I'm not afraid to say it. (Reasons for moving to ID) (homes, schools)

[Raelyn28]

Your friends...are they in California? If so than they ask you why you would want to move to Idaho because:

1) they don't know what is in Idaho (it is beautiful and clean and laid-back)
2) they are jealous because they cannot find a way out of the rat-race (California)

I use to live in California and I moved to Oregon.. Best thing I could have ever done. I feel sorry for my friends who asked me the same question and I have never been back, not even for a visit.. You go where you want to go and don't listen to what they have to say...

Are you moving to Coeur de alene??? It is gorgeous.. Post falls is nice too..

Originally Posted by DESERTRYDER

With just a few weeks left at work and retirement coming all my friends ask " Why would you want to move to Idaho ".

I have given this alot of thought and there is no way to say it without sounding like I'm racist.
I am just sick of my town and my state turning into little Mexico.
40 kids in my sons classroom and the govenor is cutting teachers because the state is going broke paying for all the social programs . 45 kids next year.
Trash litters our streets and the front of homes with handfulls of children sitting there in the middle of it doing nothing. My dad would have kicked my ass for not taking the time to clean up our own yard without direction from him. It was a pride thing. . What has happened to the community sprit that led me to think that everyone's yard is always clean.
I must have watched Wally and the Beaver way too much...
Gangsters and murder every day front page of the Fresno Bee.
Cops being second guessed by liberal politicans because they were too harsh of these punks that show absolutely no regard for anybody.
I believe that if a cops has to chase some hoodlum across town at a high rate of speed his adrenline alone should find him innocent after he kicks this punks ass. Back to street duty with a pay raise and a job well done.
Now tonight in a local department store it looked like a bomb went off.
Clothes and shoes laying all over the floor with kids running unattended everywhere. Every advertisement over the PA system was in spanish.
I was imbarressed to be in there. What has happend to our town? We were outcasts in our own city.
I know that life won't be perfect when we get to Idaho.
I just want it to be an improvement from central California.
Now the TAXES , traffic , air polution, diminishing ground water, and OHV trail closures are a whole different rant.
Somebody slap me down and tell me how wrong I am.. Or is it just time for us to leave?

[Steak]

I hope I'm not frightening the Idaho natives, but we are another So California family coming to Idaho in just a few weeks. We bought a very small place in Dalton Gardens. My hometown city is not even recognizable to me anymore. Our family loves the outdoors, but when we go to the mountains and the rivers, we find trash and graffitti. I've had enough. I know I will not make as much money, or have as good of restaurants, but that doesn't matter. I want my daughter to be in a place where she can play in the dirt, climb the trees. I want a nice river to cast my fly line into.

[pimit2]

Steak wrote:

I hope I'm not frightening the Idaho natives, but we are another So California family coming to Idaho in just a few weeks. We bought a very small place in Dalton Gardens. My hometown city is not even recognizable to me anymore. Our family loves the outdoors, but when we go to the mountains and the rivers, we find trash and graffitti. I've had enough. I know I will not make as much money, or have as good of restaurants, but that doesn't matter. I want my daughter to be in a place where she can play in the dirt, climb the trees. I want a nice river to cast my fly line into.

Let me assure you, Steak, that we are not frightened to hear that another SoCal family is about to join us. If truth be known, most of us who live here are not Idaho natives, but folks who left circumstances similar to yours so we could have a place to "play in the dirt" and "climb trees". We understand!

As someone who also likes to cast a fly line into a nice river, let me tell you that the pristine picture of no trash or graffitti you wish for can usually be found in our mountains and along our rivers. But, sadly, that is not always the case. Some who have relocated to Idaho, a few visitors, and even some natives are not as respectful of the outdoors as they should be. About all we can do is clean up after them!

Good luck with your move to Dalton Gardens. We understand and you are welcome, believe me.


Pimit2 (Bob)

[Sage of Sagle]

Originally Posted by Steak

I hope I'm not frightening the Idaho natives, but we are another So California family coming to Idaho in just a few weeks. We bought a very small place in Dalton Gardens. My hometown city is not even recognizable to me anymore. Our family loves the outdoors, but when we go to the mountains and the rivers, we find trash and graffitti. I've had enough. I know I will not make as much money, or have as good of restaurants, but that doesn't matter. I want my daughter to be in a place where she can play in the dirt, climb the trees. I want a nice river to cast my fly line into.

You're going to love it here. Just a word of advice...don't do any winter preparations halfway. Spend the money the first time to buy proper clothing, winterize the holy heck out of stuff, and overdo anything from storage sheds to car/atv covers to shovels since a good snow year will challenge your residential infrastructure.

