Small Town Information? (Portland, Eugene, Salem: teaching jobs, to buy, theatres)

[orchid77]

Hello, My husband is currently looking for teaching jobs in Oregon and the ones he has found in his field are in the following towns. Could anyone tell us anything about any of them? We are a young liberal married couple with no children and love the outdoors. Thank you!

Independence
McMinneville
Mt. Angel
Jefferson
Central Point
Klamath Falls

[Silverfall]

Most small towns in Oregon, generally speaking, tend to be conservative. Small towns in general tend to be conservative. Having said that, Oregon tends to be fairly tolerant of others.

Independence is a cute small town of a couple thousand. The just spent a lot of money on downtown (about two blocks) renovating it. It is in Polk county which is primarily agricultural. Independence itself does not have a lot going on there, and is more of a bedroom community.

Mt. Angel has a Bavarian feel to it, since it was influenced by Bavarian Monks. The monastery is still there. The have the annual Oktoberfest there. The downtown has some charm to it due to the German influences. People I know who live there like it there.

Jefferson...hmmmm...well the downtown needs some work. It had a lot of growth during the run up due to its proximity to Salem (only 15 minutes south) and it is cheap to live there.

I personally would choose Independence or Mt. Angel over Jefferson, unless you were looking to buy some acreage. Jefferson has some beautiful land.

[PNW-type-gal]

Central Point (sort of a "suburb" of Medford) and Klamath Falls are in southern Oregon - Central Point of the western side of the Cascades (milder winters, hotter summers, more humid) and Klamath Falls is on the east side of the Cascades (snow in winter, mild summers, very dry, high desert).

Almost all of Oregon, even the bigger cities, are "outdoors" oriented.

[BLAZER PROPHET]

Every one of those towns are decent places to live. Klamath Falls is more remote, but has a vastly better climate with 4 true seasons. Central Point is also a very nice area.

[Mt-7]

Originally Posted by orchid77

Hello, My husband is currently looking for teaching jobs in Oregon and the ones he has found in his field are in the following towns. Could anyone tell us anything about any of them? We are a young liberal married couple with no children and love the outdoors. Thank you!

Independence
McMinneville
Mt. Angel
Jefferson
Central Point
Klamath Falls

I would vote for Mt. Angel, so beautiful!

[tulegirl]

FWI - Klamath Falls is majority conservative with all of the farmer & ranchers. Small liberal community getting started with all of the new businesses and out-of-state families that have come here.

We have a cute little farmers market on saturdays in the summer/autumn months.

Third Thursday Art walk down Main St. Is great fun.

Rock wall climbing gym, sailing on the lake, hiking in the Cascades, hot springs, high desert, canoe through the wildlife refuge's water trails, spelunk the lava caves, ride horses, snow mobile, camping, weekend warrior paradise.

We have the Linkville & Ross Ragland Theatres. A plethora of shows offered between them. Winter Wings, the Eagle Conference. Indian pow wows. Rodeo. An Indian Casino. Ashland is close by for The Shakespearian Festival.

If you want to do the "city thing" Medford, Bend, Eugene, Portland, Reno, Redding, all a day's drive.

I love Klamath Falls.

[CedarView]

Are there other hot springs nearby KFalls other than Hunter's?

[tulegirl]

The lake is full of them. You can walk out into the colder water and find warm currents. That is why we have so much algae growth in the lake.

There is Hunter's, Summer Lake, and Hart Mt. Refuge (all in Lakeview, just East of here). Also one just south of us, a stone's throw from the wildlife refuge - it's on private property.

[RuralCoastalGuy]

Originally Posted by tulegirl

The lake is full of them. You can walk out into the colder water and find warm currents. That is why we have so much algae growth in the lake.

There is Hunter's, Summer Lake, and Hart Mt. Refuge (all in Lakeview, just East of here). Also one just south of us, a stone's throw from the wildlife refuge - it's on private property.

Klamath Falls sounds like a great place. Is it anywhere near where the Roloffs live...the TV "Little People" family? My Wife watches that show religiously. My only stay in Oregon was in Portland, years ago, when I returned from Korea.

[tulegirl]

I had to look them up - the Roloffs live on the other side of the state, outside of Portland.