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Need input on moving to Oregon or Idaho.

NMMX

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Jan 3, 2012
59
10
ABQ, NM
My wife and I have been presented a opportunity to move which we can't pass on. We have narrowed it down to Oregon & Idaho, no other states are being considered. I appreciate any input from those that have lived there.

I know this is specific but we're looking for a place to spend the next 50 years. Here is what we're looking for:

Must be on lake or river. Want to be able to fish and possible hunt on my land.
Must be within 30-40 min of decent hospital. (Moving with a Father-in-law with health issues.)
Looking for 10-100 acres. (want a small farm)
Looking for small town atmosphere. (having a lowes or walmart within 30-40 mins is nice though.
Rainfall is good, but can't be constant.
Snow is fine, but the less the better.

I appreciate any input. Forgive my slow responses. I'm still working 80+ hrs a week.
 
Shanksters in Idaho. Better move to Ore-gun
 
I live in northern Idaho and it is absolutely beautiful up here. When you say small town atmosphere, do you mean you want to live in a town? It would be fairly easy to do if you didn't mind living say... 10-20 minutes out of a small town.

Some places to look at:

Orofino
St Maries
Sand Point and Coeur d'Alene areas (not really small towns)
 
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Lots of options that fit those specs all up and down the willamette valley in Oregon. 3 major areas with smaller towns on the outskirts that would leave you 30 min or so from a major hospital.


Depending on your type of climate central Oregon might be a good option. Housing market too a pretty big hit there a few years back and it is in recovery mode. Lots of farm style plots for the right $$.

Downside is dealing with all the lefties loons mainly on the valley. As you get further out of the three major cities (Portland/metro, Salem, Eugene) or towards central Oregon the demographics change quickly.




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I live in northern Idaho and it is absolutely beautiful up here. When you say small town atmosphere, do you mean you want to live in a town? It would be fairly easy to do if you didn't mind living say... 10-20 minutes out of a small town.

Some places to look at:

Orofino
St Maries
Sand Point and Coeur d'Alene areas (not really small towns)

Don't you guys get a lot of snow being that far North? How about spring thaw, when is the snow gone?

Thanks
 
If you're not a fan of snow, I'd leave out northern Idaho. You'll probably want to look at the west side of Oregon. Even southern Idaho gets its fair share of snow and cold temps.
 
Yes, we get a fair amount of snow. But its not as bad as most think. There are winters where the ground is completely bare most of the time. But then there are winters where we'll have a foot+ or so for weeks.
 
I spent 6 years in the Seattle area and 4 years around Portland. If I were to go back it would be east of the Cascades - more sunny days and I like the open country. I don't know why you ruled out Washington but Oregon has an income tax, Washington doesn't.
 
You might want to look into the Bend, Oregon area. Although in town there are a few california'esque types, central Oregon is mostly fairly conservative. Your desire to be near medical care will limit you to cities big enough to have a hospital. With that in mind, check on Bend, Pendleton, Baker City, and maybe even Burns, Oregon. I have had friends living in all those areas, and there is proximity to lots of BLM land, in addition to your own land (for your fishing and hunting).
 
I spent 6 years in the Seattle area and 4 years around Portland. If I were to go back it would be east of the Cascades - more sunny days and I like the open country. I don't know why you ruled out Washington but Oregon has an income tax, Washington doesn't.

This^^^

It's grey skies/gentle rail all fall and mild winter and spring along the westernmost strip west of the Cascades. East of those it's more rural, drier and has 4 distinct seasons, including a cold winter. No big cities, different attitudes in general.

Idaho is BEAUTIFUL but it gets cold (as does the everything east of the Cascades!).

If set on Oregon and WA is out, anything long the Cascades on the leeward side would be most ideal.
 
Are you independently wealthy or is there a job that is in the equation as well?

Is the job dependent on the local econ or will you be telecommuting?
 
If you want a concealed carry permit, Idaho. Want an unlimited choice of strip clubs, Portland area, but you will have to put up with the rain.
 
My in-laws live outside Medford OR (Gold Hill) right on the Rogue River. Its really pretty up there. Small towns, trees, rivers, nice houses. Far enough south to avoid most of the Liberals, except the ones around Ashland.
 
I live in northern Idaho and it is absolutely beautiful up here. When you say small town atmosphere, do you mean you want to live in a town? It would be fairly easy to do if you didn't mind living say... 10-20 minutes out of a small town.

Some places to look at:

Orofino
St Maries
Sand Point and Coeur d'Alene areas (not really small towns)

My parents used to live in Spirit Lake now in Athol. After taking a trip up through Sandpoint through Montana and back I would say Bonners Fairy is a pretty cool place not sure if their is a Walmart though. Sandpoint is what like an hour from Coeur d'Alene?
I know their is a few small towns south of Coeur d'Alene that you would like. I would visit northern Idaho and drive around I am positive you will find something you like.
 
