Ebbie, if you prefer Juneau, that's cool (no pun intended), but if you only found 4 or 5 very mediocre players to jam with in Oregon, you must have had very limited exposure to the musical community (folk included) here.   Portland and Eugene, for instance, both are home to a lot of excellent musicians, and it's not hard to find song circles and jams where they congregate.
We do have our share of rank beginners, and song circles can sometimes be a bit painful, musically speaking, but I find that is the exception, not the rule.
If you come to visit your sister, give us a heads-up and we'll introduce you to some musicians you can learn a lot from. : )