Land in Northern CA or Oregon

[Wendy Forbes]

My son and I will be spending the first two weeks of November driving around Northern CA and Oregon looking for a small piece of land to develop as a homestead of sorts. It would ideally be sunny, out of wildfire, drought, and flood range as much as possible, near a reasonably good sized community (5,000 people or more) with some basic services, private, and with water and the possibility of building at least one house. We will be looking for between 2-10 acres. Where would it be possible to find that type of land and that amount of acreage for $50,000 or less? I've seen some great deals in the north eastern corner of CA, but that area seems a little too desolate. Is that an accurate assessment? I would be particularly interested in areas that are within 10 miles of the ocean if they fit the other items on our list. 

Info about good areas of Oregon would be especially helpful as neither of us has spent much time there at all.