moving from Paris France to CDA (Coeur d'Alene: house, transfer, schools)

[CDAchick]

Heatherriviere- You're trip is so close! I sure hope the weather cooperates for you! Have a wonderful trip! Hope everything works out for you!

[Copper1272]

I posted many pages ago, and we have finally set a moving date of July 5th. Although I am from the area, I am still so scared to be dragging 3 children, 3 horses and my husband 3000 miles. Please everyone pray for patience for me, its gonna be a long drive

[Spirit Laker]

In the center of 5 of the largest cities in north Idaho and Washington, a little town sits and is growing fast. Spirit Lake is about 30 minutes from Sandpoint, Post Falls, CDA, Newport and Spokane. It's a little known secret and is just beautiful. It has its own lake, a major grocery store, book store/coffee shop, INB bank, video store a few restaurants and a whold lot of charm. Google it for more info. The coffee shop has authentic NY bagels, the best espresso and a whole lotta books to choose from . . . both used ad new. The Grocery has fresh, fresh meats etc . .

Check it out before you decide and good luck!!

[Sierrita]

Ma Chere Heather Riviere:

Est formidable que vous desire vivre en Coeur d'Alene. Okay, I need to practice!! Couer d'Alene is beautiful yet expensive, especially if you want a bit of land in town. It is definitely a resort town. However, not as expensive as Paris, I am sure. The city is very beautiful, the lake is incredible, and there are so many things to do there and in Spokane and south as well. Anywhere you drive from there, you will see beauty, and always some kind of adventure to find. We recently moved from a rural area there about 45 min. south of CDA, and I lived in Spokane for 20 years before that. Please contact Madame Kuester (sp?) at Gonzaga University, is the main number for the University. I am sure she will kindly speak un peu de Francais avec toi. (email me and I will give you the number for Gonzaga. I am an alumna.) There, on the South Hill in Spokane, is a teacher who gives classes in French to small children, perhaps she will be someone to speak with as well...I am sure you would be able to find it in the Spokane phone book. Naturally, this is all 45 mins. away., but I am confident you will be able to find a few people in Coeur d'Alene who speak French, since the CDA resort is a world famous resort there. (By the way, the city got it name from the Coeur d'Alene tribe, which received it's name from the trappers who called them this because the CDA Indians were such shrewd traders! ha ha just in case you were wondering.)

Bend is close to the Oregon Cascade mountains, but there is not a lot of water nearby. However, the views are fantastic. I love driving there and seeing the Sisters and "3 fingered Jack" (all mountain peaks) But I have found that in the city of Bend, (okay, it's been a while) there are a lot of homes that have postage stamp sized lots for too much money. Also, it is very dry, not like CDA or Spokane. Oregon also has some weird laws (no sales tax, though), but has been hard to get used to, (we live near the Columbia River in NE Oregon), and I doubt there will be many French speakers there--but you never know.

Oh, and finally, you can always drive 2 hours or a bit to Canada and speak French (though it will be a strange accent) with le Canadiens! :-)

Best wishes,

Sierra
Okay, I just noticed the date of your post, you are probably already there! lol

[heatherriviere]

This will be a quickie, everyone, I just HAD to get on here and say that we have been here for a little over a week and WE ARE LOVING IT! It has been an intense week of house-shopping, insurance-shopping, school visiting and just toodling all over the area, but we are totally convinced that this is the place for us. We have met such wonderful people and have found a fabulous house, and will be back for good end of June!!

Thank you, all you City-Data posters

I'll figure out how to post photos once I get home and will show you the beautiful scenery we got to see!

[Red_Sky]

Hi Heather:

I just stumbled onto this blog. I just bought a house in CDA last June - spent the summer there and loved it. I mostly live in Scottsdale, AZ and I also go to France often. I would love to start a group of people in CDA that have international/european/foreign language interests. I will be there in June and once you get settled would love to have you and your husband over for drinks. I live in the downtown CDA area. I will post again in June and hope your move goes well.

JoAnn

[heatherriviere]

Oh what fun! We would love to start up an association where people get together to share cultural interests, exotic dishes, stories of travels, photos, etc Maybe meet for dinner once a month? Everyone brings a little something to share for the stomach and the soul, potluck-style? We'd love to talk it over with you, see how we can get something off the ground!

We attended a slideshow evening in Paris once that an international travel association held and met several families that travel the world over with their young children, homeschooling on the road and taking in the sights in Asia, South America, Africa etc. It was great fun, and we have kept in contact with two such families that continue to pull up camp every couple of years to travel the world...My hubby and I would LOVE to be so carefree, but don't have the guts to do it OURSELVES, so we enjoy hearing about their experiences and adventures instead!

We will definitely start up a French-speaking night at our house also once we get settled in, open to anyone wanting to practice their French. What better way to find French speakers in the area??? I'll start up another thread when the time comes...

As for our trip, WOW, we're still reeling! So many neat people! Such beautiful scenery! We really "felt right at home". (How could we not?? Everyone was so helpful, so welcoming!) And after only 3 days of visiting houses we found the house of our dreams! YEAH! It's all coming together as we had hoped...I can't tell you how happy we are with our decision to move to CdA...We are convinced that it was simply "meant to be"...

See you soon in CdA!
heatherriviere

ps I still need to figure out how to get the photos in here...argh!

[cleosmom]

Originally Posted by heatherriviere

See you soon in CdA!
heatherriviere

ps I still need to figure out how to get the photos in here...argh!

When you are making a post, click on the little "paper clip" icon and you can upload a picture that way.

[moscowal]

Hello Heather,

I am also from MN, Deephaven in the Twin Cities. My wife and I are looking to buy a property in CDA as an investment/vacation home. We found out about CDA in a book, Topp 100 places to retire in America and have been researching the community for the past 4 months. We will be going to CDA over memorial weekend to look at properities and get a feel for the community.

Our realtor recommends we only buy property in downotwn CDA, south of Harrison Ave. Does anybody have other recommendations where to buy an investment property that we will rent?

Thanks,
Al

[heatherriviere]

Thanks Cleosmom! as soon as I sent off my last post I felt rather sheepish about not getting those photos out, so looked a little closer at the icons and sure enough, there it was, that-oh-so-obvious paperclip! I went from Duh! to Done!

I posted 16 images from our recent trip, ("Northern Idaho photos"). We were amazed at how the countryside between Boise and Coeur d'Alene could go from rolling hills to curvy mountainside roads to thick foresty areas to suddenly wide expansive plains as far as the eye could see, all within minutes...it was amazing...light brown rock to white snow to bright green grassy areas to dark dirt...We managed to miss out on any heavy snowfall during our visit, but the poor locals have been really abused this winter, as you can see in the photo of the garage under I-don't-know-how-many feet of snow! Hang in there everyone! Spring's around the corner!