Reviews & Comments
Eugene, OR
The schools -
9/28/2006I went to high school in Eugene, and found the education to be very solid. South and Sheldon HS both have the International Baccalaureate program, which offers rigorous, well-respected international coursework. In addition to this, at Sheldon we had AP English, Am History, European History, Calculus, Spanish, French, Physics, Biology, etc. Sure there were slackers at our school, but we also had people going off to elite schools across the nation.
The quality of education was a strong positive to Eugene when I lived there. Now getting a job after college is another story....
Bend, OR
Bend is sunny? PDX, SEA, EUG may say so... -
9/28/2006People love to say that in Oregon once you cross the mountains, the climate is completely different. Bend is held out as the drier alternative to the soaked towns of Eugene, Salem, and Portland. True it is drier than those towns. But people claiming 300 days of sunny weather have gone off their rocker. Try using the climate resource on this website -- it says Bend has 162 days of sunny weather annually. Compare this to genuinely sunny places like Denver (245 days) and Santa Fe (283 days) or even Ashland, OR (198 days). True Bend does not get much precipitation, but who cares if it's cloudy all of the time? The Cascades do take much of the moisture out of the fronts coming from the Pacific. The clouds remain. Bend is also tremendously overpriced. Its ratio of median salary to median housing price is among the worst in the nation and does not portend well in terms of affordability and housing appreciation.
There are good things about Bend, and many of the other posters covered them -- access to the outdoors, recreation and beauty being the most important. Just be realistic about the weather.
Santa Fe, NM
Challenging place to raise kids? -
8/15/2006There are so many wonderful things about Santa Fe that we already appreciate. The fantastic sunny, dramatic weather; the mountain vistas; the regional cuisine and art; the diversity; the outdoor recreation (hiking, skiing); and other positives. Let's face it -- Santa Fe is a world-class town in many aspects.
The biggest question we have is what type of place is it to raise children. We have heard about the quality of schools and education is low. Even high-cost private schools such as Santa Fe prep have a lot of drug use, some say. We don't live there, and this may be overblown. Please set us straight if we are off-base! We have thought about moving to Eldorado with its excellent elementary school, nature preserve, and possible future direct rail link to downtown Santa Fe.
What are your thoughts on raising kids in Santa Fe? What about Eldorado?
Thanks,
Dave
Bozeman, MT
Response to Costa Rican poster -
8/15/2006I think the Costa Rican poster would feel very comfortable in Bozeman. It's true that the large majority of people here are white. This is SLOWLY starting to change. That being said, there is a group of Costa Rican students that come to town on a foreign exhange every summer, and there are many others from different countries. I'm a member of a Spanish conversation club who would love the opportunity to practice with a native speaker! Our university here means that Bozemanites tend to be more open to different cultures than those in some other towns. Just be ready for the visual shock if you're coming from a place with a lot of ethnic diversity.