Criteria for a place to move

I wrote this up to post on various boards asking for advice, and thought it ought to be posted here as well.

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My partner and I (ages 30 and 28 respectively) currently live in LA and are looking to get out of the city and buy some acreage in a more rural area. We are strongly considering far northern CA and the Pacific Northwest, and are about to take a road trip to visit these areas. We'd love to get some suggestions from fellow liberals for what cities/towns to check out. Here's what we're looking for in more detail:

--We are a same sex couple, and we plan to adopt children. Therefore, it is essential that we live in an area that is safe and welcoming. CA has excellent legal protections in place for couples (domestic partnership) and we have heard that Oregon may have civil unions soon. We'd like to learn more about Washington.
--We want to buy several acres of land to start an animal related nonprofit - we plan to have dogs, cats, horses, and assorted other domestic animals. Our budget is ~500-600K. So obviously, we need a place where this is possible.
--Higher education. We both wish to pursue graduate degrees/further our education, and I want to teach, so there should be a university relatively nearby (an hour's drive or less.)
--We wish to live in a liberal community that values connectedness, uniqueness, arts & culture, and has independent businesses rather than all Big Box/suburban sprawl.
--We would like to live within a couple of hours of a major city where we can have access to excellent hospitals, major theatre and cultural events, Pride festivals, shopping etc.
--The types of natural beauty we value most are trees and water. We can live near mountains, but our property needs to be fairly flat as I use a wheelchair and need to be able to get around. Weather-wise, we do not like heavy snowfall, or desert. We would prefer light to moderate rainfall.
--We smoke da reefer for medicinal and recreational purposes and would prefer a tolerant area in this regard. We also value alternative medicine and would like to have acupuncture, herbalists, and similar professionals nearby.

Places we have ruled out:
Sonoma County, CA - too many nonprofits like ours there already :(

Places we are especially intrigued by and would like to know more:
Mendocino County, CA
Humboldt County, CA and Arcata
Ashland, OR
Eugene, OR
Corvallis, OR
Portland, OR and surrounding counties
Bend, OR

We are looking for more info on all these places and other ideas for locations to consider - any help would be appreciated. Also, if you live somewhere cool and would like to show a couple of lesbians and their three crazy dogs around town, we'd love to meet you! :)