Retire to Oregon Coast or Maine Coast? (Portland, Eastport: transfer, neighborhood)

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

I find it interesting that Mainers like to point this out-as if the rest of the country only has two, or something. Yes, Oregon has all four seasons, they are all just about equally as long and the thing is is that they just slowly segue from one to the other.

Yes we have:
almost win-tah.
Win-tah,
still win-tah,
and road construction.

[Elcarim]

Forest, the road construction issue must be nationwide. Someone in the know once told me that I-45 that runs the stretch from south to north Texas has been under construction every single day since the day it officially opened. Not sure when that was, but it's been there all my life!

[Submariner]

During win-tah, the potholes are full and smoothed over with ice. The roads are smooth to drive on. No construction happens.

[msina]

between win-tah and construction, some potholes can make small cars disappear,..

[Elcarim]

Wow, we may be in trouble with our little Sonata! Need to buy a big truck!!

[lukedaddy]

Ditto for Georgia

[Submariner]

I do not see any true need for a big truck.

The potholes get fixed quickly in the spring. I have not seen any real big potholes in Maine so far. And you only really deal with potholes in the warmer weather, certainly not in the cooler weather. As the roads are so much smoother in the cool weather.

Just stick to front-wheel drive vehicles and you will be fine. I do so a lot of folks who drive the 4WDs and pickups and every time they come out of a driveway onto the roads, they do tend to fish-tail and spin around. Applying torque at the rear of a vehicles is just the wrong place to apply it, if there is ice on the road.

[ogre]

Maine has a longer cultural and historical tradition- and is a wee more genteel and dare I say 'civilized'- its closeness to Boston and the rest of the east coast give it an edge IMO. [quote, skytrekker]

How does Maine have the edge culture wise? I'm sorry, but I don't get this. The coast of Oregon has Portland, Olympia near by plus Tacoma/Seattle are not too far. And Vancuver is right next to Seattle. [quote, K-luv]

I'm not going to get into any issues related to the question of whether Maine or Oregon is "a wee bit more genteel and . . . civilized," since this gets into the question of what kinds of places different people prefer, for higly personal and subjective reasons. However, Skytrekker did also mention history. It might be more accurate to say that the West has a different history than the East, rather than less history, but certainly it's true that in many places up and down the east coast you're going to find longtime history related to the founding of our country, and the early development of American society and culture.

But, culture has various meanings. This includes the types of communities located in an area. Depending on what kind of local environment you would prefer, one advantage Maine has is that it offers a greater variety of communities to choose from, for those who wish to live on the coast. In OR, the immediate coastal region is filled with small towns. Portland is over an hour's drive inland. The nearest smaller cities are at least this far away as well. Along the Maine coast, you can find anything from a small metro area (that other Portland), which offers both urban and suburban settings, to small towns similar in population to those on the OR coast, to slightly larger resort towns in southern Maine, located about the same distance from Boston as the nearest coastal towns in OR are to Portland West, should you desire proximity to a larger city. If a small, somewhat isolated, town is what you want, then either state can offer this, but if you'd like a greater choice in kinds of local communities where you would prefer to live, then Maine probably is more likely to offer something to suit your needs.

[Submariner]

I do not get how you are more cultured based on having a certain city in a neighboring state?

Oregon also has San Fransisco in a neighboring state. Maine has Quebec in a neighboring Provence. So what?

It may say something about the people who live in San Fransisco, Quebec, Seattle, Vancouver, or Olympia. But that is only saying things about other people and not about anyone who lives in either Oregon or Maine.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

I do not get how you are more cultured based on having a certain city in a neighboring state?

Oregon also has San Fransisco in a neighboring state. Maine has Quebec in a neighboring Provence. So what?

It may say something about the people who live in San Fransisco, Quebec, Seattle, Vancouver, or Olympia. But that is only saying things about other people and not about anyone who lives in either Oregon or Maine.

I was speaking in terms of being able to go to larger museums, symphonies, operas, plays, different shopping options and the like.

Grtanted it does not make you more cultured, just gives you more options on things to do,if you are so inclined.

Another thing is that the West Coast is not as sprawled out. Yes the SeaTec region is a large chunk of real estate, and Portland Or dips into Olympia and of course the Bay and SoCal as well as Sacramento, but they are crammed into certain pockets of the state. You can drive from Olympia all the way to Sacramento and see nothing but redwood forsests and quaint towns. That's like an 11 hour drive.

From Boston on down to DC is just one giant megalopolis. Yes, you can drive around it, if you want, and stick to the "scenic route" But at least from Sacramento, CA on up that "scenic route" is always the quickest drive from point A to B.