Oregon (and Vermont a little bit)

[Peregrinator]

Seriously? An outdoor thermometer that caught some warmth? It hasn't gone out of the 30s today where you are. Very sunny! I haven't made it past 29 today.

Could be, though we walked into town for lunch and it was pretty comfortable. I should move that sensor to the shade.

Hemmed in is a good description.

Yeah...although honestly, on a human scale I don't feel it here. Further South into more congestion, definitely, but here I can walk across the street and then for most of a day in the woods without seeing another person. One of the tradeoffs is that while we don't have, say, Steens Mountain a day's drive away, we also don't have to drive all day to do stuff.

 

[slave_]

Could be, though we walked into town for lunch and it was pretty comfortable. I should move that sensor to the shade.

Too funny! I was out very early in the morning when it was about 8 degrees and haven't been out again until after wrote that post. You know, it was 27 degrees and I felt comfortable. Not much wind and all I had on was a sweater and wool shawl.

Go figure.

That sun was VERY warm! That I like when it is very cool outside.

 

[Peregrinator]

Too funny! I was out very early in the morning when it was about 8 degrees and haven't been out again until after wrote that post. You know, it was 27 degrees and I felt comfortable. Not much wind and all I had on was a sweater and wool shawl.

Go figure.

That sun was VERY warm! That I like when it is very cool outside.

It's funny how you get seasonally adjusted. If there were a day in the middle of August when it dropped into the 20's I'd be dressed for a polar exploration. Now, it's sweater and vest weather, and a shell if there's any wind to speak of.

 

[slave_]

It's funny how you get seasonally adjusted. If there were a day in the middle of August when it dropped into the 20's I'd be dressed for a polar exploration. Now, it's sweater and vest weather, and a shell if there's any wind to speak of.

LOL! Truly, I am like that year round... weather appropriate, well for myself.

I RARELY wear a jacket, but will if I am outside for a length of time.

And that has always been a pet peeve of mine for AGES! People who complain about the weather being warm at X temp in winter or spring, but say it is freezing at that same exact temperature late summer and fall.

Kind of like a pound of feathers and a pound of steel.

But yes, I know what you mean. It is what the body is currently used to.

 

[Peregrinator]

LOL! Truly, I am like that year round... weather appropriate, well for myself.

I RARELY wear a jacket, but will if I am outside for a length of time.

And that has always been a pet peeve of mine for AGES! People who complain about the weather being warm at X temp in winter or spring, but say it is freezing at that same exact temperature late summer and fall.

Kind of like a pound of feathers and a pound of steel.

But yes, I know what you mean. It is what the body is currently used to.

I think a lot of it is perception. You can take a Texan and an Alaskan and put 'em together in a room at 55F and they'll have the predictable responses...for a day or so. Ten they'll both be shivering, regardless of which one you look at.

 

[stonedfox]

Is this some sort of "out Perg" thread? I live in Vermont now and moved here after five years in Portland OR. Whatcha want to know, Stoney, my enduring litlove?

Everything. How bad is winter? Is summer short? Towns in Oregon I'm interested in are Salem, Corvallis, Albany...things in that area. I'm only just starting to even think about leaving Texas. Never even been north of Arkansas or West of...well, Texas. Do you think Oregon would be a better fit for someone like me?

Vermont...it's pretty, but I just don't know...I've never pictured myself living anywhere near the great lakes, or the northeast in general. And honestly, the main reason I want to leave is to find a more accepting society for someone like me and I don't know if that's the place. It maybe isn't the liberal utopia I'm searching for. But I really have no idea.

 

[stonedfox]

Check out the Vermont state taxes before moving there.

Having to deal with state taxes at all will be somewhat shocking.

 

[stonedfox]

Could a Texan be happy in such a small state?

Yes. Texas is entirely too big. Vermont is a nice size, though I'm not wild about having to drive through another state to get to the coast. I'm used to a coastal environment and I don't think I could make it long without being at least an hour from an ocean. Lakes and rivers suffice, but they really aren't the same.

Also, to anyone reading this thread, I apologize for not quoting everyone I respond to in one post. I'm tired; I've been up for like 36 hours, and putting forth that effort to make this nice and readable is really beyond me ATM.

 

[Peregrinator]

Everything. How bad is winter? Is summer short? Towns in Oregon I'm interested in are Salem, Corvallis, Albany...things in that area. I'm only just starting to even think about leaving Texas. Never even been north of Arkansas or West of...well, Texas. Do you think Oregon would be a better fit for someone like me?

