Pictures of Boise and surrounding areas (Nampa, Meridian: appointed, hotels, homes)

[kstorts]

So, I have looked around quite a bit through these forums and whatnot, and have not been able to find very many pictures at all of the Boise area. I am really interested to see what it looks like from your perspective...not the hotels perspective, or the city website...lol. Anyone have any? I read on here that you all are experiencing some beautiful fall leaves, I would LOVE to see pics!! Anyone have any pics? I'd love to see all the seasons in Boise!!

[boisefan88]

Google?

[kstorts]

I've done that, but it is giving me the "tourist" type pictures....and I want just regular old shots...I don't want to get this unrealistic picture in my head of what it looks like- I don't want to be expecting it to look like this:


Only to find out it looks like this: (I.e...NO trees)


know what I mean? And I want to make sure some of the random pictures I am seeing on google are actually of the Boise/Meridian area, and not like 30 minutes away....I'd like to get a good feel for it since I am strongly considering moving there but won't be able to actually go check it out for a while.

Thanks for the tip though! I have seen threads in other forums where posters enter pictures of their areas....I have been able to get a "virtual tour" of NID just from other posters here, I would love to be able to get something like that from the Boise/Meridian area as well, if possible!

[kstorts]

I found this one on photobucket....very very pretty.....and traffic looks pretty empty! I am sure it gets much busier than it looks in this picture though.......?

[kstorts]

Is this is a typical neighborhood view of a developed Boise/Meridian neighborhood? ...very pretty!

[boisefan88]

Well I suppose you're asking for something absolutely unrealistic.

Boise is very much everything you've posted above. Anything that someone would post here would just be a slice (and very likely a beautiful slice, since they've taken a picture of it), same as you'd get off of Google.

That picture of Table Rock is pretty much what the foothills look like - dry grass and no trees (until you get way, way up). The city itself has plenty of trees, but the more mature trees are exclusive to the neighborhoods surrounding downtown Boise. You get into Meridian (and especially the areas between Boise and Meridian and Meridian and Nampa) and you get into pretty cookie cutter subdivisions and sprawl, same as you'd see anywhere - strip malls, parking lots, and endless roads.

[kstorts]

Originally Posted by boisefan88

Well I suppose you're asking for something absolutely unrealistic.

Boise is very much everything you've posted above. Anything that someone would post here would just be a slice (and very likely a beautiful slice, since they've taken a picture of it), same as you'd get off of Google.

That picture of Table Rock is pretty much what the foothills look like - dry grass and no trees (until you get way, way up). The city itself has plenty of trees, but the more mature trees are exclusive to the neighborhoods surrounding downtown Boise. You get into Meridian (and especially the areas between Boise and Meridian and Meridian and Nampa) and you get into pretty cookie cutter subdivisions and sprawl, same as you'd see anywhere - strip malls, parking lots, and endless roads.

Yea, I suppose you are right, however, what I think is beautiful may be very different than what others find beautiful.....I have been told by a couple of people that the whole Boise area is flat and ugly-now, I've seen a few pictures that contradict that- however, I also have never been there...so, there may be areas I am not seeing in the photos that these people are talking about. I understand that the newer homes are not going to have trees. I guess what I am asking for is a better idea of what the area looks like so I can decide for myself- I will get this sooner or later as i will be visiting, but right now I have this very black and white image in my head and am looking for that gray area.... Sorry if I'm not making sense, it is a little late...LOL.

I guess when i was looking at relocating to NID I felt like i was getting a nice, realistic picture of what it looked like...there were some beautiful places, some not so beautiful places, and some that were in between....I am sorta looking for the in between I guess. And maybe pictures of the season changes there....like maybe some pictures of Boise in the snow? I haven't come across those yet...

And I would have to disagree with your statement that I would get the same from google.....take a look at the pictures posted in the NID area, that people from that area took, then look up the CdA city website and take a look at those pictures....there is a bit of a difference in what you are seeing...and that is what i mean.

If no one has any pictures of the Boise area that they would like to share, that's okay. I am just trying to see more of the area than I have as I feel that what i am seeing is limited to like 5 locations and i know Boise has got to have more than 5 locations that are worth taking pictures of...lol. I found a handful in photobucket, and I am hoping that they are labeled correctly, but I guess in the meantime I will check out flickr and see if there are more there.

I'll have to look up Table Rock, I'm not sure where that is. Thank you very much for responding to my post and for that information, I appreciate it!

[boisefan88]

I don't mean to be rude, but my point is that you're just asking for someone to confirm your idea of Boise anyway. You really just have to visit - there's nothing else to say.

I could post this picture of Boise, for instance:



And you might think "holy cow - is traffic really that bad?" Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.

I could also post this picture:



And Boise now seems bucolic, tidy, almost Norman Rockwell-ish.

See what I mean?

[kstorts]

Actually, the pictures you are posting are EXACTLY what I am wanting! I am not going to assume anything by the pictures- so, your assumptions that I may look at that first picture and think "holy cow - is traffic really that bad?" is presumptuous. With all due respect, you don't know how I view things, I don't feel like asking for pictures of the area is a ridiculous request, and I feel like you do, and that is okay. I have seen it in other forums, and all I am asking is to see some for this area.

Another example, go to the CA forum and look at the SF pictures. They are great. I've been to SF more times than I can count, I have friends that live there there as well. Now, while the pictures aren't going to come alive for you, they can give you a good idea of what you will see when you get there. I can say, for anyone that looks at those pictures, if they liked what they saw, for the most part, they will not be disappointed.

I appreciate the pictures you posted because they are very helpful! I keep hearing about the traffic over there, but being that I am in Cali i am trying to get a feel for how bad it would be for myself. So, the picture with the traffic lets me see what I could be dealing with at certain times of the day, etc. The bottom picture tells me that not that it is a nice slow dead town, but that it does have nice quiet slow moments.

So, all that being said, I appreciate your input, but I wasn't asking for an argument as to whether it makes sense to see pictures of the area. I do plan on visiting, but can't do so right now, so, I am just dying to see more than I have already. I'm not an idiot. I'm not going to say, "ooooh, look at all the pretty trees!" and then get there and be upset when it doesn't exactly look like the picture....I like to plan for the worse, so right now, I am actually leaning more towards doing the opposite and picturing it barren, and want to balance that out a little and educate myself more on what various areas look like.

[VERNDAWG]

I too am from CA and have recently visited the Boise area. I wish I would have seen just the pictures on this thread before I went. On another thread I talked about the differences I had in my head about what I thought it would look like and what it actually looked like. Most photos I had seen showed an abundance of trees and greenery. I read about the green belt and tons of outdoor recreation. When I arrived though I was blown away by the prominance of the surrounding desert.
After a few days though the shock wore off and I was able to be a little more objective. The photos that are up right now actually depict the Boise that I saw. Bad traffic at certain times. Easy driving in the downtown/capital section of town. The city was very clean and well kept and while your in it you kinda forget about the desert. The parks were nice and the cities planning dept seemed to have a good grasp of how to use there spaces. But outside of town it's like an old western sort of wasteland. Many folks have disagreed with that description and say that I'm just looking at it wrong, but it's just my opinion and I'll admit I'm not very artistic so I probably don't see the inner beauty of the landscape. Overall though I am still looking to move to Boise because of all its unique qualites including the scenery.