I got accepted into school up there so this summer I am packing up my bags and moving to Oregon.
I’ve lived in either desert (Bakersfield, Las Vegas) or coast (Santa Barbara) all my life, so going up there is going to be a bit different for me.
How do people who’ve been there like it? Is it as rainy as everyone says? What are the good/bad places to live? I’m amazed by how cheap renting is up there, but I don’t want to live in a crappy part of town.
What is there to do there? We mostly like movies and doing things outside. Picnics and such.
And any stories about Salem are very much welcomed.
I moved to Portland five years ago, after living in the Bay Area all of my life. I can’t tell you specifically about Salem, as my experience with that city is driving through it - I think I’ve gotten off the freeway and stopped at a gas station or something a couple of times.
It’s only about 45 minutes south of Portland, so any “big city needs” you might have won’t be far away.
As for rain, yeah, it rains a lot, though this past winter we didn’t get so much due to El Niño. Don’t be put off by the stories, though. On a rainy day there’ll be showers for a bit, it’ll let up for a while, rain some more; it’s not a constant deluge. Not different from California, really, but the rainy days happen more often.
As for the cost of rent: here in Portland I live in a large apartment complex in a nice neighborhood. My apartment is much larger than the one I rented in Fremont (in a neighborhood that wasn’t so nice), with more amenities (such as a washer & dryer in the apartment), for 2/3 the cost. I’d imagine Salem would be even cheaper.
I like living here a lot, I’ll never go back to California. After five years, I’m still amazed at how beautiful it is here. There are lots of amazing places to visit that aren’t far away - The Gorge, Mt. Hood, the coast…
Hmmm… now what was it about you that had me thinkin’ you were more travelled?
I don’t know Salem per se but have been across a good bit of Oregon and the diversity is amazing. Deserts and canyons to the east and old growth forests along stunningly beautiful coastlines to the west. Corvalis, Mist, Gnat Creek Falls, the Cascades, Ecola State Park and Cannon Beach, it’s all good (that’s where the final Bells Beach scene from Point Break was filmed.)
I don’t know, although I do wish you were right. I’ve been to a handful of states, and about four other countries (none of which were fun and I didn’t want to go to three of them). This is a situation that must be rectified.
My father lived in Salem for the last 20 years or so of his life, so I have visited there often. Apartment rents are indeed cheap, as are houses, because the economy is pretty depressed.
I don’t think you need to worry too much about a “bad part” of town, every neighborhood seems to be pretty mixed (with very few exceptions). You can tell whether the area is ok or not based on the upkeep of the properties in the area.
For a relatively small city, Salem is very spread out, and some streets (Lancaster NE for example) which look like thoroughfares can become virtual parking lots at certain times of day. Once you’ve been there awhile you’ll probably find the back streets that are a much faster drive. You will absolutely need a car, though, at least during the rather lengthy rainy season. Biking can be ok when it’s not raining or too cold. It’s pretty flat.
Climate: temperate, with frequent rain. It gets down to freezing in the winter, but snow is not very common. Ice on the roadways is a more likely problem in the winter. Spring and fall can be wet or not, depending on the vagaries of weather. Summer can be quite hot, or not, again depending on weather fronts. The Willamette Valley can be a very pleasant place to live if you’re not married to warm and sunny weather; but air conditioning is recommended for those few weeks a year when it is warm and sunny.
Restaurant choices are pretty limited outside of chains and fast food. If you are a gourmet, cook for yourself or drive to Portland (one hour away). Although I did have one very lovely meal at the Newport Seafood Grill (I think that was the name).
I spent a good deal of my childhood there, I live 20 minutes away now, and go there at least once a week. I like it, but I remember when I lived there people complained that there isn’t a night life, so if you enjoy things like clubs or anything like that you’ll have to drive to Portland. The only “bad” part of town that I know of is along Portland Road. Apparently that’s where you can pick up hookers.
I’ve been in Oregon for almost 20 years now and live about an hour outside of Salem in Corvallis.
As others have said, we do get our share of rain, but for me the weather is best described as gray during the winter. Not much sun during that time and as GESancMan points out, there are showers off and on. It really isn’t bad. The valley is pretty temperate so we don’t usually need to deal with snow. Usually. Lows in the winter tend be around 30 to 35 but of course we occasionally get below that.
The summers for me are usually magnificent. Temps around 80 to 85 most days with maybe a week of 100+. But the valley tends to be dry (not humid), meaning we have the proverbial dry heat. Being further north the summer days are longer, which unfortunately means longer winter nights as well.
We do have movie theaters (I hear that new movie Titanic is doing quite well these days 'round these parts) so you should be able to catch a movie or two.
An hour west is a post-card beautiful coastline (but unfortunately cold Bering straight water) and an hour east is an equally impressive mountain range. Great skiing in the winter and hiking/mountain biking/off-road/atv activities in the summer.
Portland has OMSI if you enjoy science exhibits. There is also the Aquarium in Newport or Silver Creek falls is not far away for hiking or scenery.
Oregon is also a micro-brew capital, or close to it if you enjoy that kind of thing.
I’ve personally found no end to the options for biking, both road and mountain.
If you get bored in Oregon, particularly in the valley, you really aren’t trying very hard. Many of the activities here are outdoor oriented, but you can certainly find other interests as well.