From a local (Matt Lambert) of Medford/Ashland area...
"The Rogue Valley is an awesome place to live, if you are too liberal or yuppy/hippee/trendy/touristy for Medford you can allways move into Ashland, which is very similar to towns like Leaveworth, Monroe or North Bend, you know...artsy fartsy with good lattes on every corner. I have lived in many great towns all over the country and personally I think you can't beat the Medford/Ashland area. Especialy if you like to go skiing, rock climbing, Mt. Biking and kayaking in the same day in the middle of February.
We are opening a new climbing gym in Medford which is going to be awesome, plus the local climbing ain't shabby....as good as anything within 1hr of Seattle or San Fran, IMHO. Smith is 3.5 hours easy and Yosemite is 7.5 flat with one gas-up stop.
Here is the site for our new gum opening in July. It is going to be as good as anything in Seattle, only a bit smaller and more suitable to this community.
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