debating on Oregon or Idaho

[mwjjpp]

I was born and raised in Boise, ID, so I'm pretty familiar with the area - including Ontario, OR. Ontario is pretty typical high desert. Very dry. Very hot in the summer. Cold, but fairly dry, in the winter. As far as family is concerned, it all depends on what you want. If you are river rafters, hikers, campers, etc, there's lots to do. If you like concerts and some form of night life, there's not that much to do. Ontario used to have a reputation as a place to score weed. Don't know as it's that way any more. Jobs would probably be pretty difficult to come by. Check realtor.com for current home prices - sometimes COC data can be outdated.
In Boise, the housing prices are climbing. Haven't checked in a while, but I'm guessing the average is somewhere around 140,000 to 150,000. Possibly the person who blasted Boise above was referring to the high child abuse ratio in Idaho (highest in the nation a couple years running about 8-10 years ago). There is indeed a "good old boy" network in Idaho. Very strongly tied to the prevalent religion in Idaho (same religion as Utah..). Same weather and recreational opportunities in Boise as there are in Ontario. Boise's got a nice greenbelt if you like biking - but there are some sections of it inhabited by homeless folk - and it has been the scene of violent crimes - so best not to go alone.
There are some breathtakingly beautiful places in all northwestern states. My preference tends toward mountains, pine trees, lakes and the ocean. You will find none of these attributes in the high desert area of these two states. But they are not too far away for a weekend vacation if that's acceptable to you...

Anyway, hope that helped. More than anything else, I'd recommend taking a week or so and visiting the areas that you're interested in. This will give you lots more info than any website or forum could. Also, anything less than a week really won't let you get a good feel for the place... Happy Hunting!

[Winston Smith]

Maybe huntman58 is really an "Idaho plant" posing as an outsider who had "something bad happen" -- a "be very afraid" scare tactic to keep outsiders out. It's got me curious.

[tfidguy]

I am beginning to believe Huntman58 actually lives in Idaho and is a NIMBY. His rantings are very interesting. Either he is one of the very few who had a bad experience (my bet is self-imposed) or he is trying to stem the tide of people moving to Idaho. I'll let other folks decide which it is for themselves.

[Email488]

Sorry to interrupt, only a non Oregonian transplant would not consider all of Oregon "Oregon".

I spent most of my life in Oregon and never once thought that Eastern Oregon was "not Oregon"??? I guess one would have to actually step out into the Eastern part to see "it is really there" and it's gorgeous as it can be. Dramatic cliffs, alpine lakes galore, evergreen trees and Aspens. And you think some of us don't consider Eastern Oregon part of Oregon? After being raised in Roseburg but yet camping and hiking all over the state, I can't help but defend Eastern Oregon against anyone who would say it's not part of Oregon. Since it covers most of the state, you best accept it).

When I lived in Roseburg I had no problem with SAD or depression, it seemed to be much more sunny than Portland. But, living outside of Portland was enough to make anyone sad! Yes, it's cloudy most of the year. The traffic is a mess, cost of living is high, and the outsiders coming in have definately changed the way Portland ticks. It's a beautiful city, but I'll just visit it occassionally and live in sunnier areas.

[shusto]

I moved from small town Oregon to small town Idaho in 1980 and lived there for 10 years. I know exactly what huntman is talking about. NOTHING IN MY LIFE prepared me for the organized evil I encountered there. Your children will not be safe. Your possesions will not be safe. You will not be safe. The police will not help you. They loose way more reports then they file. Regardless of how vile a crime may be committed against your children it will not be considered a real crime. And the file will be lost. I checked the statisics about 7 years ago and there were some towns in Idaho that had a real high suicide rate among the children. There are reasons for this. If you haven't grown up thinking this is normal, as I hadn't, the anger, hurt, terror, and frustration can really get to you. I escaped about 6 years ago and it still haunts me daily. The Idaho town I lived in was only about 25 miles from Ontario by the way.

[iammarby]

Here are a few local web sites that may help you.






Home Page of Nyssa, The Gateway to the Oregon Trail

City of Ontario, Oregon

City of Vale,*Oregon

Originally Posted by melnper

We are considering moving to Oregon or Idaho in the next year. Most of our research in Oregon has been the Ontario and Vale area. Can anyone tell me a little about these towns. The cost of real estate makes the area very temting, but is it too good to be true? According to the Chamber of Commerce, houses cost an average of $100,000. What is the job market like in Ontario? Is it a family friendly town. We have 2 kids and would like good schools and areas with activities, sports and other recreation. Are there other cities near Ontario worth considering?

[RuralSeeker]

I lived in Moscow, ID at one time and I found the people in this university town to be generally friendly, but also completely backwards and ignorant. Red right-to-work states like Idaho often have the redneck, backwoods element. Other than that, most of Idaho is a visually beautiful state, and I loved living out in the country. Oregon is overall much more progressive, but there is still that redneck and/or conservative element in the smaller towns. I've lived all over the U.S., and Oregon has the worst health care system I have seen by far.

[chrisruns2far]

Originally Posted by melnper

We are considering moving to Oregon or Idaho in the next year. Most of our research in Oregon has been the Ontario and Vale area. Can anyone tell me a little about these towns. The cost of real estate makes the area very temting, but is it too good to be true? According to the Chamber of Commerce, houses cost an average of $100,000. What is the job market like in Ontario? Is it a family friendly town. We have 2 kids and would like good schools and areas with activities, sports and other recreation. Are there other cities near Ontario worth considering?

I would recommend staying away from both. With the exception of Medford, Oregon, I consider Ontario and Vale, i.e. Malheur County to be the armpit of Oregon.....brown, fowl air and water, More pesticides are used in Malheur County than any other region within Oregon, high-crime for such a low population area, illegal immigration issues, failing schools, bulging prision population, the poverty rate in the county exceeeds 30%. Jobs would mostly be the below living wage service sector industry.

As for SW Idaho, IMO the Boise Metro Area is far and away the ugliest Metro area in the Northwest, with the possible exception of the Tri-Cities area of Southcentral Washington. Idaho is largly absent of any sustainable land use planning as the Boise Area is sprawling at a very rapid rate. In fact the Boise Metro Area (550,000 people) encompasses nearly 65% of the land space of the Portland, Oregon Metro Area even though the Portland Metro Area has 2,214,000 million people!!! Boise is one giant brown and treeless suburb and strip-mall. If you like asphalt, concrete, sterile tract-subdivision homes, brown and treeless hills and bad air quality, then the Boise Metro area is for you. I live in NE Oregon and I fly out of the Boise Airport (closest major airport) about once every two months to go to Wash DC for my job. The Stretch of land lying just south of Baker City Oregon all the way to Boise (115-120 miles) is IMO one of the ugliest stretches of highway in the Northwest.

There are so many nice areas of Oregon to choose from that are so much nicer than the Snake River Valley of Oregon and Idaho.

[iammarby]

Interesting enough...Jobs are on an increase in the area, with new growth and anticipated new growth...As with anywhere you may choose to go there are always unforeseen things about an area that may or may not bother you personally.
Each area has a beauty in & of itself...in the Malheur County area the atmosphere leans more toward a desert scenery type...surrounded by mountainous ranges it is magnificent.

Why not travel out & check it out...for yourself...good luck to you.