Oh...and find some place to go to get toasty warm with your daughter in the winter. We go to SWAC in Sandpoint (Sandpoint West Athletic Club) and swim in their heated lap pool and sit in the big spa. After swimming, I can sit there in swim trunks and flip flops watching my kids swim and working on my laptop, while 3' away outside the huge windows is 4-5' of snow and 5 degree temps. But this type of thing REALLY helps. Basketball, volleyball, racquetball...anything like that. Oh...and CDA Skate Plaza over near you is one of our kids favorite places to go play indoors.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by Steak

I hope I'm not frightening the Idaho natives, but we are another So California family coming to Idaho in just a few weeks. We bought a very small place in Dalton Gardens. My hometown city is not even recognizable to me anymore. Our family loves the outdoors, but when we go to the mountains and the rivers, we find trash and graffitti. I've had enough. I know I will not make as much money, or have as good of restaurants, but that doesn't matter. I want my daughter to be in a place where she can play in the dirt, climb the trees. I want a nice river to cast my fly line into.

Dalton Gardens! Well now...I hope it won't be long before we see you on the North Idaho Porch thread! Come and visit, and tell us about how things are going with the move. Those of us who are SoCals/ex-SoCals know exactly what you're saying.

[KTMMan]

After living in one my entire life, I can't understand the subdivision thing. Why anyone would leave here (Socal) and move to a subdivision in Idaho when there are alot of affordable places on 2-5 acres is beyond my comprehension. You could get stuck with the same lousy neighbor problems you left for. And that new house isn't likely to be cheaper although maybe easier to get financing. My wife has made me promise her that before she dies ,she will live somewhere where she can't hear the neighbor lady talking on the phone. And that is what I'm trying to accomplish at the present for her and my family. And trust me I resent he Socal attitude more than anyone in Idaho. I have relatives in Wyoming and I consider them to be in a different country than here. My uncle says his pulse goes up 20 RPM's when he comes over the Cajon pass to visit us here. I hope to make it to the Idaho front porch someday and the only things coming with me are my guns and motorcycles, neither of which are of much use in California anymore. I plan on leaving my kids electronics here as well. Misty I volunteer my kids to work the pony rides, they both speak english - HONEST! Trace I'm sorry I can't be anywhere near you as both of my sons collect knives and I still have to get them through college (although I might be able to justify one for myself, HeHeHe). So save me a spot up there somewhere, I'll be there I hope sooner rather than later.

[jc66]

Originally Posted by DESERTRYDER

With just a few weeks left at work and retirement coming all my friends ask " Why would you want to move to Idaho ".

I have given this alot of thought and there is no way to say it without sounding like I'm racist.
I am just sick of my town and my state turning into little Mexico.
40 kids in my sons classroom and the govenor is cutting teachers because the state is going broke paying for all the social programs . 45 kids next year.
Trash litters our streets and the front of homes with handfulls of children sitting there in the middle of it doing nothing. My dad would have kicked my ass for not taking the time to clean up our own yard without direction from him. It was a pride thing. . What has happened to the community sprit that led me to think that everyone's yard is always clean.
I must have watched Wally and the Beaver way too much...
Gangsters and murder every day front page of the Fresno Bee.
Cops being second guessed by liberal politicans because they were too harsh of these punks that show absolutely no regard for anybody.
I believe that if a cops has to chase some hoodlum across town at a high rate of speed his adrenline alone should find him innocent after he kicks this punks ass. Back to street duty with a pay raise and a job well done.
Now tonight in a local department store it looked like a bomb went off.
Clothes and shoes laying all over the floor with kids running unattended everywhere. Every advertisement over the PA system was in spanish.
I was imbarressed to be in there. What has happend to our town? We were outcasts in our own city.
I know that life won't be perfect when we get to Idaho.
I just want it to be an improvement from central California.
Now the TAXES , traffic , air polution, diminishing ground water, and OHV trail closures are a whole different rant.
Somebody slap me down and tell me how wrong I am.. Or is it just time for us to leave?

The reason your city (and the entire state) has gone to hell is because ultra-liberal politics have been slowly destroying it for decades (getting faster & faster).

If you move here, remember, "when in Rome" - don't come to Idaho and vote for Left-leaning politicians and programs. If you do (as many California transplants do) this beautiful place will eventually turn into the same sewer that you're leaving behind.

Clear?

