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First a little background... I'm a 35 year old single guy working in the IT field. I have lived in Dayton, Ohio for about 18 years. I generally like it here; good food, decent economy if you're already well-established in your career, a small town feel but with bigger city amenities, and it's within driving distance to several other cities, but I've been considering a change of scenery. I'm thinking I'd like to move West; someplace near mountains. I lived in Kansas City for 6 years when I was a kid, but that's as far West as I've ever been, aside from one trip to Vegas for a couple days.
Although I've been thinking about a move for a while, I'm really just starting to consider it seriously. I've been lurking around the forums for a few weeks, reading bits and pieces here and there. Cities with push pins on my map include Boise, Colorado Springs and SLC, but these are by no means exclusive options.
In any case, I have a few questions, and I'd love to hear some input from Boise residents, especially if you're transplants from a midwestern city.
1. I really hate to get political, but I'm looking for a more conservative city/state. Dayton is about as Blue as it gets here in the Midwest, and I'm looking for someplace that's a little more welcoming to my views, with less intrusive local government. I'm somewhat agnostic on social issues, I take no issue with gay marriage or legalized marijuana, as examples, but I'm very fiscally conservative and individual liberty-oriented. You can't plant a tree in your yard here without a permit, filed in triplicate with the appropriate governing busybodies, along with the requisite $250 tree-planting fee. I'm being a little hyperbolic, but not much. I'm looking to escape this type of over-bearing bureaucracy, how well does Boise/Idaho fit the bill?
1.5 (Sub-question: Trigger Warning!) I keep reading that Californians are flocking to Boise, no offense to Californians and their views, but are they bringing their politics with them? (I realize this question will upset half of you, but I'm asking it genuinely.)
2. What is the tech industry like in Boise? I'd likely be bringing my job with me, but in the case that I would need to seek other opportunities, what's the 5-year tech outlook in Boise?
3. How welcoming is Boise to new folks? Are the people generally friendly and approachable? Is there an adequate social scene for meeting new people in my age demographic? Do people tend to be hitched up at 25, or is there a 30-something singles scene?
4. How diverse is the restaurant scene in Boise? Can a guy find a good Steak, Sushi, Seafood or perhaps Southern Indian, Thai and Vietnamese cuisine when the mood strikes, or is it all Potatoes and Finger Steaks?
5. Can a midwestern transplant describe the weather in Boise to me in terms I'll understand? (I keep seeing the word, but I still have no idea what an inversion is.)
6. More generally speaking, what do you like about the area, what do you dislike?
Thanks!
P.S. I'm practicing my pronunciation... BOY-see... BOY-see... oh-WHY-hee...
Well Boise tends to be more libertarian in outlook, so what people do behind closed doors isn't that big of a deal for the most part. SLC is going to be more culturally conservative and heavily influenced by the LDS church. Colorado Springs will be influenced by evangelical Christians (it's the home base for many large para-church organizations like Focus On The Family).
As far as the food scene goes, I'm going to assume it's as good if not better than what you can find in Dayton. I always thought that there were a lot of good restaurants, but nothing that I thought was great. There is a really good craft brewery scene, so if you like craft beers Boise is the place. Can't think of any restaurants that I need to go to the next time I visit, but can think of 2-3 breweries I have to make plans for.
For the most part, the Californians that move to Boise are conservative and are trying to find a state more in line with their values. The friends of mine from California always seemed to be more conservative than I was.
I grew up just down the road from you in Toledo. The weather in Boise beats the weather in Ohio hands down. Say this quite a bit, but you get 4-6 weeks of really cold weather, 4-6 weeks of really hot weather and the rest of the year is pretty decent. Unlike Ohio, there is no humidity. So even if it hits 90+ degrees during a summer day, it will cool off into the 60's at night. I was able to sleep with the windows open and no A/C almost every night in the summer. What people in Boise call an inversion is what other people call fog. If you can handle an Ohio winter, you will wonder what people are complaining about.
5. Can a midwestern transplant describe the weather in Boise to me in terms I'll understand? (I keep seeing the word, but I still have no idea what an inversion is.)
Usually, within the troposphere, (the lowest layer of the atmosphere - where we all live and all the weather occurs), air temperature decreases with increasing altitude. "The higher you go, the cooler it gets." An "inversion", sometimes called an "inversion layer", is a physical temperature phenomenon and circumstance where, within the troposphere, the air becomes warmer with increasing altitude. It stops getting cooler when you go up a mountain and all of a sudden, it gets warmer than the air below it.
An inversion layer is a very stable atmosphere where air stops moving vertically up. The upward moving air gets "trapped" below the inversion layer. Along with rising air is also rising pollution. An inversion layer will trap any airborne pollution below it, resulting in poor air quality.
Inversion layers will usually dissipate after the sun goes down and the earth stops receiving insolation. However, in certain circumstances and topography, an inversion layer can persist for a few days, even weeks at times.
Well Boise tends to be more libertarian in outlook, so what people do behind closed doors isn't that big of a deal for the most part. SLC is going to be more culturally conservative and heavily influenced by the LDS church. Colorado Springs will be influenced by evangelical Christians (it's the home base for many large para-church organizations like Focus On The Family).
