Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I live in So. Orange County, was born and spent most of my youth in the San Fernando Valley, with a 3 year escape in San Diego, so I'm pretty spoiled and wimpy when it comes to extreme climates.
My second husband is from England and when he first moved here, we both worked in Anaheim and on a crazy whim moved to Crestline, a small town in the San Bernardino Mountains. (snow!) We loved it there even though the commute was a bit crazy. Unfortunately the drive became too much when he got another job in South County.
Anyway, after living in Crestline and spending a bit of time in England before we were married, I got a taste for colder weather, so sometimes I fantasize about living in places like Idaho, Montana, Washington, even the Upper Peninsula of Michigan! (Which is why I come and snoop on your forum once in a while! )
You wont catch me yearning to experience living in Phoenix, Houston or Florida! No no no!
It is mostly fantasy though for now as friends and family are near by, and hubby's a tech guy and has a job he loves, but we're definitely planning a road trip that includes Idaho in the not too distant future for sure!
Anyway, that's were I'm coming from, so it's actually interesting to me that there's been a few votes for San Diego since it seems so opposite of a life style to what I read about Idaho, especially north Idaho. True, the weather in SD can't be beat, and if you like youthful city life the downtown area is really fun. There are sleepy little beach towns like Carlsbad and Solona Beach, if you have the money to live there I suppose. And of course just like LA and Orange County, much of San Diego will have a lot of Spanish going on around you, (but the mexican food is wonderful!).
Someone mentioned the foothills like Grass Valley... recently drove through on the way to Lake Tahoe. We also spent a day in Placerville; it had a nice historic district and looked pretty and green. I read the foothills have an air pollution problem though. All the gunk gets trapped up against the hills from Sacramento and the San Joaquin Valley. It's still a sweet spot in California though since you're a short distance to weekend getaways to Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Bodega Bay, Lake Shasta... speaking of Lake Shasta, the Shasta County and surrounding areas up there are very nice, lots of trees, beautiful area, although it gets very hot as well.
My brother escaped to that area years ago after working for Hugh's aircraft in Hawthorne. He lived in a studio near there and had to barricade the door during the Rodney King riots! (Sage did you live in California during that time?) Anyway, he has a place right outside of Redding, near Whiskeytown Lake and loves it! The air is clean and it's beautiful, however, Redding is a sort of strange town... it's been having a lot of social problems with meth and unemployment. But what a beautiful area to be unemployed and on drugs!
Well, I just thought I'd chime in... Chico, the Redwoods, even Weaverville and Weed are places a lot of folks don't know exist in California. People usually think of San Francisco when they speak of "Northern California". However, of course you can't escape California politics! Oh well!
p.s. to Sage, I work a restaurant in Newport Beach, and live in Mission Viejo. Familiar eh? It's still crowded, lots of traffic; the same ol' same ol', only more so. Also, there are some days when I'm the only English speaking employee in the building! LOL! They used to have a policy where you could only speak Spanish in the back of the house, but those days are long gone!
I though Idaho was fairly sunny, at least as compared to Oregon & Washington
During the summer, I'd agree with the statement that Idaho is fairly sunny compared to western Oregon and Washington. In the winter, not nearly as much sun. Most days are overcast during the winter. Southern Idaho sees more sunny days in the winter than North Idaho. But there is also a lot more haze in southern Idaho as compared to North Idaho.
Of course, keep in mind that when I refer to haze, I'm talking about skies that are not a crystal clear, pure blue. I'm not talking about Haze Over Los Angeles-1.14.11 « bachtography What I call haze would likely be considered crystal clear blue skies by many Californians. Yes, I understand that's not a universal truth, but I stand by it as a general statement.
As joryjim notes, Idaho is not for everyone. I've lived here all my life and would never want to live elsewhere. I like breathing invisible air, for example. But I hate winter. If snow fell everywhere except the roads, winter would be just fine. I don't mind the cold, I don't mind that we have long, cold winters, that extend into spring and lots of overcast days. I don't even mind that as we approach the winter solstice, "usable" light amounts to just a handful of hours each day. I just despise winter driving conditions. But it's something I live with, because I enjoy the area otherwise. And besides, the periodic sunny day after a fresh snow is breathtakingly beautiful and all the more precious.
No. Northern Idaho is dark, overcast and cold from at least November 1 to April 1. From April 1 to July 1 it's a little better but still cold. Idaho winters are terrible in my opinion. The snow is fun for the first few years but the novelty wears off. I like t-shirts, shorts and flip flops.
i dont know anywhere you can wear shorts year round really, i'm originally from near Gulf Shores, Alabama, which has some of the best beaches in the United States, only being beaten by some of those in southern florida, and even there in the winter it got quite cold , i mean you might wear shorts during winter if you were just going to the laundromat to do some laundry etc, but i dont think thats what you mean
the beaches in Gulf Shores knock out any beach in the state of California
and regarding beaches on the gulf coast, texas does not have beaches like gulf shores, the mississippi gulf coast, doesn't have beaches like gulf shores.. only when you get to about gulf shores/orange beach, then points further east into fort walton beach, destin florida, panama city beach, then points further southward, do you have beaches like this
gulf shores:
fort walton beach
destin
Last edited by vapour_trail; 12-30-2012 at 04:47 PM..
Let's face it Sage. The weather in Southern California can't be beat. The "plague" you mention can be avoided by buying into a nice gated community. I'm moving to So Cal. Northern Idaho is nice in the Summer but I hate cold and snow not to mention that constant dark gloomy skies. So depressing.
