Psyman

Seems like wherever you go, the immigrant is always the problem (eastern Europeans for GB, North Africans for France, Nicaraguans for Costa Rica, Zimbabweans for South Africa, us Brits for our respective parts of the US etc etc). You could always build a bloody great fence on your southern border, like they did.

lansbury

There used to be a sign on the Oregon border with California which said something to the effect "you are welcome to visit but we don't want you to stay".

Beaverstate

The phrase you are looking for is " Don't Californicate Oregon "

cluedweasel

Yes. In the US, I've lived in San Jose and Riverside in California and spent a short time in Phoenix, AZ. I've also spent time in various parts of France, the Netherlands and Belgium. I can say in all honesty that I have never lived somewhere as insular, xenophobic and downright provincial as Bend.
Oh, and as a reference to another post here, our cars have been broken into twice since we've lived here. Turned out to be teenagers both times. Never found out who put the big key scratch down the side of the SUV when we first moved here. Cops said I should have got the California plates off it quicker!

AmerLisa

Oregonians have had a problem with Californians for many years. I remember when I moved for a few months (in my rebellious teenage years... ) to a small town (Estacada) to live with my aunt and uncle when I was 15, I distinctly remember one of my teachers at the high school making fun Californians at my expense (Californians don't know how to make a complete stop at a stop sign, they just roll threw it... ) Of course in later years I heard all about Californians taking their super equity and buying property in Oregon and driving up prices!

I now have no family ties to Oregon and really don't ever want to go back down there! My family lived on the coast and while it is beautiful, I truly don't ever want to go again!

transatlantic_chap

Seems like most states in the US have a kind of rural/urban political split -- you've got your main city and maybe a couple of college towns where the more progressive/liberal views prevail, and then the rest of the state will typically be more republican-leaning. I previously lived in Illinois, where this was definitely the case.

Beaverstate

That saying was popular back in the early to mid 70's. Present day "you can't swing a dead cat" (always wanted to say that) without hitting a Californian etc. So the saying is a done deed. Welcome

ladybritain

Transatlanticchap.....only you can make the final decision whether to move or not but as a fellow Brit would say you have nothing to lose from a move here and a lot to gain. I have lived in a number of states in the last 5 years - California, Illinois and Texas before here and I would say OR is best so far... I have also visited over 34 states in last 6 years and apart from here I would also opt for Boston, Conneticut or Seattle too :-)
Each place has something that appeals to each individual so not everything is right for everyone, but if I had a family, then OR is not a bad place to start. Hope that helps you and good luck whatever you decide.

transatlantic_chap

Thanks for the post. What I really want is a more affordable and laid-back lifestyle, surrounded by positive, friendly people and beautiful scenery. I’m fine with the weather, as I am a Brit. I do like England a lot but I find life here to be pretty hectic and pinched. My wife and I are both earning at the top of our potential pay scale and we can still barely afford a tiny house with no garden. It’s nice to have more holiday time than in the US, but we haven’t been able to do much with it because we’re always scrambling to pinch our pennies. We have made a few friends in our four years here, but nobody we’d really miss if we were to leave. From what I recall of my one visit to Portland, it’s a pretty great city, and I have a feeling we’d do well there. Of course, we’ll need a job lined up first.

transatlantic_chap

Oh, and I have visited Portland once, and really liked what I saw. Even though I got hit by a bike and cracked my tibia.

transatlantic_chap

Just thought I'd give this a bump in case anyone new had joined... Any UK --> Oregon folks out there?

lansbury

In post 4 I asked if you were asking about the City of Portland, or the Portland Metro area. There are big differences in the Cities which make up the Portland Metro area, and there are several school districts as well. Some better than others. I can't see an answer to the question.

About 583,000 people live in the City of Portland, and about 2,993,000 in the Portland Metro area. There are only about another million in the rest of Oregon. You can live just about anywhere in the Metro area and easily work in downtown Portland. So in order to give some useful information first it is necessary to know where. For example if you were going to work for Intel most people wouldn't live in downtown Portland or east of the Willamette. What budget do you have for housing, again that can be a deciding factor on where to live.

transatlantic_chap

Ah, sorry for missing that question -- I was looking at Portland itself. I know that places like Lake Oswego, West Linn and Vancouver WA are supposed to have great schools etc., but I fear that they may be too 'suburban' for me. I just feel that if I were to move to Portland that I would want to be *in* Portland.

lansbury

Biggest problem I see to that is Portland Public Schools. Not exactly a stellar reputation. Portland itself is quite suburban except of course for downtown. Most of the places close into Portland, like Milwaukie, Gresham, Tigard, Tualatin you can't tell where Portland ends and they start now. In reality a lot would depend on where you found a job. House prices in Portland in the last 12 months went up about 13%.

It doesn't rain much and mostly it isn't heavy rain when it does. If you like the outdoors type of pursuits, hiking, biking, hunting, camping etc then Oregon is as good a place as any.

a_J_Martin

Hello,

Before The Wife and I moved to the US. We wrote a list of all the things we wanted in a place to live. It was a while ago now, but it went something like this...

• Big enough so we could see UK bands come through.
• Small enough so we could actually afford a house with a yard near the city.
• Dependable Summers.
• Mild winters
• Near a coast
• Walkable, good public transport(Somewhere we could be a one car family)
• Progressive
• An international airport (Canada doesn't count)

We did some research and Portland ticked all those boxes for us. That was MY list from 2005, you need to figure out what's important to you and see which place fits.

Since moving here I can add the following pro's to the list though.

• Amazing food scene. Great affordable restaurants and there's probably a food cart for every type of food you can think of downtown. (Even a Scottish Fish and Chip One).
• Portland supposedly has more breweries than Munich. The beer here is fantastic.
• The area has some of the best Pinot Noir in the world. About a 45min car ride takes you to wine country where you sample some great wines amongst the vineyards that produced them.
• Depending on what direction you drive, within about 2 hours you could be skiing on top of Mt Hood, on top of an active volcano (Mt St Helens), on a beach looking at the Pacific, drinking wine amongst vineyards, hiking around one of the waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge.

The gray skies can get a bit much in the winter months, but that's when you take a trip to Hawaii.

p.s. My car has never been broken into here either.