Coeur D Alene vs. Missoula

[redhead]

Originally Posted by Minnesconsinite

I agree with this.

But I also think there's the liberal/conservative factor. Idaho is very red. So is Montana, but Missoula is a more liberal town.

yah idaho is red; but coeur d'alene kinda has a split personality. it's a resort town superimposed on top of a minning town. so you have a roughneck with an inflated head to top it off. so it's not as conservative as the rest of idaho. and as far as more places to go to in missoula than CDA; that's a big WHAT!! with spokane 40 miles away from cda and the closest big city to missoula is hundreds of miles away there's no comparison. cda is surrounded my cities. missoula has some small towns of a few thousand but that's it. not to mention that olympia is just about 3.5 hours from outskirts of spokane with tacoma about another hour further and seattle less then 5 hours away, you can do some pretty decent road trips out of cda to get out of the snow and to have a great variety of weekdend get aways. that's something many people don't even think about when they want to make a change of living and move to the country. when you live in a big city or around a metro area, there's much to do to fill your weekends. even though you think you want to get away from it all, there may and most likely will be times that you want a variety of places to explore. so that's just something to think about, people who live in bozeman, missoula are pretty limited on their weekend get aways cause whereever they go it just more of the same.

[MSPLove]

Originally Posted by redhead

yah idaho is red; but coeur d'alene kinda has a split personality. it's a resort town superimposed on top of a minning town. so you have a roughneck with an inflated head to top it off. so it's not as conservative as the rest of idaho. and as far as more places to go to in missoula than CDA; that's a big WHAT!! with spokane 40 miles away from cda and the closest big city to missoula is hundreds of miles away there's no comparison. cda is surrounded my cities. missoula has some small towns of a few thousand but that's it. not to mention that olympia is just about 3.5 hours from outskirts of spokane with tacoma about another hour further and seattle less then 5 hours away, you can do some pretty decent road trips out of cda to get out of the snow and to have a great variety of weekdend get aways. that's something many people don't even think about when they want to make a change of living and move to the country. when you live in a big city or around a metro area, there's much to do to fill your weekends. even though you think you want to get away from it all, there may and most likely will be times that you want a variety of places to explore. so that's just something to think about, people who live in bozeman, missoula are pretty limited on their weekend get aways cause whereever they go it just more of the same.

Yep. Agreed.

[redhead]

correction: olympia wa is about 5 hours from spokane, seattle is about 4 hours from spokane. sorta of backwards of what i said in my previous post.

[SkorMT]

Originally Posted by redhead

yah idaho is red; but coeur d'alene kinda has a split personality. it's a resort town superimposed on top of a minning town. so you have a roughneck with an inflated head to top it off. so it's not as conservative as the rest of idaho. and as far as more places to go to in missoula than CDA; that's a big WHAT!! with spokane 40 miles away from cda and the closest big city to missoula is hundreds of miles away there's no comparison. cda is surrounded my cities. missoula has some small towns of a few thousand but that's it. not to mention that olympia is just about 3.5 hours from outskirts of spokane with tacoma about another hour further and seattle less then 5 hours away, you can do some pretty decent road trips out of cda to get out of the snow and to have a great variety of weekdend get aways. that's something many people don't even think about when they want to make a change of living and move to the country. when you live in a big city or around a metro area, there's much to do to fill your weekends. even though you think you want to get away from it all, there may and most likely will be times that you want a variety of places to explore. so that's just something to think about, people who live in bozeman, missoula are pretty limited on their weekend get aways cause whereever they go it just more of the same.

wow.. limited time visiting Bozeman and Missoula I see if you think it's all a bunch of the "same" :P

if big city "wants" is all the OP wants for their "weekend" trips.. but there's other things to life than shopping...

You'll probably find lots of similarities in both areas.. for things to do..

Skiing, x-country skiing, rafting, white water rafting, camping.. mountain biking, or just setting up a line and doing some shore fishing, or water skiiing on a lake..

Pluses for Missoula:
Glacier National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Virgina City
Lewis And Clark Caverns.. just to name some of the more commen touristy stuff ..

Tons of hiking, biking and camping options do to the large amount of government owned land that is "usually" open access
Missoula is also a very culturally active town.. so lots of different events going on through out the year.. and with a university in the town .. that helps even more.. including sports teams.. that on a good year.. even make it to some of the "finals" type things

do be pre-warned about the inversion layer that can happen on occasion in the valley in which the Missoula sets.. it can be an annoying factorl... as well as traffic challenges at rush .. but then .. isn't that every city :P

I don't know of the pluses for outdoor type stuff for CDA
other than it has a huge lake right out it's door.. but with that comes lots of "summer" homes.. and such..

CDA will fill more Bigger City like.. if that's what you want .. but from my travels through the area.. it's also VERY spread out..

really.. ideally.. you should/could visit both.. and try and get a feel ..

if I had kids.. ... me personally. I'd probably go with Missoula.. just cause I know what MT people are like... but do check the different data elements that are available on line too.. for Crime Stats.. Drug Stats and stuff like that.. school stats.. most of which can be found here on City-Data ..

[redhead]

SKOR all the things you list as pluses for missoula are outdoor things. consider the fact that not all people who move to montana are big hikers/hunters/skiers/campers/fishers; one would ask then why would you move to montana?.......lots of good reasons to want to live in the rocky mountain states other than the obvious outdoors benefits............................. looks like you live in seattle............you get a different take on an area once you live in it long term. visting is great and you can fall in love with an area becasue of what you want to get away from; however, there's the day to day existance that can change your attitude about living solely in the great outdoors. things like just wanting to take a road trip to see something different. and wanting a variety of shopping doesn't mean that you live to shop either. visiting and driving through an area is quite different than living year after year in an area. the practical aspect of what it means becomes real.
people are friendier in montana then CDA yet CDA still has very content and friendly people. and as you pointed out mountain weather can be precarious and not just in the winter. summers are filled with thunder storms that can blow in at the drop of a hat. with CDA it's right on the cusp of the mountain range so you can head west and have a big change in just about everything.

[ctr88]

Personally I would take Missoula in a heartbeat over CDL. Missoula has a way cooler, unique vibe being a university town. Unique restaurants, unique cafes, interesting events, more interesting crowd, just a more interesting place overall. And I think road trips to Flathead Lake & Whitefish MT are nicer than anything around CDL IMO. The beauty around Whitefish & Bigfork in the summers is very hard to beat. I was just in the Idaho panhandle (CDL, Sandpoint, Priest Lake) and I like Missoula MUCH, MUCH better. Missoula feels a little like a mini Portland OR or Austin TX.