Good insight, thanks. At least politically, then, it seems Boise is most inline with my values.
Quote:
Originally Posted by grmi66
As far as the food scene goes, I'm going to assume it's as good if not better than what you can find in Dayton. I always thought that there were a lot of good restaurants, but nothing that I thought was great. There is a really good craft brewery scene, so if you like craft beers Boise is the place. Can't think of any restaurants that I need to go to the next time I visit, but can think of 2-3 breweries I have to make plans for.
You might be surprised, Dayton/Cincinnati have more restaurants per capita than any other metro in the country, except for Dallas. Everything from sticky-seat mom-and-pop eateries to 5-star dining can be found here, and the selection is extremely diverse. That being said, having never been to Boise, I can't make a valid comparison, but I do love my craft beers. We're experiencing a bit of a local brewery explosion here, it sounds like Boise is experiencing the same. Also good info.
Quote:
Originally Posted by grmi66
For the most part, the Californians that move to Boise are conservative and are trying to find a state more in line with their values. The friends of mine from California always seemed to be more conservative than I was.
Good to hear. Sounds like the same motivation I have. I'm not conservative by the common interpretation, but I consider my brand of conservatism to be the accurate one. I generally just side with individual liberty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by grmi66
I grew up just down the road from you in Toledo. The weather in Boise beats the weather in Ohio hands down. Say this quite a bit, but you get 4-6 weeks of really cold weather, 4-6 weeks of really hot weather and the rest of the year is pretty decent. Unlike Ohio, there is no humidity. So even if it hits 90+ degrees during a summer day, it will cool off into the 60's at night. I was able to sleep with the windows open and no A/C almost every night in the summer. What people in Boise call an inversion is what other people call fog. If you can handle an Ohio winter, you will wonder what people are complaining about.
That funny, because, as you know, here in Ohio, we get 4-6 weeks of good weather annually at best. I always tell people that Ohio has four distinct seasons; Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter and Road Construction.
Usually, within the troposphere, (the lowest layer of the atmosphere - where we all live and all the weather occurs), air temperature decreases with increasing altitude. "The higher you go, the cooler it gets." An "inversion", sometimes called an "inversion layer", is a physical temperature phenomenon and circumstance where, within the troposphere, the air becomes warmer with increasing altitude. It stops getting cooler when you go up a mountain and all of a sudden, it gets warmer than the air below it.
An inversion layer is a very stable atmosphere where air stops moving vertically up. The upward moving air gets "trapped" below the inversion layer. Along with rising air is also rising pollution. An inversion layer will trap any airborne pollution below it, resulting in poor air quality.
Inversion layers will usually dissipate after the sun goes down and the earth stops receiving insolation. However, in certain circumstances and topography, an inversion layer can persist for a few days, even weeks at times.
I'd probably amend the Boise climate rule of thumb to 4-6 weeks of hot and maybe 8 weeks of cold. But it's still a pretty good rule of thumb. You've still got lots of cold mornings to deal with outside of those 8 cold weeks, but the days generally warm up to at least decent jacket weather.
My guess is Boise's restaurant scene is probably not quite as good as you are used to. The Boise area is a fair amount smaller and we seem to have an awful lot of chains. Don't get me wrong, there are good local spots all over the valley as well, but I just bet it isn't quite what you're used to. But unless you're a real food snob you aren't likely to starve. We do actually have a nice selection of little ethnic joints spread all over, with many different cultures represented.
FWIW, I love living in Boise and raising my family here. Short of something that I personally consider pretty unimportant like restaurant selection, I can't really think of aspect of a place like Ohio that would be preferable to here. No offense intended of course.
Relative to Boise, SLC and Colorado Springs are both going to be more conservative (not in a libertarian way) and religious. SLC is far larger than either Boise or CS, so keep that in mind. It also has weird Utah laws, although SLC does have some decent breweries these days.
I'd probably amend the Boise climate rule of thumb to 4-6 weeks of hot and maybe 8 weeks of cold. But it's still a pretty good rule of thumb. You've still got lots of cold mornings to deal with outside of those 8 cold weeks, but the days generally warm up to at least decent jacket weather.
"Cold" is highly subjective, I've found. The previous poster was probably thinking Ohio-cold, if I were going to guess. When it gets cold here in late January through February, it's painful. It's not uncommon to have at least a couple weeks of 10 degree highs and well-below-zero lows, usually accompanied by bone-chilling wind gusts. The first time it hits 40 degrees, you'll see people wearing shorts, although this custom is lost on me. Haha
Quote:
Originally Posted by IdaD
My guess is Boise's restaurant scene is probably not quite as good as you are used to. The Boise area is a fair amount smaller and we seem to have an awful lot of chains. Don't get me wrong, there are good local spots all over the valley as well, but I just bet it isn't quite what you're used to. But unless you're a real food snob you aren't likely to starve. We do actually have a nice selection of little ethnic joints spread all over, with many different cultures represented.