[MrGerardo]

Originally Posted by ejay

Well let me give you some history to fill in the gaps for you so you understand. I moved here in 1975 my Dad just got out of the Air Force and his parents lived in Post Falls. My great grandpa owned a little cafe in Wallace and my grand pa worked in the mines in Kellogg. Now in 1975 the whole USA was a different place and so was Idaho. Things around here were pretty quiet for quite awhile. We always had tourists here mostly from Washington. Some owned houses on Hayden and Cda lakes but they were few. It stayed this way for quite awhile. People would move up here from California and think it was paradise then they would just leave. It went on like this for years.
Then in 1985 my Dad could not find work here so one of his friends who was from California convinces my Dad to move to Grass Valley California. And so in April of 85 we drive to California with little to nothing. My time in California was 7 years of fun filled with a lot of hell. I was called spud at school and teased quite a bit for being from Idaho. I just did not fit in with the local kids who were mostly from the So Cal area. They drove nice new cars to school and I had my old 67 chevelle. Some of the guys I got to know were kids who grew up in the area and since we both liked hunting and guns we all got along great. I still talk to those guys today.
In 92 my Dad decided he had enough of California and we moved back to the only place I ever called home. Having a Dad in the military moved me around a lot when I was younger. And Post Falls was home to me. When I got back everything was the same for the most part. I got together with my school friends and life was back to normal. I was around my people again I fit in. Then around the summer of 2000 things around here start to change. The saw mills that are left are closing and development is starting to take off. Friends that I have known for twenty plus years move away along with their families. And a new style of living starts to creep in where money and cars show your status in life. People start driving rudely cutting you off and not being patient. It takes a half hour to get from Cda to Hayden when it used to only take me ten mins.

Of course Idaho is way better than California and just like I learned when I moved there from Idaho. You can take the boy out of Idaho but you can't the Idaho out of the boy. Problem is I don't fit in here anymore and just like you not liking the changes to Cali I don't like the way this place is changing. I see the same trends here that I saw in the foothills. Regular folk being bought out by people who have the money to do so. The rest of us that choose to stay here are getting behind. My wages are going down year by year. I know things change I just want others to realize that what they have today will be gone tomorrow. I saw it happen to California the greatest state we had. Now look at it. That same attitude is developing it's self here. Just go and read the Cda press comments section and you can see the cultural divide between the new move ins and the locals. People are pretty rude to one another on their site.

When you are used to your town being a certain way for years and then see it change in less than five years you can't help but feel disillusioned. I used to believe that I could work here and make a living. Now I know that I will never be able to make the kind of money here that the people moving here have. For me it is just not possible. It may never be. In the end I and a lot of other people are being priced out of our town. Eventually we will not be able to afford the lifestyle of North Idaho.

I am not bitter I am just realizing a truth in my life. Your dream has become my nightmare. I am a simple guy that just wants to make a few bucks and raise my kids. I will never make a million dollars or have a big house. I never wanted those things they were not for me. I wanted a simple life with a slow pace. Luckily for me I got to enjoy Idaho before it was discovered and sold off to the highest bidder. You may be here now but home will always be home. It's the place where you learned the lessons of life. It's where you were taught and grew and it will always be inside of you no matter where you land. You are your home.

I love this place! To me it is the greatest place on earth! That is why I feel the way I do. If people think that Cda is better now with it's traffic and endless coffee stands ok. I liked it when it was a logger town full of regular folks living life. In the end it does not matter change is inevitable it's knowing when to change that get's tricky. Life is telling me to change...

Even though I live in Chicago and take care of my parents, I understand how life is becoming less and less simple and pretty much going to the highest bidder. Ejay, I understand your frustration. You were used to a much calmer life and now it's pretty much gone with the "lovely" Californians. Anyway, you have to look at the broader picture. Even though I've never been to Idaho, when I read other people's posts and read that the population in north Idaho is nowhere near as congested as the Chicagoland area, you have to realize that you do have it made there. This recession will hit a boiling point. I sometimes wish to move to the northwoods of Wisconsin, but that state has high taxes too. If you find a place, invite me too. No, I have no idea to turn Idaho into Chicagoland. I would leave so I don't have to live this crazy lifestyle of rush hour traffic and insane job turnovers.

[ejay]

Thanks and I hear ya loud and clear! I spent ten days in DC this year and I liked it. I also hated it. I have been all over and seen what the city has to offer. I am tired of the exclusiveness of people. The way they think money and status mean something. I does not matter when you are 200 miles away from anywhere and you are on the menu. It is a place where your life is truly in your hands your actions can have life or death consequences out there. Life becomes simple and in the moment very quickly. I prefer the country and if the country is going to turn into the city then why bother living in the country?

[jjkmd]

Was watching a saturday morning news show on Fox and Ben Stein mentioned about how California's tax policy was driving out small businesses and most were headed to North Idaho. Hehe so heads up :P