Considering Caribou (Presque Isle, Limestone, Penobscot: transfer, good schools, living)

[azmoving]

My husband is looking at a promotion that would take us to Caribou, ME. He's asking for my opinion rightfully so and I honestly don't know what to say. I was hoping someone who is living there or has lived there could give me some background information about the area. Things I'm specifically interested in would be education and raising a family with small children. I live in Arizona now but I grew up in West Central Wisconsin so I know about snow but not the amount that I know that part of the world gets. I'd like to know how you deal with the incredibly long winters. Honestly any information would be welcomed. Thanks!

[RHB]

I've never lived there, hopefully someone with experience living there can chime in.
We do have some friends up there, my son went to school up there, it seems like a good place, if you like small towns, and enjoy country living. I do, so I thought it was great.

[NJ2ME]

Honestly if you grew up in Wisconsin, I don't think the length of winters is going to be WAY different. I am in north Penobscot County (so right under Aroostook County) and I have a friend that lives in Wisconsin. Our random snow before December and then the random continuing snow after March wasn't much different.

[maineguy8888]

Snow ranges from 70 inches (freakishly low) to 200 inches (freakishly high). Per winter, that is. Gotta have a good snowblower or hire a plow guy!!

[Coaster]

I don't live in Caribou, but have known many people who have lived there. My daughter attended the Maine School of Science and Math in neighboring Limestone for two years, so we were up there regularly in all kinds of weather. The town itself is very nice, compact, good schools. Like many Aroostook County communities, there is a high level of civic involvement among residents. FWIW there's an active local agriculture community and farmer's market.

If you've lived in Wisconsin, then the weather won't be a surprise. The winters are cold and snowy, and summers can be surprisingly warm, if short. My wife is from the Midwest, and she says it's the only part of Maine that reminds her of home. I've known people who were transferred to Presque Isle and Caribou for jobs who have refused promotions (in one case, to Hawaii!) so they could stay in northern Maine to live and raise their families.

I'm sure there are down sides -- poverty, drugs, etc. But I'm not aware of anything specific.

[FNolan]

I moved to the Loring base about a year and a half ago from Kansas City, MO. I grew-up in Central NY near Syracuse so I was well prepared for the winters here. We had the same amount of snow from lake effect but it didn't get much colder than -20F as to -40F here. I don't know about the schools since our kids are all grown and still live in MO. It's a friendly place but if you are in to shopping and night life you wont find much of either here.

To make it through the winter just do what you did in WI. Keep yourself busy with hobbies or if you're into outdoor activities in the winter there is plenty here, skiing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, ice fishing etc.

[azmoving]

Thanks everyone for the info! I greatly appreciate it. I will admit I'm a little worried about moving to Caribou and I should have put this in my original post but I grew up on a dairy farm 20 minutes from anything and over an hour from anything significant (3-4 hours to something major) and as a result I don't think I was exposed to a lot of things and socially I'll admit I'm still a little awkward. Moral of the story is I don't want my daughter growing up in such an isolated environment where we're all alone. I just want to be sure that there are things for her and us to do from time to time so she can make friends and I can make friends and learn and grow.

[RHB]

Caribou is the town, so if you stay in town, you should be fine.

[Kiwiluver]

Last time I was in Arizona, there were some wide open spaces there, as desolate as anywhere in Maine, unless you live in the suburb of LA called Phoenix. If you reside there, Caribou is light years ahead in many area's, and if my kids were small I wouldn't think twice about raising them there. Good luck on whatever you decide, it is difficult to pick up and move across the country to the unknown.

[maineguy8888]

In other places I've lived, there are no real divisions between the towns.......it seems like just one big town that goes on and on and on. And yet, when it came to finding a store or library or whatever, we had to drive a long ways, because all the retailers or services clustered in a few areas, which might not be close at all. Around here, every town is distinct, and the larger ones have all of their own stores, services, etc. And you don't have to drive twenty or thirty minutes to get to them.
The only things Caribou doesn't have is a mall or Wal Mart. There's a small mall and a Super Wal Mart ten miles away in Presque Isle if we need them, which we rarely do personally. (And I'm glad to not have Wal Mart in our town!)