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| Clean, quiet, beautiful - 3/9/2023
When I moved to LaGrande in 2018, my son decided to go to college there. If you are curious about the EOU education, it's what a kid makes of it. He completed a degree in biochemistry and has been accepted to doctorate programs at Bozeman and Pullman (... you can't take the woods out of the boy). LaGrande has changed immensely over the past five years. There is a lot more for the college kids to do, and more places for them to hang out. If you like craft beer I highly recommend Side A right down town, and Terminal Gravity up the road at Enterprise. There is now a farmers' market, and some music downtown during the summer. There are a couple of health food stores, one with a deck on the roof to enjoy their hot and cold deli food. And some great bakeries for the not-so-health-conscious, as well as Hought's ice cream (seasonal), that is divine, at the west end of Adams Ave. I have eaten pretty much everywhere in the valley, and I can say that I only had two sub-par meals (one was very expensive). Speaking of par, there is also a golf course, albeit not like Silverado. The greater region has a couple of smaller ski resorts, but people seem to have a great time, and the scenery and access can't be beat. My son has done a phenomenal amount of backpacking in the greater region, in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Wenaha, Imnaha, the Elkhorns, the Strawberries... never the same place twice.
There are some very nice established parks, both large and small, and a city swimming pool. But if you like to day-hike, there is Mount Emily Recreation Area, which also has an area of ATV routes, and Catherine Creek State Park, or you just get out of the car someplace and start walking. It's all good!
The winters aren't of the overcast and damp variety. They can be extremely cold and icy, but beautiful. Definitely beautiful. The sun comes out quite often and the place is a Christmas card. LaGrande (as well as Elgin and maybe Union) are well protected from the wind, which seems to blow only in the winter, but once you get out across the highway, you start to feel it. If you like being away and alone, this is hands down the place for you. But if you have to get your city "fix", Boise is about 3 hours' drive, and Kennewick is about 2.5. Lewiston and Clarkston are about 3.5 hours away, but a very enjoyable drive through either Enterprise or Walla Walla. However, there is a white-knuckle cliff-hanger section if you go the Enterprise route. In the winter, if you get out of the bowl that defines the Grande Ronde Valley, you had better have contingency plans in case you can't get back in, as every direction involves going over a pass. And always ALWAYS check your gas gage.
The police and sheriffs are cordial, have a good presence, and keep the region together quite well. LaGrande is a clean town, with kempt homes, and I didn't notice many- how shall I put it- car collectors. (However, Elgin is a different story.) And to top it off, the LaGrande Post Office actually delivers your mail instead of throwing it away!
The con for me was the inability to connect with people. At least half have been in the area for generations. They are cordial, but that's about all you'll get. I'm older and single, and I don't go to church (or ski, or golf), so there is that, but if you are a church-goer, the valley has the whole gamut of religions, from Mennonite to Mormon. I spent a lot of winter time walking the dog and reading. Archives is a very good used book, game and vinyl store, where I have spent a lot of time. Jax Dog Cafe has some new books, and there is another small used book store across Adams Avenue from there.
Another con is that people tend to dump their hunt carcasses in any turnout or creek, which has resulted in a high level of yellowjackets. The county needs to get on top of this, as it is also bringing in coyotes, wolves, bears and mountain lions. I walk and hike A LOT, and I see things, right at the city limits, which is more than a little unnerving. But yes, wildlife abounds! No doubt about that!!! Birding is phenomenal.
I was going to give LaGrande four stars, but decided that if I wasn't old, I would be able to take advantage of more that it has to offer.
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| La Grande Life is as 'Grande' as you make it - 2/13/2011
Growing up in a different small town and making the journey to La Grande for college (home of Eastern Oregon University), I found the migration to La Grande's community tough at first. This was mostly due to the lack of integration between the City of La Grande and Eastern Oregon University. EOU serves as a nearly full service community inside of itself and the student base has never really invested in the downtown and in turn the city has not invested in nurturing the student population to its downtown. This paradigm, however, is changing.
It has now been 12 year since I moved to La Grande and like most transplants I had bounced out of the Grande ronde valley to adventure in Portland, Seattle, and other places - but found myself drawn back to "The Valley of Peace." It was only after I had returned that I began to unlock the beauty, power, and possibility resonating in this valley.
Recent economic impacts (seen nationally) has indeed taken a tole on the local economy, jobs and jobs creations, available investment capital etc - but La Grande has taken on the challenge of shifting itself into a new a vibrant community. Packed full of creative residents and professional and with the additions of new youthful organizations, the relationships between EOU and the City are beginning to engage and interact. Live music, and the arts are making there self more public - reaching out - and in turn are helping to bring the community members and students to gathering points, events, festivals - and most importantly getting them to begin to engage as groups and clubs to aid in problem solving and new paradigm possibilities...people are starting to consciously dream more here - and that is exciting.
I see ourselves now (we with a family and now invested in the communities future) having great opportunities to wipe out a lot of belief, policies, regulations, perspectives, that no longer serve the community and replace them with new, energized ways of doing things as a community to enhance and improve the well-being of all those who choose to participate actively and creatively in the metamorphosis of a rural city in Eastern Oregon. The Rural Renaissance. Viva La Revolucion.
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| Moving to La Grande? Think twice . . . - 12/31/2007
I lived in La Grande for the past nine years, and also for high school. It is a small, cliqueish town and unless one is in a particular social set, it is hard to feel comfortable there. Frankly, I experienced people as just being flat-out rude, despite every effort on my part to be friendly.
The climate is extremely dry; the winter wind is enough to suck the life out of you simply walking from one's front door to your car, the summers are just as dry and recent summers have had many days over 100. One evening in a small town just outside La Grande a few winters ago our thermometer registered 20 below zero. There are no words for that kind of cold! And the schools are, shall we say, less than adequate. A friend of mine had a child whose repeated struggles in school were chalked up to laziness, and the school outright refused to help her. Come to find out the child had a learning disability.
After moving to the midwest, I am shocked at how friendly people are out here, how they go out of their way to look you in the eye and smile, even if they have no idea who you are! The dissonance between my new town and La Grande is a continuous (and pleasant) surprise.
Granted, there is a right place for every person, and I know several people who moved back to La Grande after living in other places as it seems hard to leave La Grande and stay gone. That said, ninety percent of those I know who moved back left again within a short period of time, saying they hadn't realized how good they'd had it elsewhere. The one thing that can be said for La Grande is that in general it is a very safe place to live, but in my experience this does not make up for its shortcomings.
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