Thanks for that, good information. I wouldn't consider myself a food snob, although I do usually opt for local over chains, with a few exceptions. We have a lot of local, Family-owned chains that don't make it very far out of the regional market. Marion's Pizza, Skyline, Subby's, Hothead Burritos... They will be missed.
As an aside, Boise is actually pretty close to the same size as Dayton. Boise has about twice as many residents in the city proper, and Dayton has about 200,000 more in the metro area (we're a city of suburbs). That being said, I can be in downtown Cincinnati in 45 minutes, and it's a much larger metro area, but in practice, it's inconvenient enough that I only head down there (outside of work) maybe 4-6 times a year at most.
Quote:
Originally Posted by IdaD
FWIW, I love living in Boise and raising my family here. Short of something that I personally consider pretty unimportant like restaurant selection, I can't really think of aspect of a place like Ohio that would be preferable to here. No offense intended of course.
Relative to Boise, SLC and Colorado Springs are both going to be more conservative (not in a libertarian way) and religious. SLC is far larger than either Boise or CS, so keep that in mind. It also has weird Utah laws, although SLC does have some decent breweries these days.
No offense taken. Dayton has it's moments, but our unofficial "mascot," if you will, is a crackhead named Phil. He has a facebook page. That should tell you everything you need to know about the city. The suburbs are decent, but nothing special. There's been some gentrification lately due to investors taking advantage of collapsed property prices, but even with that said, downtown is a scooby doo ghost town for the most part. We've still not quite recovered from GM and NCR leaving the city. Our largest employer, by a long shot, is Wright-Patt AFB at about 28,000 military and civilian employees. We're a lot like The Springs in that regard.
The tech industry is healthy in Boise and we have had a lot of great news the past year in terms of growth both with local and national companies who have operations in the city. Boise is often labeled a tech city.
The restaurant scene is pretty diverse for a smaller isolated city like Boise. There are a lot of sushi restaurants, of course steak and several options for seafood. There is a place downtown that brings fresh seafood in from Seattle. There are two locally owned and tasty Indian restaurants downtown as well as several Thai and Vietnamese restaurants, and some new Korean places as well. A new Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurant is opening soon at the Boise International Market.
There is a strong locally owned locavore restaurant scene in Boise and it is mainly in the downtown area (were there are only a few national chains), SE Boise including Bown Crossing and Hyde Park in the Northend. The restaurant I ate at last night downtown lists on the menu where their local and regional ingredients come from. The in your face, huge signs, national chains are more dominant out in the western areas of the city as well as into Meridian. The scene in downtown is completely different when compared to other areas of the city and burbs. If you are into the locally owned foody scene you will be satisfied.
The brew scene is on fire here and if you like wine we have a wine region within the metro area. One of my new favorite breweries for both the beer and food is Cloud 9. Woodland Empire brews some excellent beer too.
The tech industry is healthy in Boise and we have had a lot of great news the past year in terms of growth both with local and national companies who have operations in the city. Boise is often labeled a tech city.
The restaurant scene is pretty diverse for a smaller isolated city like Boise. There are a lot of sushi restaurants, of course steak and several options for seafood. There is a place downtown that brings fresh seafood in from Seattle. There are two locally owned and tasty Indian restaurants downtown as well as several Thai and Vietnamese restaurants, and some new Korean places as well. A new Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurant is opening soon at the Boise International Market.
There is a strong locally owned locavore restaurant scene in Boise and it is mainly in the downtown area (were there are only a few national chains), SE Boise including Bown Crossing and Hyde Park in the Northend. The restaurant I ate at last night downtown lists on the menu where their local and regional ingredients come from. The in your face, huge signs, national chains are more dominant out in the western areas of the city as well as into Meridian. The scene in downtown is completely different when compared to other areas of the city and burbs. If you are into the locally owned foody scene you will be satisfied.
The brew scene is on fire here and if you like wine we have a wine region within the metro area. One of my new favorite breweries for both the beer and food is Cloud 9. Woodland Empire brews some excellent beer too.
All good things to hear. I would die without access to Indian food and brew pubs.
One thing I find telling is that no one has approached question #3... The "Meeting New People, 30-something singles scene" question. So I did some digging around the forum.
My reading suggests that perhaps Boise suffers from the same problem as Dayton... no singles in their 30s who don't have kids and at least one divorce. Considering this is one of my main reasons for contemplating relocation, I should probably dig deeper. I'd hate to leave one dating blackhole for another; on the other hand, I understand that forums often aren't the best place to get an accurate gauge for such things. The people who find success aren't likely to be complaining about it on a forum. Hmmmm...
Interestingly, Colorado Springs was ranked #1 in the country by WSJ on "Relationship Formation Rate" based on facebook data. Essentially, the number of people who went from single to in a relationship in a 4 month period. I'm reading on the forums it suffers from the same lack of dating scene as Boise, but the data seems to indicate otherwise.
I'm torn... On one hand, I'm looking for a conservative area, on the other hand, the size of the dating pool seems directly proportional to the liberalness/progressiveness of the city.
Last edited by RadioOutrun; 11-26-2014 at 12:40 PM..
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