Vermont...it's pretty, but I just don't know...I've never pictured myself living anywhere near the great lakes, or the northeast in general. And honestly, the main reason I want to leave is to find a more accepting society for someone like me and I don't know if that's the place. It maybe isn't the liberal utopia I'm searching for. But I really have no idea.

I can't speak well to those towns, but they're all all right; nothing leaps to mind to say "don't go there!" Is there a reason you left Portland off the list?

Winter in OR is drizzly and cold, rarely stays much below freezing for long, and snow in Portland was a once a year type thing. Maybe twice. Summers are mild and comfortable, low humidity and I think in the five years I lived there I saw two mosquitoes. In Vermont you get more extreme seasons. We have real winter with snow and sustained cold. Last night it got down to 7 degrees F here...but this morning it was bright and sunny and in the 40's...which is among the most gorgeous it gets anywhere. Summers are nothing to a Texan, but it can be muggy here. The heat snaps--above the high 80's--are short, a week or so at most, usually. Spring and fall are magical seasons, bright sun and either buds and flowers springing up or the spectacular colors of the changing leaves. Blowsy and comfortable, sweatshirts and boots. Come visit if you want! We'll put you up and drive you around and introduce you to the local vet...

Maybe we should do this off the boards, but what means "someone like you?" Portland (OR, or Maine, now that I think about it) and Burlington, VT are both very funky, freak/queer friendly liberal cities. The smaller towns and rural areas tend to be more conservative, though here in VT they're "mind your own goddam business" libertarian style conservative, so if you're worried about the neighbors commenting on your three girlfriends, that will never happen here, while it might in, say, suburbs of Portland.

 

[Peregrinator]

Yes. Texas is entirely too big. Vermont is a nice size, though I'm not wild about having to drive through another state to get to the coast. I'm used to a coastal environment and I don't think I could make it long without being at least an hour from an ocean. Lakes and rivers suffice, but they really aren't the same.

Also, to anyone reading this thread, I apologize for not quoting everyone I respond to in one post. I'm tired; I've been up for like 36 hours, and putting forth that effort to make this nice and readable is really beyond me ATM.

Who cares if you drive through another state? It's not like you need a visa. You just drive.

 

[stonedfox]

Who cares if you drive through another state? It's not like you need a visa. You just drive.

I know, it's just weird! All my life I've lived 20 minutes from the coast. I love the natural enviornments in Texas, I'm just so sick of the people. Sure, I'm making a broad judgement on the people of Texas, but we're talking about people that voted for Rick Perry. I mean really?

Basically I'm looking for a place with natural beauty and somewhat accessible coastline, weather that permits vegetable gardening for the majority of the year, relaxed pot laws or legal pot...this list is going to get too long so I'm just going to say that I'm looking for a green-minded, pot friendly hippie wonderland where I can grow veggies and have chickens and maybe a goat and people will leave me the fuck alone and no one will ever create a law that involves something going into or out of my vagina. The greater percentage of non religiously affiliated citizens, the better.

 

[Peregrinator]

I know, it's just weird! All my life I've lived 20 minutes from the coast. I love the natural enviornments in Texas, I'm just so sick of the people. Sure, I'm making a broad judgement on the people of Texas, but we're talking about people that voted for Rick Perry. I mean really?

Basically I'm looking for a place with natural beauty and somewhat accessible coastline, weather that permits vegetable gardening for the majority of the year, relaxed pot laws or legal pot...this list is going to get too long so I'm just going to say that I'm looking for a green-minded, pot friendly hippie wonderland where I can grow veggies and have chickens and maybe a goat and people will leave me the fuck alone and no one will ever create a law that involves something going into or out of my vagina. The greater percentage of non religiously affiliated citizens, the better.

Except for "the majority of the year" it would be a tough call. The growing season is a lot longer in OR. In either VT or any of the places in OR you mentioned you're going to be over an hour's drive from the coast. The rest of your post makes me think, as much as I hate to steer you even further away from me, that OR might be a better fit, though I have no idea what the drug laws are like in either place. I can say that I know a lot of people who smoke all the time and don't seem very concerned about getting busted. Including one Litster I met in Portland who smoked up in broad daylight in a city park while we were hanging out...

