Idaho Falls, Pocatello (Boise, Rexburg, Blackfoot: 2009, crime rate, Home Depot)

[catcol500]

Hello,

I'm am currently living in Tennessee and formally of Oregon giving much thought about relocating back West and specifically to Idaho. I have traveled through idaho many times and am amazed at the beauty of the state. I have many criteria to make before making a decision about where to live and one of them is dancing. I love to dance Country, West Coast Swing, Ballroom, and Hustle. I have searched the Idaho Falls thread and have not got any hits on dancing. Is there dancing in your area, or anyone who does? Is your community receptive to dancers? I hope I don't tire you out asking questions, I'll have many more questions like utilities etc., and many outdoor activities like hunting, fishing, camping, bicyling. I will greatly appreciate all the help...

[cleosmom]

Okay so I did a quick search on Google and came up with this Swing Junction if it's not what you're after, you might drop them an email and see if they can point you in the right direction.

if that's not up your alley and it might not be as I didn't notice the West Coast until after I ran the search, then try this http://www.dancetechstudio.com/

[jamespocaid]

don't know about dancing. but pocatello, where i live is outdoors activity heaven. lots of trails within 30 minutes from city to hike mountain bike also fishing and hunting. and skiing snowshoeing in the winter. i moved here from wisconsin about 2 years ago. never regretted it once. people are very friendly here, cost of living is much lower, property taxes much lower etc. at least compared to wisconsin. pop. is about 50,000 or so. has enough shopping for me 5 grocery stores, sears, lowes, home depot, and a nice variety of restaurants well for me at least.

[Mtn. States Resident]

Originally Posted by catcol500

Hello,

I'm am currently living in Tennessee and formally of Oregon giving much thought about relocating back West and specifically to Idaho. I have traveled through idaho many times and am amazed at the beauty of the state. I have many criteria to make before making a decision about where to live and one of them is dancing. I love to dance Country, West Coast Swing, Ballroom, and Hustle. I have searched the Idaho Falls thread and have not got any hits on dancing. Is there dancing in your area, or anyone who does? Is your community receptive to dancers? I hope I don't tire you out asking questions, I'll have many more questions like utilities etc., and many outdoor activities like hunting, fishing, camping, bicyling. I will greatly appreciate all the help...

The quick answer is yes to dancing in Idaho Falls. Many children have special dance classes and programs in the summer, let alone the school year. That would suggest to me their parents value dancing.

I suspect you may not have gotten some more obscure websites or other ways dance activities are announced.

Additionally, each year BYU-Idaho (about 30 miles north in Rexburg) hosts The International Dance Festival Dancers each summer. A related article tells a bit so you may research more:

"Host Families Still Needed For Dance Festival Dancers"

www.localnews8.com/Global/story.asp?S=10821843"

I don't mean to be intrusive, but the opportunities for different types of dance (including local Idaho Falls clubs, planned dance facility etc.) may depend on your age and when you hope to be able to dance. For example, INL workers may find certain dance classes or dances more difficult to attend, since most work four 10 hour days. That means they don't get home until later in the evening.

Do you belong to any associations or socities for dancing? They may be able to tell you more.

I hope this information helps you.

MSR

[Jgroes]

Originally Posted by catcol500

Hello,

I'm am currently living in Tennessee and formally of Oregon giving much thought about relocating back West and specifically to Idaho. I have traveled through idaho many times and am amazed at the beauty of the state. I have many criteria to make before making a decision about where to live and one of them is dancing. I love to dance Country, West Coast Swing, Ballroom, and Hustle. I have searched the Idaho Falls thread and have not got any hits on dancing. Is there dancing in your area, or anyone who does? Is your community receptive to dancers? I hope I don't tire you out asking questions, I'll have many more questions like utilities etc., and many outdoor activities like hunting, fishing, camping, bicyling. I will greatly appreciate all the help...

I was born and raised in Pocatello and spent a large amount of time Idaho Falls. I've since left the area (military), but will be retiring to Boise here in a few short years. My .2c's would be to relocate to Idaho Falls, vice Pocatello. Perhaps because I lived in Poky my whole life (up until 18) and still visit there frequently (family) is why I'd prefer IF. Don't get me wrong, Poky has some wonderful things going for it, but my impression over the last several years is that IF is more up and coming than Poky. Yes, Poky is surrounded by natural beauty with an abundance of outdoor activities, but it just doensn't have the progressive feel like IF.

