Oregon, Northern California?

[SedanSandwich]

The PNW is awesome. Eugene is a great city. There is always something to do. really lively night life and if you want to escape you can be in the middle of nowhere in a forest in about an 1 or 2. The music scene is amazing in both Eugene and Portland.

[camip]

Might aswell just got up north a bit more and move to Seattle. Use to live there and I am moving back by the end of summer. Always stuff to do plenty of opportunity.

[Threehz]

I was looking into housing San Fran, then in Portland, then comparing Portland to Tucson. I've wanted to live in Portland since I was a kid, and it's still sounding like the perfect place for me. Cost of living too, I thought Tucson was pretty much the cheapest place to live, but I'm finding tons of apartments in Portland, in nice areas, that are much nicer apartments, for cheaper than smaller apartments in bad areas of Tucson. It makes no sense to me.

Statistically Portland sees 154 days of precipitation on average, which is less than half the year. Does it really rain that much? Because Tucson supposedly sees 48 days according to the same stats, and in all reality, it feels like we see rain maybe a week or two out of a year.

My friend found me this comparison website, it was pretty awesome seeing all the ways Portland kicks my cities ass statistically.

http://www.bestplaces.net/city/default.aspx?cat=PEOPLE&city=Portland_OR&ccity=Tucson_AZ&p=4159000&op=0477000

[e30shmobberr]

I love the bay area!
Im in los gatos, its a very nice beautiful town. expensive though :/ . its a 45m-1hr drive to santa cruz which is a lot of fun! not to far from bigger cities (san jose, san francisco). its in silicon valley, where all the tech jobs are at. It also has 2 race tracks about 1hr to 1hr 30m away. nor cal would be my vote.

[Brilliantrot 318is]

Portland will always be "home" for me, yes it rains allot but you grow to love it, things that are awesome about the pdx: rivers, clear air, mountains, see narys, ocean, e30 picnic just a few hours away. :) if you decide to move we should have a r3v wecomeing party in your honor

[Pantless Spency]

i live in norcal and i would love to live in the PNW...
want to go north!

[absolutdog]

I thought Tucson was pretty much the cheapest place to live, but I'm finding tons of apartments in Portland, in nice areas, that are much nicer apartments, for cheaper than smaller apartments in bad areas of Tucson. It makes no sense to me.

Statistically Portland sees 154HAHAHA 200+ days of precipitation on average, which is less than half the year. Does it really rain that much? Because Tucson supposedly sees 48 If that many days

http://www.bestplaces.net/city/defau...000&op=0477000

The reason you don't really find shitty apt in pdx, is there aren't any major ghettos. Gresham is a little trailer trashy, and N PDX is about the closest thing to a sketchy area (and it's not)

And don't bother getting an apt, I rented a nice house (w all amenities garage yard basement ect) for 850$ no lease direct from the owner (and another for 950)

op: it sounds like you've made up you mind already... go to voodoo doughnut get a maple bacon bar, then to lucky lab for ANY beer, and a pizza scholl's (show up early), cross the street to the space room (strongest drink in town, and SE pdx is good ppl area) after that you will be totally sold

[Wschnitz]

The always rains in the PNW is bullshit, living here in Seattle for a a year its basically always overcast with a chance of sun, rain is always a temporary drizzle that isnt bad at all, and when it does poor i enjoy it. (Makes driving more fun ;) ) you will basically always have a chance of sun in Seattle area anyway, and there is no shortage of stuff to do. And once june/july hits you get 3-4 months of 75 and sunny. Almost always perfect.

And if you want sun its a 2hr drive to leavenworth, where its sunny when its not snowing, a little farther and your in eastern washington, desert compared to western.

Id say take a mini vacation to each, ive considered norcal myself, but to hot and i get bothered.

[Threehz]

You all get me more excited than I already am. Renting a home is definitely preferred and that is real good to know, garage is a must.

I've also heard that Portland has a great brewing scene, if this is true, yet another plus!

How is traffic/travel over there? It appears that there are actually freeways (Tucson doesn't have a working freeway, just a single one that wraps the outskirts).

Also, how are the roads? My lowered E30 suffers a lot out here because we don't have a single street that isn't covered in foot-deep potholes that are sometimes two feet wide, uneven road, huge cracking for entire stretches of road, etc etc.

Growing up in Tucson, the idea of sunny days being good for driving was always totally wrong. The perfect day to drive is an overcast/drizzly day or at night time. I mean if a sunny day didn't mean 117 degrees, and 140 degree air coming off the asphalt, sure it'd be nice, but that ain't here.

[StereoInstaller1]

Find work before you come up, if at all possible.

I have lived everywhere you are talking about in Oregon.

I was in the PDX/Vancouver area for 15 years, everywhere from Milwaukie to West Linn to Aloha to the north end of Hazel Dell to 82nd and E. Burnside to Gresham...I mean all over. Tigard, Fishers Landing, N PDX, I liked all of them in different ways.

I moved from there to Eugene, where I was for about 5 years.

Moved from there to the Seattle area where again, I lived all over, from Monroe to Gig Harbor, Lacey even...and now I live in paradise, in Chehalis.

I hope to stay here in this area for the rest of my life.

As far as the wimmin-folk:

No matter if you like Tats or cowgirls, don't matter...they are all here, often rolled into one psychotic bitch. Portland is still far and away the best place to live for a young man.

