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July, 2025

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Like Lewis and Clark, We be Moving

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rojo.grande
Posts: 1604 - Karma: 13,127
So long story short, my girlfriend and I are planning on moving come May. We're looking for a relatively small town, no larger than say 15,000 people given that we currently live in a sleepy lil maine town.

That being said, we've looked pretty hard into Sisters Oregon, as well as Hood River. We know we want to end up in either Washington or Oregon, but I figured where better to ask than the cesspool of NS.

Any thoughts, leads, advice, things to stay away from etc on smaller towns in Oregon or Washington, preferably somewhat close to some mountains is greatly appreciated.

Hit me.
10 months ago
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OregonDead
Posts: 7102 - Karma: 26,916
^It's the consecutive days of rain and gray that get to a lot of people. People from other places come here and don't even know the meaning of socked in. btw it means the weather is like being inside of a wet sock so it's damp and you can't see too far. we get more socked in days than actual rainy days. Although it's not uncommon for it to rain for like a couple months in a row. The record in my town in 90 consecutive days of measurable rain
10 months ago
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hoodratz47
Posts: 12028 - Karma: 9,586
I live in Lagrande. Joseph is kinda cool. Really beautiful Ferguson Ridge is right there and anthony is not that far away
treebeardMaybe smaller than you had in mind, but take a look at Joseph Oregon. It's on the eastern side of the state but it's in the highest-elevation part of Oregon and gets amazingly light powder, nothing like the cement you get everywhere else in the state. Skiing is definitely more touring-oriented; you've got legit big-mountain lines in your backyard, but the local resort has one lift (that accesses fucking sick terrain btw) and it's about 2 hours away from Joseph. The town has all the basic essentials like grocery store, bars, running water etc. I probably wouldn't recommend it to someone coming from any kind of population center, but it might fit your vibe coming from Maine
10 months ago
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muffMan.
Posts: 2934 - Karma: 28,118
you got some great picks for WA and OR, also thinking of a move in the future. Bellingham was sick, want to check out wenatachee too.

i would also consider Wyoming too, lil too small town for me but has some great areas, plus affordable compared to the others listed.

Lander, has great biking, and some decent backcountry from what i heard

Pinedale, haven’t been but looks sick, smaller but has a resort. Fiance works with someone there.

also check out driggs ID, grand targhee was easily a top 5 resort experience for me
10 months ago
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Non_State_Actor
Posts: 5112 - Karma: 18,805
OregonDeadMore working/ industrial park is the vibe traditionally although it is getting gentrified up that way too

I was going to say mobile home and light industrial vibe, weird desert aesthetic.
Farmville420why is this a hated reply I went there once and it was my favorite place in the PNW am I missing something


I think Squamish, Bend, Truckee are all too big and have major affordability issues. There are numerous places in the interior that have small town vibes with big mountain resorts close by.
10 months ago
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rojo.grande
Posts: 1604 - Karma: 13,127
yo big ups for all the replies, we have been researching diligently. Will continue to keep yall updated thank you NS
10 months ago
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NightGoblin
Posts: 42 - Karma: 358
treebeardLa Pine is probably the most affordable suburb of Bend, with the added benefit of being south of Bachelor so you won't be fighting everyone else to get there on pow days. It's also close to Paulina lake, a super cool volcanic double-lake with a hot spring on the north shore.

Bend is a cool middle-ground because it's not too terribly far from the coast when you wanna get out for a weekend, it's close enough to Portland/Eugene/Boise that you can get to a bigger city if you want to. Bachelor can get wind fucked pretty good, and snow quality is never amazing, but you can also ski in summer so that's cool.
The town isn't the biggest but it is solidly a tourist town most of the year, so its transportation infrastructure can get overwhelmed, but if you're off the main roads or using a bike (bike infrastructure is great!) it shouldn't be too bad.
Also so many breweries and distilleries! I like Bend a lot.

Other than that you've got Redmond to the north and I guess Prineville but I don't know shit about either of those towns


Yep this guy has good advice, current Bendite here. First off bachy is sick as fuck and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, you could ski year round here if you wanted. Yes bend is expensive and full of tourists but life here is good. La pine would be my choice if I needed a cheaper spot to live as they mentioned it’s less competition on the drive up to bachy and smaller town. Downside is that La pine dodges the wildfire bullet every year so hope it doesn’t burn down. Sisters is not a great choice unless you just wanna ski hoodoo
10 months ago
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treebeard
Posts: 3777 - Karma: 3,387
NightGoblinDownside is that La pine dodges the wildfire bullet every year so hope it doesn’t burn down

Oh man ever time I'm there I'm thinking to myself "this place is a tinder box waiting to go". I mean honestly all of Bend would burn so fast, but yeah La Pine wouldn't stand a chance
10 months ago
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Session
Posts: 5408 - Karma: 22,549
treebeardOh man ever time I'm there I'm thinking to myself "this place is a tinder box waiting to go". I mean honestly all of Bend would burn so fast, but yeah La Pine wouldn't stand a chance


This is honestly one of the things (besides my wifes job) that keeps us up in the metro area. Redmond is pretty sparse it seems, so not a bad choice. Redmond vibe is like the Costco of Bend. I did spend a weekend there this summer at a BMW motorcycle rally at the fairgrounds. The views were stunning.
10 months ago
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Ski_Alot
Posts: 5929 - Karma: 3,916
I moved out west from Maine and haven't looked back, currently in OR. Honestly, Sisters is pretty cool and Hoodoo is a fun little spot, especially for night skiing. Lift and park infrastructure isn't amazing however and you need to go through bend to get over to Bachelor (which has plenty of problems of its own). Town is very cute though, but seems to be getting quite pricey, but so is Hood River.

Ashland could be interesting to look into, but I haven't spent a ton of time there. But Mt. Ashland looks kinda neat.
10 months ago
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