Oh, and from what I hear, OR has the best pot in the country. But this:

"a green-minded, pot friendly hippie wonderland where I can grow veggies and have chickens and maybe a goat and people will leave me the fuck alone and no one will ever create a law that involves something going into or out of my vagina" REALLY sounds like VT. You'd just need a greenhouse.

 

[stonedfox]

Except for "the majority of the year" it would be a tough call. The growing season is a lot longer in OR. In either VT or any of the places in OR you mentioned you're going to be over an hour's drive from the coast. The rest of your post makes me think, as much as I hate to steer you even further away from me, that OR might be a better fit, though I have no idea what the drug laws are like in either place. I can say that I know a lot of people who smoke all the time and don't seem very concerned about getting busted. Including one Litster I met in Portland who smoked up in broad daylight in a city park while we were hanging out...

Oh, and from what I hear, OR has the best pot in the country. But this:

"a green-minded, pot friendly hippie wonderland where I can grow veggies and have chickens and maybe a goat and people will leave me the fuck alone and no one will ever create a law that involves something going into or out of my vagina" REALLY sounds like VT. You'd just need a greenhouse.

This is all years off, but I want to get as many first hand opinions as I can.

 

[IndieSnob]

Oregon is close to me, well, and of course the further north you are, the closer you are to me.

That's one hell of a selling point.

 

[Peregrinator]

This is all years off, but I want to get as many first hand opinions as I can.

Come and visit. I mean, not come and visit ME, necessarily, but come to the NE and wander around a bit. Do the same with OR. They're both wonderful places. And look for jobs. Are you still hitched up? Is this a couple thing, or can you decide all by your lonesome?

 

[Lord_Steve]

This is all years off, but I want to get as many first hand opinions as I can.

vermont owns hard, i grew up there and travelled around a bit and it's still my favorite state.

see a deer and shoot a gun! go skiing! smoke pot erryday! enjoy charming, artistic small towns! it's hard to go wrong, unless you're one of them flatlanders that can't take some high altitudes and snow.

 

[ksmybuttons]

Everything. How bad is winter? Is summer short? Towns in Oregon I'm interested in are Salem, Corvallis, Albany...things in that area. I'm only just starting to even think about leaving Texas. Never even been north of Arkansas or West of...well, Texas. Do you think Oregon would be a better fit for someone like me?

Vermont...it's pretty, but I just don't know...I've never pictured myself living anywhere near the great lakes, or the northeast in general. And honestly, the main reason I want to leave is to find a more accepting society for someone like me and I don't know if that's the place. It maybe isn't the liberal utopia I'm searching for. But I really have no idea.

Oregon is beautiful. Ocean, mountains, desert, lots of water. It sells itself.

Oregon is economically depressed right now. If you have a skill, you might be able to find a job.

Albany has a couple of manufacturing plants that have odor. It is surrounded by grass farms.

Corvallis is supported by retirees and the college. It is an expensive place to live.

Salem is the capitol so has that as an industry. Has Willamette University. Again, fairly expensive.

Albany is the most reasonable priced. Anything on the east side of the Cascades is in an economic depression.

We don't have a sales tax but we do have high property and income tax. We can't pump our own gas. Weed is prevalent - grown locally. Young people seem to all have their medical marijuana card and it is readily accessible if you want it.

The weather is fairly mild in the west - hotter summers the further south you go. Cold winters and hot summers in the east.

I've lived in Oregon for most of my life and have never had a desire to leave. Ask me anything.

 

[Comshaw]

I know, it's just weird! All my life I've lived 20 minutes from the coast. I love the natural enviornments in Texas, I'm just so sick of the people. Sure, I'm making a broad judgement on the people of Texas, but we're talking about people that voted for Rick Perry. I mean really?

Basically I'm looking for a place with natural beauty and somewhat accessible coastline, weather that permits vegetable gardening for the majority of the year, relaxed pot laws or legal pot...this list is going to get too long so I'm just going to say that I'm looking for a green-minded, pot friendly hippie wonderland where I can grow veggies and have chickens and maybe a goat and people will leave me the fuck alone and no one will ever create a law that involves something going into or out of my vagina. The greater percentage of non religiously affiliated citizens, the better.

