Hi, Indianabob!
Both of my parents were in the U.S. Air Force in Missouri.
They moved around a lot when I was really little, (North Dakota, Florida, Flagstaff, Arizona) and then they were both honorably discharged before I really remembered all the different places we lived. My earliest memories are in Phoenix, AZ...and then we moved to the Seattle area in Washington state when I was five. Then when I was 11 years old, my family moved to a little town in Oregon called Vernonia. It's a logging town..
I knew lots of folks that had similar (hazardous) jobs to your friend you told me about. I left Vernonia when I was 18 to live at the Oregon Coast... I have visited several places in the Pacific Northwest, but I've only lived in areas within an hour or two of Portland for some reason.
I met my husband in Portland, and we have moved all over the Portland Metro area in our 11 years of marriage.
Grants Pass is a four or five hour drive south from us...I live in one of many suburbs of Portland, but I would love to move somewhere more rural. Urban life doesn't really suit me anymore..
I was a little confused about something you said in your post, and maybe I read it wrong, so I will just ask
...You said you considered moving to Oregon with your friend, and that you both considered joining the S.F.P.D. Were you both thinking of then relocating to California? San Francisco is about 400 miles south of Grants Pass, although Grants Pass is only about 60 miles from the Northern border of California...
I've actually never been to California...my little sister moved there, though.
moxicarose