best place in oregon to live

Hello! I'm taking my board exams in nursing and looking for a place to live for the next two years with awesome sport climbing, drum'n'bass (or underground music scene), vegetarian food and fairly good weather, and some other fun things to do (i'm pretty open but usually like the outdoors and anything exciting),  any and all help is appreciated.  small city preferred, also, with a decent dating scene, I dont' want to hit my head if i dive in ya know?! haha

There's always Portland... The Groove Suite is literally underground and there are some sick vinyl d&b dj's that come through. Great house too if you're into the 4-4 vibes.

Depending on how you define all of your parameters there are a lot of different answers.  Awesome sport climbing is obviously Central Oregon, but you won't find much in the way of music, particularly diverse vegetarian food, or a deep dating scene in Bend. (though maybe it's deeper if you're a woman...)  Portland is pretty much the inverse.  More people, better food, music, etc, but worse climbing.  And way fewer climbable days.  (better gyms though)  If you prioritize climbing in your life, Central Oregon/Bend is the better fit.  If climbing isn't a life-directing past time for you, one of the cities on the west side (Portland/Salem/Corvallis/Eugene) is a better fit.  

1. Hood River (close to Portland, but easy enough to have a little better weather, and decent climbing around, with Smith only 2.5 hours away.)

Eugene/Corvallis are too far from climbing imo. 

Max Tepfer wrote:

Depending on how you define all of your parameters there are a lot of different answers.  Awesome sport climbing is obviously Central Oregon, but you won't find much in the way of music, particularly diverse vegetarian food, or a deep dating scene in Bend. (though maybe it's deeper if you're a woman...)  Portland is pretty much the inverse.  More people, better food, music, etc, but worse climbing.  And way fewer no climbable days.  (better gyms though)  If you prioritize climbing in your life, Central Oregon/Bend is the better fit.  If climbing isn't a life-directing past time for you, one of the cities on the west side (Portland/Salem/Corvallis/Eugene) is a better fit.  

Climbing is definitely a.priority but I'm not a good cook and afraid of starving. Also, is there a hospital in bend?

Micah Klesick wrote:

1. Hood River (close to Portland, but easy enough to have a little better weather, and decent climbing around, with Smith only 2.5 hours away.)

Eugene/Corvallis are too far from climbing imo. 

I've heard good things about hood river. I tried looking on several apartment finder websites and there are very few apartments. To be exact I found a total of about 5-6 on about as.Many websites.

Any suggestions?

Lisa, try https://classifieds.gorge.net/   
And maybe look at White Salmon, WA and The Dalles OR

thanks! ill checkit out

The Dalles is far, far different from Hood River. Hood River is way cool and very beautiful, The Dalles is "Why the fuck did I move here?"

After Hood River, my next choice would be across the river in White Salmon.

I lived in Hood River for 25 years. 

Sweet! Yeah I'm digging hood river so far. Close enough to climbing and a small city.

 I checked out that website Snowden and there were so.e cool little cottages in their for a good price. That was helpful thanks!

 White Salmon is so close. It's definitely worth looking into as well. What are the pros/cons of white salmon? Know a good website for apartment hunting in white salmon? 

Goatslayer , I'll check that spot out!

Yeah the Dalles looks a little too small for me. Might be too much of a shock from nyc

I love Hood River, with that said it is only close to sport climbing that is OK. Unless you consider 2.5 hours close. There is very little in terms of the music you are looking for and you will out grow the food scene very quickly. Getting to Portland during the peak of winter can range from inconvenient to life threatening.  It is an awesome place though.

Bend has a lot more to offer in some of your criteria. Bend has a hospital. You music tastes will probably leave you wanting to be in Portland though.

Portland has everything you want except for climbing. There are quite a few cool/quaint crags around but they are very much of the regional varietals. Smith is very doable for a weekend, but the weekends are what my nightmares are made of.

I was gonna suggest Eugene, but you'd definitely have to punt on good weather. Otherwise it'd check a lot of boxes for you. 

Welcome to the West Coast. I relocated to Boston from the Northwest 2 years ago and am literally counting down the days until I can move back West (tomorrow is ~750 left). I'll bet you won't go back.

Los Angeles?

I do think that 2.5 hours is close haha.  The gunks is about 2 hours away but I don't lead trad so the only good sport climbing by me is about a 6.5 hour drive in rumney.  everything else sucks. I think the hour drive to portland wont be so bad.  In NYC it takes that long to go 6 miles. not exaggerating.  

yeah i hear ya jimmy, there are just so many beautiful places on the west coast, (and nicer people!) i don't think i'll want to go back either. The weather is important to me as well, I grew up in pittsburgh and it was ALWAYS cloudy there.  I can't do that again.  

OK! so I'm totally sold on hood river guys! I have a few places I want to check out this fall when I take my sabbatical, would anyone be interested in climbing when I come out west? Im planning on coming out that way maybe september/october or so. I want to check out Lander, Denver and Boise too.  Have you guys been? What are your thoughts? 

Lander is absolutely worth a stop, you'll like the climbing up Sinks or at Wild Iris a lot (limestone pockets in a gorgeous setting). Swing through Jackson and over to Boise with a stop at City of Rocks on your way on out to Smith for a sweet tour of the Northern Rockies/Oregon high desert! You'll drive through some of the prettiest and most empty country in the whole continental USA.

Beware: Although less rainy than Portland or Eugene, Hood River is not exactly what I would call sunny... but probably better than Pittsburgh!

Jimmy- they sound like great places to visit, but what about living?

Emmerson- oh! I did t even know there was.climbing in Portland. I know there are a.few gyms. 

Lander does have a hospital and the whole NOLS headquarters scene, but it's very remote. ~6 hours driving from Denver and 3 from Jackson if the weather is good--and since it's Wyoming, chances are that the weather will not be good between November and March. I like Denver alright but it's not my favorite; I'd definitely choose Portland over it. Boise, for me, is great. Hits the sweet spot between big enough city that you've got good food, a decent airport fro traveling, etc but not big enough that you have traffic or hordes of people. Weather will be infinitely better than Portland or Hood River, and you're close to City of Rocks. With 10 hours driving (my limit for a reasonable week-long vacation) you can be in Moab, Tahoe, Red Rocks, Yosemite, Smith Rock, Index, and countless other places. 

Lisa Haze wrote:

Jimmy- they sound like great places to visit, but what about living?

Lisa as I stated there are quite a few craglets around Portland. Some better than others but all (IMO) fall into the regional category. Search MP for Broughton Bluff, Carver, Ozone, French's Dome..... They are fun to have around but they are nothing to write home about and they certainly are not worth driving any substantial distance to. Hood River has a few nice little crags around too.  Search MP for Klinger Springs, Bulo Point, Area 51 and TLC.

As stated up thread, Hood River IS nicer (weather wise) than Portland but it can still be very "weathery". Most of it is in the form of wind.