks Byron.

While you’re here, why don’t you tell us more about why you like Olympia? This thread has drifted enough so that is on topic.

100%! If we do head up a bit farther into WA, Olympia is hi on my list as it seems to have a cool downtown, and there is the Capitol Forest right next door that, I assume, has great trail/maybe gravel riding... would live to hear from someone who lives there!

[lavi]

Originally Posted by fourflys

I retire in two years from the Coast Guard and we are planning on moving to Oregon/South Washington... Generally we've been eyeing up the Wilsonville/Canby area in Oregon or Vancouver in Washington, but this is the third or fourth time I've heard about Corvallis... I'll be working, but, thankfully, will already have a pension coming in so I can deal with a bit lower paying job if I have to...

I spent 13 years in Wilsonville. I loved it. Road riding is amazing. Traffic up and back to PDX has gotten annoying over the last 5 years...but still close access to stuff.

Main thing WA has going for it is no income tax. If you'd like to save 9%, it's something to consider. However, I don't think I could stand the 'Couv. And dealing with traffic on the bridges would be difficult if a person were working in OR and doing the daily drive.