Oh: if you think you smoke only good weed, no you don't. PDX can kick Humboldts ass in the quality department. Basically, PDX kills in girls, coffee, beer, weed and music. Oh, you will see E30s every day, all over, except in junk yards. You may see a skeleton or two, but not much. Too many parts vultures...yet they can't find me an E34 trunk lid in goddamn Lachssilver.

GL on the job hunt. Get on it and get your ass up here.
Luke

[camip]

Speaking off drugs ecstasy scene is whack as fuck in washington. Oregon is probably better because its closer to California. Weed is good but its still gay.

[HarukoE30]

Speaking off drugs ecstasy scene is whack as fuck in washington. Oregon is probably better because its closer to California. Weed is good but its still gay.

Might just be legal in Oregon come November as well if all those 167K autographs check out ;)

[Threehz]

I totally forgot how massive the coffee scene is up there! I'm a huge gardener, and the Portland climate would finally allow me to grow coffee and tea which I've been wanting to do for ages. I've had weed from across the nation, and other countries as well. I've had some Oregon bud, much of it was among the best, but nothing compares to the bud up in BC. Canadian mountain-grown has always left me wanting more, and I don't even smoke anymore.

I've been looking into jobs up there relating to my degree and they seem abundant. I found a shitload with starting by upwards of 80k with only a couple years experience. I figure if I can start learning all about the climate, plants, and animals up there, and publish some work about it, it shouldn't be too hard to find at least a decent job.

How hard is it to get a medical marijuana card up there? Looks like with a card you are able to have up to 24 plants growing at once, that is wicked because I'm all about home-grow.

[lylefk]

Ok, I can contribute...lived in Sacramento, outer bay area, Chico, Eugene currently, Seattle for 4 years and travel all over Oregon 4 days per week. Bear with me, I'm going to be all over the board, no time to sort out my thoughts.

You mentioned cool temps. That rules out from Stockton/Modesto north all the way to Medford, OR. Cross them off.

In CA, you'll want to stick to the bay area if you want the combination of cool temps and big city. Cost is insane, traffic is REALLY INSANE. Or up the coast, though the only town with a college on the coast is Humboldt. Place to be if you want a slow pace and smoke a lot of weed. Not my style, though it is gorgeous.

Your big city options that aren't too hot are really bay area, Portland, Seattle area. Portland and Seattle do get the rain, but the big thing that gets to people is the grey. It's just...blah a lot of the time. The numbers are misleading. As mentioned though, summers get up into the low 90's typically and they are gorgeous. They all have traffic problems, I'd rank them (from worst to not as bad) 1) Bay, 2) Seattle, 3) Portland.

If you can do university towns, that opens up Eugene (U of O), Albany/Corvallis (Oregon State), Chico (GREAT town, hot as shit, 110+ for weeks on end).

It really depends on who you are...

Seattle is diverse, has a great restaurant scene, lots to do and see, close ot lots of outdoorsy stuff, huge mix of people and cultures. You can find a place you like to live in this area no matter who you are. If you like boating, move here. Lots of water activities. Look up Sea Fair, fun event in August.

Portland is a very high percentage of hipsters. If you like skinny jeans, instagram, neon sunglasses, etc this is your new home. There are different neighborhoods of course, but that sentiment prevails. Close to the coast, lots of fishing if you are into it. Very healthy town, in general. Lots of joggers, etc.

Bay is very very pricy. You pay a huge premium to live here, IMO not worth it. I'd never live there. It's cool temp wise most of the time, windier. If you like to dive it's a good spot (as is seattle). Big variety of folks here as well.

We live in Eugene and hate it. Some love it, as mentioned. Smallish, no high end restaurant life really, no good bars (unless you like 70's decor college bars). It's got a lot of hippies (real hippies, not rich hippies), huge running and walking and biking town.

Bend is awesome, we'd live there. Has more seasonal variance in weather than the rest of Oregon...gets snow and gets hot. We love the restaurants here, great food. It's a resort town, so if you are into snow sports this is a good spot. Job scene is tough here as mentioned, but IMO good people that are motivated can find work anywhere.

My vote, based on what you've mentioned would be Seattle. It's a beautiful city, and even if you only stay a couple years, it's worth it. You'll never run out of outdoorsy things to see or city things to do. The thing with this is, the job market is good and you can find a place in the area that suits you, no matter who you are. There is a city, town or neighborhood for everyone, from rural to urban, country living to downtown. The traffic is manageable if you know how to work it because there are multiple routes to most places. It's a very safe place for a big move it regards to finding a place you are happy to be living. I miss it, btw if you couldn't tell. If you are into sushi, move here and stop looking anywhere else. It's the sushi capitol of the country.

Great brewing in Portland, but good in Seattle as well. Redhook(Seattle) has an awesome brewery with outdoor movie nights, trivia nights, a nice restaurant, etc.

The roads in general are fine everywhere. Oregon is better than CA, IMO. If you want nice roads move to Orlando FL lol.

Bend has an awesome brewing scene too, I love Ten Barrel Brewing.

Eugene has breweries but their beer is awful (Ninkasi).

Chico has Sierra Nevada, with an awesome brewery and a monster sampler. Free tours, etc. Decent food, nice outdoor patio with misters (again, hot as the sun).

[freeride53]

Berkeley