Best-Worst places in Idaho???? (Boise, Nampa: ski resorts, neighborhood, schools)

[indraman]

Originally Posted by idahomama

Stanley is the best place (just for summer thoughin my opinion!) I can think of few other places in the country with such beautiful scenery, and yet so few people. I can't wait till summer to be there!

I have to agree with you...Stanley is the best!!! As for the WORST...you all obviously have not been to Buhl. Yuck!!

[accordscantdrift]

I like Boise because it has everything I can ask for except affordable housing. I also like Shelley because it has little crime and seems to be fairly high class. Its cheap to live there but hard to get along with people if you are not LDS.

I personally dont like jerome/wendell because of the dairy smell. I also dont like nampa because of the high crime rate and gang banger attitude.

Every place in idaho I have lived in has a theft problem and lack of responce from the police.

[LTLRIG]

I am thinking of getting a rental house in Arco. It seems to be a decent area. Can anyone tell me about the town?
OH, and by the way, I already own a home in Kooskia and I am looking in Kamiah as the area is really really beautiful! Great place to retire!

[Hammatime]

Don't listen to the post knocking Pocatello. I moved here from Boston and LOVE it. Good arts, decent restaurants, cool little pubs with live music, great Division 1 college, growing retail sector and booming economy right now. New tech company (Hoku Scientific...on the NASDAQ) just broke ground, a new hospital is being built, etc. All this and located in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains. Oh, and TONS to do outdoors. We love it here and would never move.

[MomsTn]

I went to school in Rexburg, "before the flood".
My Grandparents lived there, and I walked to school.
It is a very "family friendly" town.
Yes, there are lots of Mormons there, but, they are good people.
You aren't far from Island Park, and Yellowstone, or even the hot springs.
What about the Sand Dunes?
I loved it there.
The weather never bothered me, and you had a long enough growing season for flowers or vegetables.

Originally Posted by abnelson

I'd say it depends partly on whether you're young single, older single, or a family. We live in Rexburg (SE Idaho) and for a family it is a great town! Low crime, friendly people, high LDS (Mormon) but there are also other churches here, sorry - only 1 bar. We're 1 hour from Yellowstone, and only minutes from all types of recreational activities - rivers, tubing, sand dunes, skiing, rock climbing, para-gliding, etc. and you can see the beautiful Tetons from almost anywhere. We're also a University town so fun for young singles, not sure if there's much here for older singles... I only have 2 complaints: the weather and the weather. If you like winter sports this IS the right place to be. Most people here have skiis, snowboards, snowmobiles, and of course snowblowers. Another town near by, St.Anthony, even has dog-sled races.

We will be moving this summer but only because we are getting old and our bones want to lay around in the sun more. We will miss the people here more than we can tell you. Oh - one other complaint - but it's Idaho in general not a particular city - wages in Idaho for the most part are quite low. The good news is - cost of houses compared to other states is still great. Although Rexburg is growing by leaps and bounds right now so prices are going up. Hope you find your perfect spot.

[MomsTn]

I agree, Caldwell gets a bad rep, and it's really not a bad place.
There is a lot of diversity there.
Not what you would call diversity in a big city, like say..... Los Angeles, or New York, or Minneapolis, or even Detroit.
Yes, there is crime, there is crime everywhere.
People need to get over the fact that there is a large hispanic population there.

There is nothing wrong with Caldwell. I don't get it. Nampa is much worse than Caldwell.....read the paper today. Another whack-o-.
If you drive down Eagle road watch out for those idiot "soccer moms" driving those urban tanks. Eagle is "little Eaglfornia".
Soooo glad to live in Caldwell, and not Garden City....eeewwwww!

TopGun -

[suncitykid]

Originally Posted by my3arabs

I miss Ashton and the Targhee Forest up there. Arco would have to be the place to skip, IMHO

Can some tell me about arco?

[violet57]

Originally Posted by suncitykid

Can some tell me about arco?

What can I tell you about Arco? It, along with Challis and Salmon, is the most remote town in the State of Idaho. It sits on the Upper Snake River Plain (read desert), and really, it is a pretty pathetic little town. There are mountains to the north (Lost River Range) which are pretty spectacular, but you have to be closer to Mackay (30 mi.) to get their full effect. To the east, west and south are miles and miles of lava beds, sagebrush and desert. The last I checked, it had less than 1,000 people and is in Butte County, pop. about 3,000, and one of the few counties in Idaho that is losing population. Of course, it's claim to fame was that it was the first town to have its electricity generated by nuclear power. The largest industry in Butte Co. is the Reactor Site, but most of the people who work there live in Idaho Falls and are bussed to the site. The town is mainly populated by a tiny service industry and ranchers. It is 70 miles to Idaho Falls, 80 miles to Pocatello, 80 miles to Hailey and over 100+ to Twin Falls. I'm not even sure that Arco has a market anymore.

[violet57]

Best: Sandpoint
Worst: Shoshone or Arco

[MontanaGyrl]

Worst: Council

The year and a half I lived there was the longest decade of my life.

Best: never found one

Which is why we're back in Montana! Seriously, if I had to live in Idaho, I'd pick the Coeur d'Alene area, probably. If only because then I could go to Spokane, Washington whenever I wanted.