Hay Stack rock on the Oregon Coast
http://www.atpm.com/10.01/oregon-coast/images/haystack-rock-surf.jpg

Lincoln City beach
http://lightheartedtravel.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/dsc01797.jpg

Salem is in the heart of the Willamette Valley. Some of the richest farm land in the world.

http://pics4.city-data.com/cpicv/vfiles20521.jpg

Oregon and weed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_Oregon



Comshaw

 

[Wrong Element]

I know, it's just weird! All my life I've lived 20 minutes from the coast. I love the natural enviornments in Texas, I'm just so sick of the people. Sure, I'm making a broad judgement on the people of Texas, but we're talking about people that voted for Rick Perry. I mean really?

Basically I'm looking for a place with natural beauty and somewhat accessible coastline, weather that permits vegetable gardening for the majority of the year, relaxed pot laws or legal pot...this list is going to get too long so I'm just going to say that I'm looking for a green-minded, pot friendly hippie wonderland where I can grow veggies and have chickens and maybe a goat and people will leave me the fuck alone and no one will ever create a law that involves something going into or out of my vagina. The greater percentage of non religiously affiliated citizens, the better.

I moved to Texas not long ago, so I'm sympathetic to your point of view, though I do my best to block that other shit out as best I can. Sleeping with someone who is like-minded helps a lot.

I believe Vermont and New Hampshire are the two most secular states in the lower 48, so they would fit from that standpoint (NH is less "green" and fairly antagonistic to hippies, but it's live-and-let-live compared with Texas; plus it's nearer the coast than Vermont). But I can assure you that absolutely nothing in your life so far has prepared you for winters in northern New England.

 

[ksmybuttons]

I moved to Texas not long ago, so I'm sympathetic to your point of view, though I do my best to block that other shit out as best I can. Sleeping with someone who is like-minded helps a lot.

I believe Vermont and New Hampshire are the two most secular states in the lower 48, so they would fit from that standpoint (NH is less "green" and fairly antagonistic to hippies, but it's live-and-let-live compared with Texas; plus it's nearer the coast than Vermont). But I can assure you that absolutely nothing in your life so far has prepared you for winters in northern New England.

According to Gallup, Oregon is the most secular state in the US. However, the state is divided in that the Portland metro area, Eugene and parts of Salem are more progressive and most of the rest of the state is conservative - some amazingly so. There are clusters of each everywhere.

 

[Peregrinator]

NH is...fairly antagonistic to hippies...

I'm not sure why you say this, but my experience has been different. Both states have enclaves of hippy-type pinkos and of granite-brained ultra wing nuts. NH may be a little less moderate in its extreme right wing, and VT a little less moderate in its extreme left wing, but both are pretty hippy friendly, imho.

 

[stonedfox]

Come and visit. I mean, not come and visit ME, necessarily, but come to the NE and wander around a bit. Do the same with OR. They're both wonderful places. And look for jobs. Are you still hitched up? Is this a couple thing, or can you decide all by your lonesome?

Yes, I'm still coupled. He's not into the idea of "moving to somewhere that will require plane trips to visit family," but I'm sure he'll get with the program eventually. I definitely plan on visiting both places.

Thanks for the input everyone. And the pics! Those are fantastic!

 

[Peregrinator]

Yes, I'm still coupled. He's not into the idea of "moving to somewhere that will require plane trips to visit family," but I'm sure he'll get with the program eventually. I definitely plan on visiting both places.

Thanks for the input everyone. And the pics! Those are fantastic!

Well, if his Fox moves, he's likely to follow, but he does have a reasonable point. I found being that far away from friends and family to be a real challenge whe I was out in OR, as much as I loved the place. Have you thought about NM at all? That's a wonderful state.

 

[stonedfox]

Well, if his Fox moves, he's likely to follow, but he does have a reasonable point. I found being that far away from friends and family to be a real challenge whe I was out in OR, as much as I loved the place. Have you thought about NM at all? That's a wonderful state.

A bit, but I just have a mental image of like, endless barren desert. That's probably nowhere near correct. Friends of ours hope to move to NM in the future as well.

I'm really jumping the gun anyway. I need a job, the house needs repairs and updates if we ever want to make any money off of it, I may or may not need to have a baby...fucking grown up problems. What a bunch of bullshit.

 

[Peregrinator]

A bit, but I just have a mental image of like, endless barren desert. That's probably nowhere near correct. Friends of ours hope to move to NM in the future as well.

I'm really jumping the gun anyway. I need a job, the house needs repairs and updates if we ever want to make any money off of it, I may or may not need to have a baby...fucking grown up problems. What a bunch of bullshit.

"Need to have a baby?" Are you an illegal immigrant?

Depends on where in NM you go. Parts of it are spectacular.