Anyone want to answer some of my questions? (Boise, Twin Falls: homes, buy)

[Cali2ID]

So I'm looking at Twin Falls as a place I might hang my hat. I have never been there and have only experienced big city life (L.A.) my entire life. Therefore I have a few questions before I fly up to check it out for myself.

1.) Generally what are the hours of stores, restaurants, pharmacy's, etc. Here in SoCal we have many 24-hour Pharmacys, and supermarkets. Are there 24-hour stores in Twin?

2.) Do cars need anything special in the winter time to function normally (anit-freeze, chains, block heater, weight sticks, etc.)

3.) What are the main religons in Twin Falls? Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Islam, etc.?

4.) How harsh are the winters? Here in SoCal you can open your front door in the dead of winter to a "chilly" 55 degree morning. I don't suppose you get too many of those "chilly" mornings in Twin. Does Twin get lots of snow in terms of snow drifts, power outages because of snow, school snow days, etc.?

5.) What is there to do for entertianment? Are there any minor league baseball teams in the area? Biking trails? Clubs? Skiing. etc.?

6.) How about gangs? Is there much grafitti(sp)/tagging? Skinheads, anti-semitism, nazi's, etc.?

7.) Is Twin Falls diverse or straight-up white? Is Twin Conservative? Lots of Bush Backers? Illegals?

8.) Is there DSL installed in Twin? Is there decent cell phone service? (Verizon, for example).

9.) How is the health care? If I needed emergency health care how decent is the hospital there?

Anyway, if any one can answer one, two, or all I would really appreciate it. And if anyone wants to throw something else in, please feel free. Thanks!!!

[altaina]

1.) Generally what are the hours of stores, restaurants, pharmacy's, etc. Here in SoCal we have many 24-hour Pharmacys, and supermarkets. Are there 24-hour stores in Twin?

The mall is open till 9, I think. Barnes & Noble till 10 or 11. Fred Meyer till 10. There is a 24-hour Winco Grocery store (cheapest place in town, too) & it's huge.

2.) Do cars need anything special in the winter time to function normally (anit-freeze, chains, block heater, weight sticks, etc.)
Anti-freeze is a good idea, but that's not hard. Chains- no. Block heater - nobody around here has 'em (we used to use 'em in Canada, and got a magnetic one to stick on - but only need it a couple nights during some years)

3.) What are the main religons in Twin Falls? Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Islam, etc.?
No Jewish or Islamic. Mormon, all the standard protestant denominations, and Catholic. There is a Jewish synagogue up at Sun Valley, I believe, which is about an hour's drive.

4.) How harsh are the winters? Here in SoCal you can open your front door in the dead of winter to a "chilly" 55 degree morning. I don't suppose you get too many of those "chilly" mornings in Twin. Does Twin get lots of snow in terms of snow drifts, power outages because of snow, school snow days, etc.?
Most of Dec-Jan is daytime temps in the 20's, night time in the teens. In 20 years I've only seen it below 0 one winter. School snow days: some winters none, occasionally one or two in other winters. Winter snow years vary year by year - we may have very little snow some years & 6" in others, usually only in Dec-Jan. Wind we DO get, and that'll get you drifts, but not much in the city; only if you get a place out in the country will that be a problem. They stay on top of it with road-clearing in the city. Power outages, maybe once a year in a bad winter.

5.) What is there to do for entertianment? Are there any minor league baseball teams in the area? Biking trails? Clubs? Skiing. etc.?
All kinds of kid sports: soccer, etc. No minor league baseball that I know of. Skiing is a big thing - lifts are less than 30 minutes out of town. Water sports available on the Snake River & its reservoirs. Hot Springs pools about 20 minutes away in the Hagerman valley. Clubs I don't know about because I live in a nearby town, but I believe there are the usual civic organizations. There are musicals & plays you can get involved in, a civic symphony & choir that you can join. If you're really adventurous, you can participate in BASE-jumping, which is when guys jump off the Perrine bridge and parachute into the canyon. The Rock Creek Park area has biking/jogging trails. There are at least two multi-plex theatres that I know of. All the major restaurant chains, from Chili's to Johnny Carino's.

6.) How about gangs? Is there much grafitti(sp)/tagging? Skinheads, anti-semitism, nazi's, etc.?
Gangs aren't a big problem & I've never seen grafitti. No skinheads, anti-semitism, etc. That's all in the northern panhandle, in fact that group's pretty much defunct now even there since their leader died & their property got confiscated.

7.) Is Twin Falls diverse or straight-up white? Is Twin Conservative? Lots of Bush Backers? Illegals?
Basically conservative but some diversity. Hispanics, not that much illegal that I'm aware of, also Russian/Eastern European immigrants, but not a lot. The college of Southern Idaho (2 year) is there so provides some political diversity as all colleges seem to.