Lets face it! You have to go "outside" the "GATE" to buy food. And when you do, their gonna getcha! Guys, you've got to give up something to get something and as soon as possible, I am sooo out of North Orange County, and I hope to never come back. Disneyland can kiss my... Oh well you get the picture.
No. Northern Idaho is dark, overcast and cold from at least November 1 to April 1. From April 1 to July 1 it's a little better but still cold. Idaho winters are terrible in my opinion. The snow is fun for the first few years but the novelty wears off. I like t-shirts, shorts and flip flops.
Couldn't live right at the beach. I have an aversion to "Mandles"!
Maybe I do belong in Idaho!
I was assigned to a rapid response team when the LA riots jumped off, so I wound up getting deployed that night to areas that were (hmmm...polite way to say feces hitting the oscillator) and didn't get to go home for nearly a week, working nearly round the clock for the first 72 hours.
And I can totally relate to living in South County and still having it be the "best of having to live in SoCal". It really is the best place to be if you need to be in that area IMO. While the traffic is a huge down side, something about it being removed from the rest of the county "just enough" creates a natural barrier that's a big asset to quality of life.
Case in point, HB has WAY too many bangers from Anaheim and Santa Ana (and other "points inland" including knuckleheads from right there in HB) who use that as their "local beach" and people who live in HB have no idea how many undesirables course through their city on a daily basis. HB's violent crime is 4x higher than Laguna Niguel per 100K population, property crime rate is 4.7x higher, and the auto theft rate is 3x higher...although it's still considerably lower than Anaheim or Santa Ana.
I live in So. Orange County, was born and spent most of my youth in the San Fernando Valley, with a 3 year escape in San Diego, so I'm pretty spoiled and wimpy when it comes to extreme climates.
My second husband is from England and when he first moved here, we both worked in Anaheim and on a crazy whim moved to Crestline, a small town in the San Bernardino Mountains. (snow!) We loved it there even though the commute was a bit crazy. Unfortunately the drive became too much when he got another job in South County.
Anyway, after living in Crestline and spending a bit of time in England before we were married, I got a taste for colder weather, so sometimes I fantasize about living in places like Idaho, Montana, Washington, even the Upper Peninsula of Michigan! (Which is why I come and snoop on your forum once in a while! )
You wont catch me yearning to experience living in Phoenix, Houston or Florida! No no no!
It is mostly fantasy though for now as friends and family are near by, and hubby's a tech guy and has a job he loves, but we're definitely planning a road trip that includes Idaho in the not too distant future for sure!
Anyway, that's were I'm coming from, so it's actually interesting to me that there's been a few votes for San Diego since it seems so opposite of a life style to what I read about Idaho, especially north Idaho. True, the weather in SD can't be beat, and if you like youthful city life the downtown area is really fun. There are sleepy little beach towns like Carlsbad and Solona Beach, if you have the money to live there I suppose. And of course just like LA and Orange County, much of San Diego will have a lot of Spanish going on around you, (but the mexican food is wonderful!).
Someone mentioned the foothills like Grass Valley... recently drove through on the way to Lake Tahoe. We also spent a day in Placerville; it had a nice historic district and looked pretty and green. I read the foothills have an air pollution problem though. All the gunk gets trapped up against the hills from Sacramento and the San Joaquin Valley. It's still a sweet spot in California though since you're a short distance to weekend getaways to Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Bodega Bay, Lake Shasta... speaking of Lake Shasta, the Shasta County and surrounding areas up there are very nice, lots of trees, beautiful area, although it gets very hot as well.
My brother escaped to that area years ago after working for Hugh's aircraft in Hawthorne. He lived in a studio near there and had to barricade the door during the Rodney King riots! (Sage did you live in California during that time?) Anyway, he has a place right outside of Redding, near Whiskeytown Lake and loves it! The air is clean and it's beautiful, however, Redding is a sort of strange town... it's been having a lot of social problems with meth and unemployment. But what a beautiful area to be unemployed and on drugs!
Well, I just thought I'd chime in... Chico, the Redwoods, even Weaverville and Weed are places a lot of folks don't know exist in California. People usually think of San Francisco when they speak of "Northern California". However, of course you can't escape California politics! Oh well!
p.s. to Sage, I work a restaurant in Newport Beach, and live in Mission Viejo. Familiar eh? It's still crowded, lots of traffic; the same ol' same ol', only more so. Also, there are some days when I'm the only English speaking employee in the building! LOL! They used to have a policy where you could only speak Spanish in the back of the house, but those days are long gone!
My girlfriend is Mexican and I can't wait to get away from the Idaho racists. I'll think you'll fit in great in Idaho. Latinos are wonderful, warm, loving people. Can't say the same for most whites.
Lets face it! You have to go "outside" the "GATE" to buy food. And when you do, their gonna getcha! Guys, you've got to give up something to get something and as soon as possible, I am sooo out of North Orange County, and I hope to never come back. Disneyland can kiss my... Oh well you get the picture.
KTM, who is going to "get me" when I go to the grocery store? Those evil brown people speaking Spanish? LOL. Tell me how you like Idaho after you've lived there for a few years. I predict you won't last 3 years.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Interesting...
)
Oh well!
I don't mind the cold, I don't mind that we have long, cold winters, that extend into spring and lots of overcast days. I don't even mind that as we approach the winter solstice, "usable" light amounts to just a handful of hours each day. I just despise winter driving conditions. But it's something I live with, because I enjoy the area otherwise. And besides, the periodic sunny day after a fresh snow is breathtakingly beautiful and all the more precious.
