Due to circumstances I won’t get into until later, I will be moving to the Hood River region in Oregon. My nephew lives there, but it would be nice to get some other perspectives on the place.
What’s fun to do there? Where are the museums? Where are the (almost) secret places to get good food inexpensively? WHat stores have the crappiest service?
Anything you know could be of some use to me.
Thank you.
–SSgtBaloo
If you don’t windsurf, learn. Now. The Hood River is the premier windsurfing destination in the US. Many, many windsurfers would kill (or at least jump very high) for the oppurtunity to live there. 
If you are talking about urban things, then Hood River has nearly nada. You have to head west to Portland for that, and it’s an excellent city. But keep in mind that there are spells in the winter when driving thru the gorge is nearly (or completely) impossible.
As to musuems, there is an interesting one “Maryhill” on the Washington side not to far upriver from there (with a Stonehenge “replica” nearbly). Lot’s of Rodin and such.
But that’s only if you are interested in urban stuff. The gorge itself is something you could spend years exploring. Then there are the nearby mountains, etc.
As for me, I love the high desert. Spend some time on the dry side. It’ll grow on you.
High desert? You can have it! I’ve spent the last ten years (plus) in high desert. I like to see rain that actually makes it to the ground every time.
–SSgtBaloo
I don’t have anything meaningful to say or even any advice but just wanted to say as someone who’s just recently moved to Oregon (sixty miles south of where you’ll end up, outside Salem), it’s a beautiful state and I can already feel myself falling in love with it.
Hope you wind up enjoying it as much as I have so far.
Oregon is a great state. As someone who used to live in Bend, but had to move (to Connecticut) three years ago, I have a great nostalgia for Oregon (and Bend especially).
Don’t know the Hood River area that much, but there’s a whole lot of exploring you can do within a days drive.
I did some touring through Oregon last September. Hood River was nice enough (my daughter got some windsurfing in while the rest of us took off on mountain bikes). Mount Hood is several miles to the south – that’s where we spent the night, in the hotel that Kubrick used for the exteriors of the Overlook in The Shining.
I hope you like to eat fruit and drink wine. The orchards and vineyards in that part of the state are splendid.
If you can live/work on the Washington State side of the Columbia River, there is no state income tax.
Alternately, if you shop on the Oregon side, there is no state sales tax.
When will you be moving there?
I don’t go over there much, so can’t really tell you a lot about the area.
Hometownboy lives in the Dalles, which is right next door, maybe he’ll pop in and provide some info.
There’s a whole lot of Dopers in and around Portland, and some of us are even friendly. When you get ready to come down the gorge and look around, give a shout out and let us know.
It’s like a great Dope migration. Ardred and I are moving to Oregon, too.
We’ve stopped off in Hood River a couple of times and I’ve always enjoyed the little shops and cute homes. I think it would be a nice quiet place to chill out and enjoy the scenery. If you’re looking for wild excitement Portland is always a quick trip west, only an hour away.
As mentioned before, the river is THE place for windsurfers.
I would do many unholy things to be able to move closer to the Portland area.
When’re you guys getting out here? I’ve seen you around on the board a bit and you seem like a rather interesting type, plus the whole Doper comic book store idea sounds really cool.
Visually, imagine the garden of eden. It is too beautiful for words.
There is all the outdoorsey shit you can imagine. Mt. Hood has downhill skiing 12 months out of the year, there’s rock climbing, whitewater rafting, mountain climbing, and on and on and on.
My father was a hobo for a while over summer breaks from college (in the 50’s when it wasn’t that dangerous). Anyway, one of the people he kept in touch with was a guy called Hood River Blackie - apparently he got his name because he thought the rails there were so beautiful that he would go back every time he needed to dry out for a while - it was pretty enough to keep him sober.
Of course, this is the guy who would pretend to be dead every so often to escape creditors/angry husbands/railroad bulls, would drink literally ANYTHING with alcohol in it, and had 4 wives in different states…not sure what his standards of beauty were, but if it could keep HIM off the hooch…
GOod luck, and enjoy!
Anna
Wow! I don’t remmeber Hood river blackie doing all that.
If you enjoy craftbrews, Hood River is the home of Full Sail Brewing Co., which is one of the Pacific Northwest’s best microbreweries—they also have a brewpub on site, with tasty food and lots of college-age servers that are quite easy on the ol’ eyes…
As far as windsurfing goes, Hood River is Mecca; it may be the world’s foremost windsurfing destination, and people flock there from literally all over the world to ride.
Enjoy your new digs!!!
The Gorge is a bitch and a half in winter-- I used to drive it in bad weather frequently to get to college. If you don’t drive something with 4WD, consider it. It’s not necessary, but it is nice. Beautiful drive in the summer, though. The weather is wet but not normally very cold; 10 degrees F during the daytime, maybe 0 at night is about as cold as it gets. If you’re moving from the East or the South, get ready to enjoy your summers-- it’s rarely over 100 degrees and rarely humid.
Oregon, especially the Portland area, is one of the best places in the country for craft beer. You’ll have tremendous choice. Likewise, there’s great wine being produced, though nearly all of it is overpriced. Eat the salmon. Wonderful wild blackberries frickin’ everywhere. Oregon’s entire coastline is public property and pretty, though more wild and scenic than the sort of Baywatch California coast that you might imagine. The Pacific is cold; you can swim, but it’s chilly even in the summer.
Zombie Oregonian Alert!
That was not the reason Hood River Blackie went to Hood River. He was living in the past and could not move on, also was not the 50’s, the late 60’s and early 70’s. An alcoholic for sure but would not drink just anything or he would have done the wax works with the local bum’s as well. Never pretended to be dead that I know of, but ran from creditors often, did not have extra wives or I would have met them. Treated his children extremely bad keeping them homeless and hungry, very upset when his 2nd oldest son walked away from him and became world traveled, triple educated, contracted to professional sports and would give him nothing. and the only rotten individual I know that has an oral Dissertation at Columbia University. So the truth lays here, often we believe everything we hear. Not mad at you, love reading things about the guy that makes him truly visible for what he was…I was the 2nd Son.
I know this a 2nd zombie bump (welcome gooding61) but there was new information added so I think it’s a legit bump. And I looked up the town after having been there last winter and found that a friend from college is the mayor! Small world.