Creswell City Hall – Image used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
As many of you know, we were in Oregon for a few months. We arrived in the middle of November and stayed there until the first week of February. It was beautiful country and the people were real laid back.
One thing was recurring though…the rain. We were there for almost 3 months and it seemed like it rained for all but about 10 days. We were told to come during the Summer and it would be different. So, word to the wise, although I cannot personally comment on Summer, I can tell you that if rain bothers you, plan your trip to Oregon some other time besides November to February.
With all of that being said, one thing that really helped us out was the house we used as a home base. It was great! From the outside, it actually looks small to medium-sized. However, when you enter, it is quite a different story! What looks like a 2 bedroom and 1 bathroom house turns into a 5 bedroom and 3 bathroom house with a formal dining room, living room, kitchen and big sun room area.
This house is located in the little town of Creswell, Oregon, known as the Friendly City. For us it was actually perfect. The town has about 5,000 people in it. They have a library, grocery store, a few restaurants and gas stations and some other common services. The Nomad boys loved the library and their programs. The little market actually has local honey and a selection of organic products. In addition, my Dad (affectionately called Lolo) was able to walk down and get a great haircut from a barber on the main street. Mama Nomad and Noah’s girlfriend were able to get manicures that they really enjoyed. And, on top of all of this, we found a fantastic massage therapist named Jana Lee, that massaged away a lot of our road aches and pains.
About 15 miles north of Creswell is Eugene, which has over 160,000 people in it and almost everything you could imagine needing as an amenity or service. So, we were able to enjoy small town living with big city amenities just a hop, skip and a jump away.
We used the house as a jumping off spot to travel as far north as Seattle, Washington and as far south as The California Redwoods. It was very handy that Creswell was located on Interstate 5. It seems that all of the major Oregon cities are on I-5 and it ran all the way north to Seattle.
The house was well stocked. The internet was fast and reliable (something we need as we depend upon it for so much). The property owners were accommodating. Ultimately, Creswell, the city, is a great place to utilize as a home base to explore Oregon. Safe Travels.
Side Note: One of the many things we have realized in our travels and from renting via HomeAway.com (and their property VRBO.com) is that if a rental agreement specifically prohibits you from leaving any kind of reviews, you may want to consider the rental very carefully.