8.) Is there DSL installed in Twin? Is there decent cell phone service? (Verizon, for example).
Yes and Yes!! We even have both of those in the outlying smaller towns -quite a few different choices available. Also cable TV. I will also mention that power is much cheaper here than in most states.

9.) How is the health care? If I needed emergency health care how decent is the hospital there?
Superb hospital. Several stories. And just merged with one of the big Boise hospitals who is going to build/renovate even more. They even do heart surgeries there....


One thing you probably will appreciate, coming from So Cal, is our summers. We average in the 80s most of the summer, occasionally into the 90's and maybe once a year over 100. At night it cools down so perfectly that all you have to do is open your doors & windows and let the breeze flow through. We don't need air conditioning. The nice thing about this area is that you CAN leave your doors open at night without fear.

[Cali2ID]

Altaina: Thanks for the answers. So far, without visting, Twin seems like an ideal place to live. I just hope it's not to "farmy" for my tastes. All the pictures seem to suggest Modesto, CA. or Fresno, CA. of which there's not much scenery just open spaces squared off in parcels for farming...

[StampinTami]

Twin Falls is much, much smaller than Modesto or Fresno. I have not been North or West of Twin Falls but East and South are pretty wide open once you get out of the city. What do you mean by scenery? I don't know of anywhere in Ca to compare that area to. There is much more to look at while driving through that area then anywhere in the valley here. The only area I can think of around here that would have more scenery would be the Sierra's on the way to Nevada out Sac, even then I wouldn't compare the two.
I grew up in Modesto and Turlock and I consider Twin Falls and to the east of there to be pretty farmy. I have only drove through from the 93 to the 84. It didn't take long and by looking at the map it looks like a big area of the city, one of the main roads? I think that they have a great selection of restaurants, shopping and they have a pretty good drive through coffee place Java Espress...much better than SBux IMO, if you are interested in that. They are much smaller than Modesto was when I was growing up 10-15 years ago but they have so much more than what Modesto had to offer back then. I think the size and the amount of people is pretty comparable to Turlock 10 years ago.
I don't know much about the area (Altaina already covered that!) but there is a little perspective for you from a Californian looking in. I think that Idaho is much diff than Ca both in the way that it looks and the way of the people. I think that it is a great thing though and we love it there!

[altaina]

[e. I just hope it's not to "farmy" for my tastes. All the pictures seem to suggest Modesto, CA. or Fresno, CA. of which there's not much scenery just open spaces squared off in parcels for farming...[/quote]

I don't know what you want in scenery. There are mountains to the north & south, visible. There is the Snake River Canyon, one of the deepest in North America (second only to the Grand Canyon, I believe) and several major waterfalls within 15 minutes, including Shoshone Falls (known as the Niagara of the West). There is Rock Creek which runs most of the way through the city, with its park surrounding it. There are a lot of lovely landscaped homes and businesses.

I don't think you'll find it "farmy" - there aren't any cows in town or anything. It's all city till the city limits, then you have people's acreages, some with horses. The farms are much further out.

[altaina]

go to city-data's page on Twin Falls to see some scenery:
http://www.city-data.com/city/Twin-Falls-Idaho.html

[lminx]

Stay in California. Don't Californicate Idaho. You won't like it. Yes, you will have to shovel snow. This so called boom in Idaho is just another way of ruining a great state. Look at what CA has done to Las Vegas, Mesquite and ST. George. Working people can't afford to live there, much less buy a home.


Come visit, spend your money and then go back to CA.

[cleosmom]

Originally Posted by Cali2ID

Altaina: Thanks for the answers. So far, without visting, Twin seems like an ideal place to live. I just hope it's not to "farmy" for my tastes. All the pictures seem to suggest Modesto, CA. or Fresno, CA. of which there's not much scenery just open spaces squared off in parcels for farming...

Thankfully, it's still quite farmy around southeast Idaho. It's sad when seeing the family farmers losing their lands to yet another subdivision

[Southside Shrek]

Originally Posted by lminx

Stay in California. Don't Californicate Idaho. You won't like it. Yes, you will have to shovel snow. This so called boom in Idaho is just another way of ruining a great state. Look at what CA has done to Las Vegas, Mesquite and ST. George. Working people can't afford to live there, much less buy a home.


Come visit, spend your money and then go back to CA.

Iminx
that's the funniest post I've read in a while.


people in Florida don't say those things outright to folks from New York or NJ. They just think them.

[MagpiesMagpiesMagpies]

Originally Posted by Cali2ID

Altaina: Thanks for the answers. So far, without visting, Twin seems like an ideal place to live. I just hope it's not to "farmy" for my tastes. All the pictures seem to suggest Modesto, CA. or Fresno, CA. of which there's not much scenery just open spaces squared off in parcels for farming...

You really do need to try before you buy, if your post above is any indication of your preparedness.

Magpies