I spent a year once in Klamath Falls, Ore. It (Oregon) was an outdoorman's paradise. Elk, mulies, whitetail, blacktail, bear, cougar, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, largemouth, smallmouth, crappie, walleye, and trout. Plus the usual small animules and upland game birds. Excellent mountain biking, with multiple trailheads converging on the city park.

To directly address your requirements,
1. It's on the shore of Klamath Lake and the Klamath River runs through town. There's no more falls because a dam backed the water up above where they used to stand.

Just don't drive anywhere any body of water at sunrise or sunset when the weather is warm. The midges hatch by the billions, and form thick swarms that easily are mistaken for columns of smoke rising from a fire. Driving through a swarm of them makes your windshield look like you'd poured a gallon of mucilage on it. Gas stations leave buckets of windshield washer and a squeegee at curbside because your windshield washer/wipers won't touch these bugs, and they want to keep you away from the pump islands if you're not there for gas. The blessing is that the fly fishing gets crazy in midge season.

2. It has a hospital, about 100 beds. Never had to avail myself of its services, so I learned nothing about it except its location.

3. It's primarily a farming community. Should be no problem finding a small farm.

4. Population right at 20,000. It has a Super WalMart, a Safeway grocery, all the customary chain hamburger joints and a few tony restaurants. The nearest town of population 100,000 or more is 75 miles and three mountains away, so there's no spill-over crime. It's so "Mayberry," the downtown merchants still can leave merchandise on the sidewalk in front of their shop and not be robbed blind. When I was there last, downtown parking was still free. Also has a commercial airport with daily service to Portland, Seattle and San Francisco.

If you need a dose of culture, Ashland, Oregon's "Key West," and home to North America's oldest Shakespeare festival, is 65 miles away.

5. It's on the leeward side of the Cascades. The weather coming in from the coast drops almost all its moisture on the windward slope before it gets there, so average annual rainfall is very low, only 13". That's only 3" more than "official desert," but the area is verdant green because the snowcapped mountains feed the streams and rivers year-round. However, water rights are a running gunbattle.

That's the good news. The bad news is it also averages 36" of snow. I once saw three feet of snow on the ground, but they never closed public schools on account of snow. They run the snow plows and the gritting trucks early and often, so city roads (and the surrounding county) are never impassible. Long-time residents put snow tires on all for corners of their cars on the first of October. I got by with tire chains, fronts-only, on a front-wheel drive car. But winters aren't so bitterly cold. Even with snowfall on the ground, it rarely was below freezing, and I never saw it below 10°F. But there's also plenty of natural snow for all the ski resorts.

The ground never freezes because the Cascade mountains are volcanoes. So geothermal home heat also is an option. Vocanic soil makes for great agriculture, incredible potatoes, and the stickiest goddam mud I ever have experienced.

Summers are incredible. Robin's egg blue skies and sometimes there won't be a single cloud for weeks on end. Highs in July and August are mid-80s, virtually no humidity, but it cools quickly when the sun disappears behind the mountains for comfortable sleeping. My house wasn't even airconditioned but I didn't miss it. Most days you can see snowcapped Mt Shasta in northern Cali, which glints in the sun and looks like a 14,000-foot tall klansman's hat.


The only reason I haven't gone back to live is that the state's political climate has had an unfortunate change of complexion since I left. In accordance with Lowlight's ban on political discussions, that's all I'll say on that matter.
 
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Move to Bonners Ferry Idaho. Oregon is full of socialists on the west side that control everything in the state. Taxes are high, hunting is poor fishing is just OK nothing special anymore. The only thing that is curious is its a class 3 state which is weird considering the state legislature is controlled by the 503 area code, Portland Metro Area
 
Love what Dobbs has to say about klamath falls, that is where I live. We haven't had three feet of snow on the ground since '93, which must be when he was here, although there was no wal mart here at the time. It's good country. Somebody said east of Medford. Weather there is pretty good, there is a place called shady cove on the rogue river. Excellent steel head, trout and salmon fishing. Fair bit of poison oak in that country if it's a concern. If you like Oregon, stay East of the cascades, or at least East of the coast range, west side gets a lot of rain.
Fifteen minutes from town on the Klamath river (one of my favorite places to fish) 20" trout are common and 24" possible. Somebody caught a seven pounder there right before season closed in mid april. The lake grows huge trout fast, a friend caught a nine and a half pounder a few months ago. I know, I weighed it.
The problem really is the liberals in Portland, population is enough to affect the whole state. It's pretty discouraging. This coming from a guy considered liberal around here.
Whatever you choose, good luck, hope you find the perfect place.
By the way, the hospital here is pretty good, my wife works in risk management there, it has been recently redone, I am friends with a couple doctors and nurses there, they are good people and care very much about what they do.
 
