[Eric Hahl]

Rains, a lot. Grey sky, a lot, but beautiful summers after July 4th until about October, sometimes into November. I'm serious. It's like Seattle here with all the rain. But that rain is what makes it so green and you will never see more green than in the Pacific NorthWet, um, er, NorthWest. The Coast range mountains near Tillamook (West of Salem) average 110 inches of rain per year. We don't get that much here obviously as those mountains block the weather and drop the rain there but dang it get depressing waiting for the Sun to pop out.

Commuting is no problem. The city is not that big and traffic flows pretty well. Salem is decent. I've lived and worked around Salem and this area for about 20 years now. West or South Salem seem to have nicer neighborhoods but anywhere out a little bit in the country is nice. Its more mountainous on the West side, flatter in the Valley to the East until you get to the Cascade mountain range where you will find beautiful snow cover volcanoes year round. I believe Mt. hood is the only mountain to keep skiing open all year on the Palmer Glacier. The U.S. Ski team practices there in the summer.

Great thing about Salem is it's an hour drive to the coast on the West or an hour drive to the Cascade Mountains East of the city.

Salem is only 60 miles south of Portland on the freeway so doesn't take too long to get there.

You have a Porsche? You'll love the country roads around here. Twisty and well maintained. We used to rip them up with our sport bikes back in the day and now enjoy them with 4 wheels.

We have a great bunch of Porsche guys from this forum around the Portland area that get together once a month for burgers n beers, we BS a lot and are planning arrive and drives around the area.

Like wine? The Willamette Valley is chocked full of nice wineries. How about hiking or hunting? There are so many areas to explore.