boise weather worth leaving coeurdalene? (Coeur d'Alene: real estate, employment, schools)

[warren5]

WE now live in CDA and love boating on the lakes but the long gray winters are actually making the nice part of the year seem to short.Getting tired of bundeling the kids up for five months out of the year .Would moving to Boise be worth leaving CDA since the mountains and rivers are pretty awesome out by boise. Are the lakes pretty crowded? And how about dirt bike riding. Thanks for all comments!

[boi2socal]

I don't know if weather would be a reason to move. Boise isn't as cold or snowy but I don't consider it a HUGE difference. Not enough to move. You'll still have to bundle the kids and Boise can sometimes get the icky inversion (many days of JUST gray with no real precipitation). Boise is much hotter in summer. That is something to consider.

My parents own a boat and frequent Lucky Peak Resevoir. It can get pretty busy during the weekends. They dock the boat at the lake so they can visit on weekdays when it is less busy.

...and overall Boise will move at a little faster pace than CDA.

[warren5]

Thanks for the reply on Boise. From the people we have talked to it seems a lot sunnier down there. 100 more days of sun. Worth it or not? By the way its snowing big time up here right now.

[MMullin]

Warren - we visited Boise for a couple of days during our "city" search last summer before deciding to relocate to the Spokane area. I've only been over to CDA once to bike the Centennial Trail and swam at the public beach behind the community college.

I think there is a HUGE difference in appeal to the two areas. CDA is heavily treed and the lake is spectacular. The mountains are less than an hour drive.

We found Boise to be dry, flat and brown. And that was in June. I drove out to Lucky Peak Resevoir as boating facilities were high on my list of priorities. That is not a very attractive lake - the "hills" around Boise are all low elevation and sparsely vegetated other than grasses. Yes, you can boat but it's pretty narrow and not very appealing. I did not visit any other lakes in the area because the rest were further from town.

I loved the small town feel of Boise and the downtown proper was really cool. Lots of people riding bikes and dinning on the sidewalks. I thought the real estate prices were outrageous for the amenities but they've probably softened since last summer.

For our family it was a simple analysis - if you like flat, dry, brown, wide open spaces then Boise would be attractive to you. We like green and trees so we moved to Spokane.

Changing cities is a huge decision and uprooting the family is never fun. You may solve one problem (weather) but discover new ones.

If you do travel to Boise we met the best Realtor in town and would be happy to refer you. She was so much fun to work with that she alone almost convinced us to move to Boise!

[warren5]

Thanks for the reply MMullin!We love Coeurdalene and all the lakes, but are just trying to see if three months plus of driving on snowy roads every year and all the gray.I guess w'ell just have to make more money so we can leave in the winter.(dreammin).

[boi2socal]

The City of Boise and especially the remaining Metro is flat but it isn't the Great Plains and Boise sits at the base of rugged mountains and you can be in those mountains in a few minutes from several parts of the city. So I personally wouldn't refer to Boise as "flat." Spokane and Coeur d'Alene lie in forested hills as you know...you live there.

Real estate is more expensive than Spokane but probably on par or maybe even less than Coeur d'Alene. I don't know about Spokane but Boise Area real estate can be VERY cheap or similar to West Coast cities.

[MMullin]

bio2socal - I guess every person's interpretation of the word "flat" is different, hence the importance of spending some time in any city you are considering a relocation to.

I liked Boise. What I think is important is that the decision to move to a new city is a huge undertaking and not one that should be rushed. I made that mistake when I moved my family to Las Vegas strictly for a job opportunity. When it turned out I didn't like the job we were kind of stuck. Sure, I could have looked for employment in Las Vegas but I didn't like the environment anyway so after only 3 years I was moving the family again.

For the move to Spokane we agreed to take as much time traveling the West in our travel trailer as it took to find the "right" place. We had a written checklist of things that were important to us - schools, outdoor recreation, etc. Employment opportunity was actually at the bottom of the list this time.

The list allowed us to eliminate some cities before we even hit the road. When we would stop the list allowed us to quickly get to the task - some places we stayed 1 day (Bend, OR - out for lack of proximity to boating opporunities. Now before the Bend people jump on my please note that my place near Spokane has a boat dock in the back yard. "Proximity" is open to interpretation!) and others we stayed almost a week (Ashland, OR and Boise).

So, a search for a new place to live is a tough one. My concern for warren5 was that while his family's distaste for CDA was the inclimate weather I knew for a fact that the rest of the environment in Boise was going to be the direct opposite of what they were accustomed to.

[Anchorless]

I concur with others when they say that they wouldn't move strictly based on weather.

The winters may be better down here, but they're still winters. We got a slight skiff of snow last night, and the weather has been really chilly for the past few weeks. And the summers are rather long and dry.

The boating opportunities in Southern Idaho are fairly good, but tend to be really, really crowded in most areas during the weekends. Anderson Reservoir is really large, and is only 2 hours from Boise, and you usually never see too many boats, even if it is crowded. Lucky Peak always seems crowded.

The boating season generally starts around Memorial Day (for the die-hards), but more like mid-June. It will last until late August or so.

[Tiffany76]

I have lived in many diffrent areas of Idaho...Boise and CDA are just 2.
Personaly!!! I love the CDA view, however the 3 years i lived in Boise, we got a small amount of snow. I Never bought a coat the time i was there.
That was 7 years ago. We moved back, when i became pregnet with my Twins and most of my Family lives in North Idaho.
I do miss Boise... but i missed my family more.