Shanksters in Idaho. Better move to Ore-gun

Well I'm not into hefties, so I don't have to worry about him hogging my women.

I live in northern Idaho and it is absolutely beautiful up here. When you say small town atmosphere, do you mean you want to live in a town? It would be fairly easy to do if you didn't mind living say... 10-20 minutes out of a small town.

Some places to look at:

Orofino
St Maries
Sand Point and Coeur d'Alene areas (not really small towns)

Definitely want to live outside of town. Being 20-30 minutes from town would be great. Someplace with a pop of 20K wouldn't be bad. Hell, compared to here I'd be happy to find a place with under 80K people. Even living a ways outside of some place like Portland would be fine, so long as my house is too far for the dirty hippies to walk to.

I did find some really nice land on the SW side of Lake Pend Orielle. Anyone know any more about the weather there? Seams a little dry and cold winters.

If you want a concealed carry permit, Idaho. Want an unlimited choice of strip clubs, Portland area, but you will have to put up with the rain.

I thought Oregon had CC. Has something change recently?

Move to Bonners Ferry Idaho. Oregon is full of socialists on the west side that control everything in the state. Taxes are high, hunting is poor fishing is just OK nothing special anymore. The only thing that is curious is its a class 3 state which is weird considering the state legislature is controlled by the 503 area code, Portland Metro Area

This is actually the one thing that worries me about Oregon. I have zero desire to end up in baby Comifornia. My hope is that I'll be out in the sticks enough that I won't really be influenced.

Thanks for all the inputs guys., please keep it coming. I really appreciate the detailed info on specific places, gives me a much better idea of where to start. This weekend when I get more time. I'll be doing some research on each place. This winter the wife and will make some trips out and visit a few. We don't have to move by a certain date but I can't wait to find some place and get the hell out of ABQ.

Oh, and parts of Washington would be fine. I guess it's just climate dependent. We spent some time in Seattle in May and it was still to cold for the wife on a summer night. Perhaps it's just being so close to the coast.
 
oregon does have shall issue ccw. It even held up when portland tried to ban concealed carry within city limits. Oregon supreme court deemed that city ordinance was unconstitutional.
 
Do not move to N. Idaho!

It's way too cold in the winter and way too hot in the summer. It's far too crowded, the hunting and fishing is terrible and the liberals are trying to take our guns away. The lakes, streams and air are polluted as well. There's nothing good going for this place, so save yourself some time and look elsewhere.

Wink wink, nod nod, if you know what I mean!
 
I did find some really nice land on the SW side of Lake Pend Orielle. Anyone know any more about the weather there? Seams a little dry and cold winters.

That area is awesome, not far from Sandpointe if I recall. The weather is hot at the moment. Been in the 90s and will be for the next week at least says my pops. But I don't think that is typical? Basically you have the four seasons which is awesome. Winters can be cold can get in the negatives at night but your not all that far from the Canadian border so that's to be expected. Their is so many lakes up there that if you fish you will be in heaven!
Not sure what hunting is like in northern Idaho as my pops hasn't hunted up there yet but I think he was planning on it. Really that area is gorgeous and you cant go wrong. I don't live up there as I cant say much more just from what I know when I visit. You would have to look around for employment and figure that out.
 
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I did find some really nice land on the SW side of Lake Pend Orielle. Anyone know any more about the weather there? Seams a little dry and cold winters.

Beautiful up there, but if you're looking more than 15 miles north of the I-90 corridor, you'd better be fairly fond of winter -- spring comes pretty late in that neck of the woods... Coming from New Mexico, you may also want to consider that north Idaho can stay socked in for extended periods -- don't expect much sunshine from Nov thru Feb compared to other areas. Moscow area (North central Idaho on the edge of the Palouse) and Boise (SW Idaho) both have more moderate weather, and Lewiston (North Central Idaho, on the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers) is a veritable banana belt. Each have distinctly different topographies, access to the outdoors, and "attitudes" to them. NE Oregon (that area between Lewiston, ID and Enterprise, OR) may be an option as well -- it's more "Idaho" in attitude than "Oregon". If this is a move you're seriously considering, you need to take a 2 week trip and see first-hand the areas.
 
Look at the Coos Bay/North Bend area. Yeah I know it's right on the coast but in 90 minutes you're in the south end of the valley with warmer dryer climes for recreational activities.. Besides, winters are mild as are the summers.
All the fresh and salt water fishing you could want. You can fish the Umpqua for dinosaur fish that require an ax as part of the cleaning process if you want.

Decent health care last I checked, and neither of the cities is huge by any means.
 
OP, pm me if you'd like. I'll tell you what I know of Deschutes County Oregon as a fairly recent transplant.

What you're looking for its why we came here.