To me, all of Idaho is beautiful, from the mountains to the desert. However, IF is a tad closer to the Tetons, Yellowstone, Montana, Wyoming, etc...

Are you only considering SE ID?

JG

[catcol500]

Thanks for the responses. I searched the net but didn't get a hit on the Swing junction site. I do a little lindy. I'm retirement age and they are a bit younger, but I can still outdance most thirty year olds. I'll contact the dancetech studio but I suspect it's more geared to childern. I have competed nationally in Dance sport, and have done some competition in West Coast Swing, and country. I have also taught dance in Oregon and Tennessee, and I have trained with some of the best dancers in the nation. Maybe I can get some classes going in Idaho Falls if there is an interest and If I relocated there. I did find a West Coast Swing club in Boise. As for hunting I would love to Elk hunt again. I did a lot of Elk and Blacktail deer hunting if Oregon. The more I research IF the more I am impressed. I did some extensive data searching and was amazed how low the crime rate was. Belive me, you don't want to live in Memphis. I was also impressed at the level of college and post college graduates in IF. One thing I have never done is fly fishing. I would love to learn. Is fly fishing also on the menue in ID area? Another area that I am interested in is adult continuing education. How available is that in ID? Again, thanks for the input.

[cleosmom]

You bet fly fishing happens here and just a short drive from IF You can look at these links for more information:

HEISE EXPEDITIONS PREMIER FLY FISHING ON THE SOUTH FORK OF THE SNAKE RIVER

Fly Fishing in Idaho - Fly-Fishing the Montana and Idaho Hot Spots

We even have expos!! 2009 East Idaho Fly Fishing Expo & Banquet | Grow Idaho Falls

I have actually have clients that come to the area to visit specifically for fly fishing on the Snake.

I think that might be something that could fly here, offering up a different type of dance, maybe talk to Dance Tech about it?

[Mtn. States Resident]

Originally Posted by catcol500

Thanks for the responses. I searched the net but didn't get a hit on the Swing junction site. I do a little lindy. I'm retirement age and they are a bit younger, but I can still outdance most thirty year olds. I'll contact the dancetech studio but I suspect it's more geared to childern. I have competed nationally in Dance sport, and have done some competition in West Coast Swing, and country. I have also taught dance in Oregon and Tennessee, and I have trained with some of the best dancers in the nation. Maybe I can get some classes going in Idaho Falls if there is an interest and If I relocated there. I did find a West Coast Swing club in Boise. As for hunting I would love to Elk hunt again. I did a lot of Elk and Blacktail deer hunting if Oregon. The more I research IF the more I am impressed. I did some extensive data searching and was amazed how low the crime rate was. Belive me, you don't want to live in Memphis. I was also impressed at the level of college and post college graduates in IF. One thing I have never done is fly fishing. I would love to learn. Is fly fishing also on the menue in ID area? Another area that I am interested in is adult continuing education. How available is that in ID? Again, thanks for the input.

catcol500,

Perhaps I should ask what you are interested in for continuing ed? You say you are of retirement age. Many "retired" in Idaho Falls will enroll in a regular college course of dancing at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg, about 25-30 minutes north. I'm not sure what ISU offers for dancing - certainly nothing in Idaho Falls.

But, I'm certainly not the most pro-ISU poster here, so I may not know. Certainly, ISU has carefully "regulated," allowing the Idaho Falls campus to not grow too big, and offer all the classes demanded, as the Idaho Falls location would take not much time to outgrow the Pocatello home campus, IMHO.

As I've predicted here and elsewhere, fortunately, locals don't have to depend on ISU for education, as private universities are moving in to help fill the void. So someone else may be able to tell you about ISU.

Plus, I can't think of the name of it, but there use to be a really active dance club in Blackfoot, about 25 minutes south. Maybe someone will remember it.

Props to cleosmom about the Fly Fishing - Idaho Falls is the fly fishing capitol of the world. What's super cool, is Harris Publishing, a local business that publishes about 10-12 magazine, publishes one about fly fishing (or at least one part of one of their magazines is about fly fishing).

Check this website out for more info in general about Idaho Falls (and you can check out more about Harris Publications via the links too). It finally dawned on me that printing the volume of national/int'l magazines that they do is what has lead to so many independent journalists and/or writers being in eastern ID. Many have won major writing awards.

