I am considering moving from the SF Bay Area to Eugene Oregon to retire.
I had considered Portland, but decided the weather was too wet and cloudy there.
So what is Eugene like. I know it has a thriving university and is about an hour and a half from the coast, but that’s about it.
So I need advice, with a focus on the weather.
Eugene is only about 100 miles south of Portland. If you want less rainy and cloudy, I’d recommend eastern Oregon.
Eugene: rainy and wet from Nov. - April, right now the weather is intermittently perfect/rainy and perfect/sunny; there is a drought which commences in about July and ends around Halloween. Summer is hot during the day but cools of nicely into the 50s almost every night. However, overall the temps are quite moderate.
The scenery, by the way, is breathtaking. Nature is surprisingly predominant here. Sometimes I look around and forget I am in a metropolitan area that contains 100,000 or so people.
And, of course, if you enjoy “alternative lifestyles” (for want of better terminology) of any kind, you will likely find more acceptance in Eugene than in most of the United States. It’s a wonderful town.
I’ve lived in both Portland and Eugene-- in Eugene the summer is more consistently gorgeous, but the winter is more consistently crap. Really clouds and rain for months and months and months. But I can’t think of anywhere semi-coastal NW that is an exception to that-- it’s all going to be like the bay. Head inland? Bend? Sisters? Hood River? Couer d’Alene? Moscow? Wenatchee? Walla Walla?
If weather is the primary issue, you’re going to have to go south from SF, not north, as the weather north along the coast will just get wetter and colder the farther you go.
Wet and cloudy describes the weather here nine months out of the year. I, personally, think it’s wonderful, but I know a lot of people that get tired of it quickly. It’s rarely really cold although I do wear longsleeved shirts most of the time. Summers have a few weeks of heat (90ish) but nothing like the Sacramento valley where I grew up.
Otherwise, I am madly in love with Eugene. It’s cheaper to live here than California, by far–our mortgage is about what I paid for a single room in a four bedroom house in Davis, and we spend about 2/3 our former grocery bill. People are generally friendly, and there’s a strong sense of community. It’s rather hippy-ish, more tofu and less yuppy than SF. The job market sucks, but that’s probably not much of a concern for you ;). The seafood is great, veggies aren’t quite as spectacular as in California, but certainly better than many other places.
There is a huge, thriving local market for locally produced food and goods, I really like that bit.
One thing about Eugene that differs from much of Oregon is that it’s extremely (politically and socially) liberal here–I’m more startled when I see a “W '04” sticker than a “pagan lesbian pro-choice witch” sticker. Yesterday I was at our big Saturday Market (the country’s oldest, continuous running farmers’ market) and there was a herd of folks sitting around smoking certain… herbal remedies on the steps of the City of Eugene building and courthouse. Heh.
You’ll find warmer, sunnier, drier weather elsewhere, much of Oregon is a desert, but it’s also a very conservative state, politically, outside Eugene and Portland.
It’s actually about an hour drive to the coast from here. The only thing I really miss is proximity to excitement. Growing up, we were close to Chico, Sacramento, and the Bay Area, with our choice of three or four major concert venues. Here in Eugene, we’re two hours from Portland, and five from Seattle, so that makes a trip to “the city” a very rare treat.
Let me know if you have any specific questions, I’m happy to answer.
You might want to take a look at the S.W. Oregon coast, around the Brookings area. It’s often refered to as the “banana coast”. I don’t think the rainfall is a lot less, maybe a little, but it’s consistantly warmer. There’d be far fewer cultural amenities, but you’d be closer to most outdoor activities. Depends on your choice of lifestyle.