Moving to La Grande? Think twice . . .
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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.
Happy | La Grande, OR