Pocatello (Idaho Falls, Blackfoot, Chubbuck: house, school district, living)

[JimC]

I am considering taking a job in the Pocatello area. My daughter 14, is heavily involved in the FFA program as well as community volunteer work. My son 11, is just starting to get into sports.
I will be working from home so right now I'm looking at a 40 mile radius around Pocatello. I've read most of the threads here and am a little concerned about the kids being outcats since we are from CA.
I'm looking for enough land for a horse or two and FFA projects. Right now it looks like Blackfoot and Idaho falls are in the lead property wise.

Now for the questions.
1) Am I worried about the kids for nothing?
2) Are there any other areas I'm missing or should be considering?

Thanks for any help.

[mejaka]

Yes. You aren't the kind of Californian (Easterner, whatever, liberal outsider who wants to live in the beauty but change the regional culture) that generally comes in and does something that upsets the locals. FFA is not an activity typical of the frustrating ones.

And check the area around Inkom/Marsh Valley. Might be some good places out there. Blackfoot's decent. There's land around Chubbuck, too. Idaho Falls is pretty but hard to navigate (built around a river), though there's nice flatland between IF and Pocy if any's available.

[JimC]

mejaka, thank you for the reply.
We have no intention of trying to change anything about Idaho. I've been driving 70 miles one way to work for many years so the kids could be safer and have a little taste of raising animals and whatever they can grow in the garden.
Not being in a big city now, we have a fair idea of what to expect if we end up in a smaller town. Between fires and floods and the ocasional snow and ice we get here.
I spent a great deal of my youth in Wyoming and have reached a point in my life where I need to get back to that lifestyle for the family as much as myself.
I'm glad you mentioned Inkom. I've been looking there and McCammon. The Marsh Valley school district seems pretty good from the state school website.

Sorry for rambling on and thanks again.

[Sage of Sagle]

Inkom has some appeal, but you'd probably want to live somewhere AWAY from the center of town where the big industrial thing sits...driving by on the freeway I look over and think to myself "wow, wouldn't want to live in the middle of a mill/mine town"....

[JimC]

Thanks for the advise Sage.
where ever we end up it won't be in town. We do need some land. While I don't have the funds or time to be a land baron or probably even a gentleman farmer I would like 2 or 3 acres definatly not more than 5.
We'll be in Pocatello the last week of March to check out the area.By then I should have a better idea of what my new employer will consider an acceptable area. I'll be able to telecomute but the job is based in Pocatello. So I'm not quite sure how thats going to work yet.

Jim

[mejaka]

We looked at some land in Inkom once. It was up Marsh Creek Road (which runs behind the cement plant), an 8-acre parcel that spanned a valley...so beautiful. Also, on top of the Northwest Pipeline, with more easements than I can even remember. We couldn't manage to fit a house in without violating something so we gave up.

I did my teaching internship in Marsh Valley. It's likely that it's still much the same as it was then. Please don't take this as an absolute deal-breaker, but be prepared to help your kids adjust, unless you happen to be Mormon. Marsh Valley is very LDS-concentrated. You'll hear some negative stuff from people about living among Mormons, and a lot of it is just bias, but in this instance it might be a challenge. I had three non-LDS students in an entire day of classes, and there was some vitriol running both ways.

The Marsh Valley students I taught were constantly trying to get me to tell them if I were LDS. I refused, for obvious reasons.

And yeah, I am. Active my entire life, card-carrying Mormon.

[livininIdaho]

I was just reading the comment obout the person who taught at Marsh Valley....My son went there (8th grade) for one year after moving up from Las Vegas. Not a great experience. We now drive him 20 miles every day into Pocatello to attend Century High. It's WAY more normal and worth the drive. At least w/ the mountains it's a GORGEOUS drive. This area...south of Pocatello on 1-15 is some of the prettiest in this end of the country...in my opinion

[JimC]

Kind of funny this thread got brought back to the top. I leave Sunday for Idaho. My start date is June 11th and as long as I'm not more than 60 miles from Pocatello the boss is happy. It seems like blackfoot is leading in the bang for the buck catagory. At least from the online listings I can find.

[cleosmom]

Originally Posted by JimC

Kind of funny this thread got brought back to the top. I leave Sunday for Idaho. My start date is June 11th and as long as I'm not more than 60 miles from Pocatello the boss is happy. It seems like blackfoot is leading in the bang for the buck catagory. At least from the online listings I can find.

Blackfoot? I'd go for Chubbuck/Pocatello area hands down over Blackfoot. Then again, you'll get a chance to see when you get here.

[JimC]

OK, enlighten me please. The only research I've done is staring at this darn monitor. I haven't been able to find a lot of info on Blackfoot and was hoping that might be a good thing.