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I'm looking for 4 seasons, close to a body of water for swimming, mountain views, good homeschool community, lush green scenery, good nightlife and good shopping and dining.
Couer d'Alene is on a large lake, Asheville isn't.
I haven't been to Coure d'Alene but going off Google maps streetview, I like it more. It has more of a resort town look to it, a cleaner look and a better downtown park. The state should have located the University of Idaho there right on the lake.
It is surprising to me that Asheville and CdA have similar temperatures in summer and winter. I would have thought CdA would be much colder.
Last edited by ClemVegas; 08-27-2017 at 11:41 PM..
I haven't been to Asheville, but would really like to - looks like a really nice city in a great setting.
I did grow up in Coeur d' Alene. If you're looking for a true 4 season climate, North Idaho definitely offers that. Summers are dry, warm, low humidity. Winters have been cold and quite snowy the past couple of years. Spring is usually pretty rainy; falls are awesome. CDA isn't as lush and green as Asheville. It's more of a high desert climate - it's green, but not North Carolina green (based on all of the photos I've seen). Lake Coeur d' Alene is quite large and definitely an asset to the city - the lakefront parks are really nice, and by mid summer the lake is perfect for boating/swimming. If you drive 45 mins north, you'll hit Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho's largest lake. It's more stunning. From what I can see, both cities seem to be in hilly/mountainous areas. CDA has a few largeish ski hills within an hour drive. As far as nightlife in the city goes, I've always had a good time (mid 30s guy here); plenty of great restaurants. There are your typical boutique style shops downtown, but for Nordstrom type shopping you'd have to head west to Spokane which is a 35 min drive. Same for airports - you have to head to Spokane Int'l. I think population wise they're not too far apart; latest estimates put the Spokane-CDA CSA at 700,000 give/take.
Could not speak to the homeschooling community; I did have a few friends that were and there is a great Charter School in the city.
Good luck on your choice! Both great cities/areas to live in.
True, as of 2016 the numbers for their respective CSAs were:
Spokane-Spokane Valley-Coeur d' Alene CSA: 710,945
Asheville-Brevard CSA: 485,801
Asheville does have the advantage of being much closer to larger cities for weekend trips, etc. CDA, you're looking at a 5-6 hour drive without any traffic to get to Seattle or Portland.
Development is fairly continuous between Idaho and Washington as you can see from this Google Maps screen capture; it also illustrates how much less vegetated the area is than around Asheville
I'm looking for 4 seasons, close to a body of water for swimming, mountain views, good homeschool community, lush green scenery, good nightlife and good shopping and dining.
This probably comes down to whether or not Coeur D'Alene has many bugs.
As far as Asheville goes you get:
4 seasons. Lots of rain, little bit of snow, no real extremes. BUT you get lots of bugs, which can limit your ability to enjoy the weather.
A good number of lakes in the area, but not a lot of them you'd want to swim in due to various outbreaks every year. But there are enough if you want to find one you can or go to SC for a good one. You also get a river & areas to wade in near/downstream from waterfalls. Tons of waterfalls you can hike to in this area. Trails can be fairly busy these days.
Mountain views.
Lots of people do homeschool in the area, but I'm not sure if it's a community or what the quality is like.
Yeah, it's green around these parts.
Nightlife is good for music and the bars usually have a good selection, but the people are pretty flaky and can be smug (20's & 30's range). I think it's mainly due to them wishing they were in Portland or that Asheville was more like Portland so they act how people out there tend to act.
Shopping is so-so.
Food is okay to lousy. A number of places try too hard. People will always give you recommendations of such and such place being great, but when you go it isn't. There's also a big problem with consistency from visit to visit (including chains). Not to mention a fair number of places keep changing management, which really sucks when you find someplace you like only to have this happen and the new people are clueless.
Interesting comparison. Never been to CDA but it does appear to be relatively pretty. Feels too far out for me. Spokane is not exactly my favorite metro area. The biggest plus to CDA for me would be the lower humidity and likely less bugs. I always thought that area of N ID would be brown, but looking at pictures it looks like some nice rolling hills and quite green. Is CDA a liberal haven like Asheville is? I lean left, but Asheville is even too much for me to enjoy for too long. If I was choosing a place to live that would be important. CDA being on a lake doesn't really interest me except for the one odd day a year I might take the ladyfriend out there to watch a sunset...but there are numerous lakes near Asheville for that, as well. Right now I pick asheville mostly because of the Apps and location on the east coast.
There's definitely not a problem with bugs in CDA. It's not very liberal per se, libertarian more so. It's definitely a different Northwest than the mindset west of the Cascade mountains.
Last edited by DJKirkland; 08-29-2017 at 08:35 AM..
Interesting comparison. Never been to CDA but it does appear to be relatively pretty. Feels too far out for me. Spokane is not exactly my favorite metro area. The biggest plus to CDA for me would be the lower humidity and likely less bugs. I always thought that area of N ID would be brown, but looking at pictures it looks like some nice rolling hills and quite green. Is CDA a liberal haven like Asheville is? I lean left, but Asheville is even too much for me to enjoy for too long. If I was choosing a place to live that would be important. CDA being on a lake doesn't really interest me except for the one odd day a year I might take the ladyfriend out there to watch a sunset...but there are numerous lakes near Asheville for that, as well. Right now I pick asheville mostly because of the Apps and location on the east coast.
Relatively pretty? The area is absolutely gorgeous. It is among the greenest areas in the west.
Even if you aren't a lake guy I think you would appreciate that Lake Coeur d'Alene and Pend Oreille are unique from anything you would find in the east and even pretty extraordinary in the West. Pend Oreille is among the five deepest in the US.
No, I wouldn't call CDA a liberal haven. Lots of libertarians in and around the area.
I grew up in North Idaho and not too many bugs at all. I live in Houston now and holy night! CdA much better in that department.
Going with TV92, CdA is drop dead gorgeous. North Idaho has three lakes comparable in size and beauty as Lake Tahoe: lake CdA, Pend Orielle, and Priest Lake. Beautiful, beautiful, country.
I've heard lots of good things about Asheville, though. Hope to make it there someday.
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