Here's the link: Idaho Falls Magazine

Enjoy -

MSR

[catcol500]

Thanks for all the good information everyone.

Sorry for the late response. I was offline for awhile. I switched internet providers. It sounds like fly fishing heaven in IF & Poc. As for colleges & universities I was hoping for something like Portland Oregon had. There was an abundence of Adult education courses of varying interests. I recently took a golf class and a food canning and preservation course at the University of Memphis. Memphis is very limited compared to Portland Or. I'd also be interested in taking computer and video editing courses. Other courses I would be interested in are hunting and fly fishing. I want to spend my retirement enjoying what the west has to offer. I intially focused in on Utah and Idaho because of the proximity of the National Parks. I'm very interested IF & POC because of the closeness of Yellowstone and Grand Teton. I've spent five vacations there and always left with a feeling of coming back. I would finally be close enough to, and have the time and oportunity to explore Idaho and Utah. I have done some wilderness camping in Hells Canyon. Beautiful! Eveytime I drove through Idaho I felt like this is where I want to be. My only concern is the cold winters. Having lived in the south for some time it will take a bit to readjust to the cold again. Don't get me wrong. I've experience cold. I live in Iowa for thirteen years and have experienced many sub zero winters. As far as wilderness camping in Idaho it seems to me to be less inhabited by people compared to Oregon, and I would imaging a lot more rugged. I'm sure there are wildlife issues so is tent camping relatively safe in remote areas. I heard on another thread that bears weren't so much of a problem but mountain lions were. Is this true? I love hiking and camping. I also have another question conerning IF & POC. Is there a noise problem. What I mean by noise is the boom box cars. One thing I find very annoying is being vibrated out of my house. Are the noise codes enforced? Memphis is horrible. I'm still checking out the dancing scene information.

[Mtn. States Resident]

Originally Posted by catcol500

Thanks for all the good information everyone.

Sorry for the late response. I was offline for awhile. I switched internet providers. It sounds like fly fishing heaven in IF & Poc. As for colleges & universities I was hoping for something like Portland Oregon had. There was an abundence of Adult education courses of varying interests. I recently took a golf class and a food canning and preservation course at the University of Memphis. Memphis is very limited compared to Portland Or. I'd also be interested in taking computer and video editing courses. Other courses I would be interested in are hunting and fly fishing. I want to spend my retirement enjoying what the west has to offer. I intially focused in on Utah and Idaho because of the proximity of the National Parks. I'm very interested IF & POC because of the closeness of Yellowstone and Grand Teton. I've spent five vacations there and always left with a feeling of coming back. I would finally be close enough to, and have the time and oportunity to explore Idaho and Utah. I have done some wilderness camping in Hells Canyon. Beautiful! Eveytime I drove through Idaho I felt like this is where I want to be. My only concern is the cold winters. Having lived in the south for some time it will take a bit to readjust to the cold again. Don't get me wrong. I've experience cold. I live in Iowa for thirteen years and have experienced many sub zero winters. As far as wilderness camping in Idaho it seems to me to be less inhabited by people compared to Oregon, and I would imaging a lot more rugged. I'm sure there are wildlife issues so is tent camping relatively safe in remote areas. I heard on another thread that bears weren't so much of a problem but mountain lions were. Is this true? I love hiking and camping. I also have another question conerning IF & POC. Is there a noise problem. What I mean by noise is the boom box cars. One thing I find very annoying is being vibrated out of my house. Are the noise codes enforced? Memphis is horrible. I'm still checking out the dancing scene information.

Compared to Memphis, there is virtually no noise of "boom box cars." I like that term, may I borrow it?

Sure, on Friday or Sat. nights, a few will drive down major streets, but it doesn't go on in every neighborhood, every street. Make sure to check with the realtors though about that issue, wherever you go.

BTW - I forgot to mention the CE at Eastern Idaho Technical College. A lot of seniors and others take classes there (usually at evening/late afternoon, given how packed the campus is). You may want to check to see what they have. You can open up the Community Education schrfule from this link: Welcome to Eastern Idaho Technical College

Plus, at least for the City of Idaho Falls, they have a very active Parks and Recreation Dept. Activities all the time.

http://www.ci.idaho-falls.id.us/main...ageId=856]City of Idaho Falls - Parks & Recreation[/url]

Hope that helps......a realtor probably could answer more.

MSR