Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Some of these same people put their dog poop in plastic bags and then leave the plastic bags in the park or on the trail which is worse than doing nothing.
It always drives me nuts. I keep wondering what's going on in people's heads when they do it. Who is expected to pick up these bags?
I have been in Boise (Eagle) a bit less than 2 years now. The only things I do not like about Boise so far are:
- Goathead thorns that puncture bike tires, collect on shoes and are nasty plants that are common in the valley area. Once you learn to recognize them you see them all over the place.
- People who routinely disobey the dog leash laws on trails and in parks because it's everyone else's dogs that are problems not their own dogs. Some of these same people put their dog poop in plastic bags and then leave the plastic bags in the park or on the trail which is worse than doing nothing. I have not been bit yet but have had some close calls almost colliding with dogs on my Mtn Bike and I was threatened by a doberman pincer this week which was of course running loose.
Overall though Boise is great and a very safe place with lots of outdoor activities and reasonable traffic even Eagle Road during rush hour is nothing compared to Houston.
I would like to add my 2 cents to this discussion as I have been living in Boise for 18 months, and there is a fair chance we may leave soon. The key to a successful relocation is to carefully consider who you are, and what you value in your everyday life. This is critical. Then you need to realistically consider what your everyday life will be like in a potential new city. Our mistake perhaps, was listing all the negatives of where we were living, and then finding a place that had none of those negatives.You can't pick a new home based on what is NOT there.
We achieved that in Boise. All of the real negatives of where we were living are absent in Boise. But our everyday life in Boise is also lacking. We never considered all of the little day to day activities that when added together were important for us, and are lacking in Boise.
It would be useless for me to list all of the little things we had in our original location that are lacking here, as they are particular to our natures, our needs. It does not make Boise a bad place, just one that is not compatible for us.
I can give you one small example for illustration purposes. My wife and I love wildlife. Coming from Florida, the definition of “wildlife” is different. In Florida, wildlife means every square inch of land is filled with critters. Lizards of all kind, bugs, snails, butterflies, dragonflies, bees, a billion variety of birds, as well as lush vegetation and flowers 365 days a year. Our everyday activity was to sit on our patio watching the wild life, or going into our lush back yard photographing birds, butterflies, dragonflies, flowers, etc. In Boise, our back yard has a few birds. Nothing exotic. Also two squirrels. Starring at the same couple of birds and same two squirrels day in and day out grew old quickly. And that is in summer. Once the leaves fall off the bushes and trees and the ground becomes frozen hard as a rock….well….we stayed indoors all the time.
This is a one personal example, and may be meaningless to others. That is why you need to carefully figure out what energizes your day to day life. Don’t move to Boise or anyplace simply because it lacks the negative qualities of where you life now. It has to be a good match to who you are.
I would say if you are young and love hiking, biking, camping, hunting, snow skiing, fishing or rock climbing, as well as cool winters and icy roads, Boise is your place. If those things are part of who you are, and your everyday life, then this is it.
Obviously, if you are Mormon, you will fit in very well in Boise too.
If you love independent coffee shops, no place is better than Boise.
Keep in mind that Boise is the most isolated urban area in the lower 48 states. Once you live the Treasure Valley, the next city is a plane ride away. The isolation shapes the culture of Boise too.
Oh, almost forgot! If you love a place that chip seals all their major highways in summer, then definitely Boise is for you. And if you repair chipped windshields, you will make a nice living here!
But the key is to find out who you are. And under no circumstances, pick a new place to live based on what is not there!
My 2 cents. No animals were harmed in this post. Your mileage may vary.
-Dart
There's a lot of wisdom in this post. I hadn't thought it through to that level but our reasoning for wanting to move to Idaho is composed of a longer list of problems Idaho doesn't have and a shorter list of things that Idaho does have. It's good to have this perspective for doing a closer analysis on a move.
I love photography and my yard in Boise always has a variety of birds especially humming birds, butterflies, bees, dragonflies, etc, etc, from spring to winter and of course it changes during winter but there is still wildlife. The katydids start singing at night in late summer till frost.
Boise is a great location for birders, we are located in a migratory zone and there are birding trails around the city. In the winter it is common to spot bald eagles nesting along the river.
Yes, ACHD chip seals roads during the summer, they typically choose an area of the county to do this, the entire city and county isn't chip sealed in one season. I don't know if many of you have driven in other cities, but their roads generally suck compared to Boise and Ada County. Our streets are well kept and I rarely see a pothole. Chip sealing can be a pain if it is taking place in your area of town, but the results are worth it. Slow down and don't tailgate.
I guess a word of caution is to realize we do get 4 seasons here, so if you want vegetation and summer birds during the winter then you better look elsewhere.
I guess the poop fairy is supposed to pick them up...drives me nuts also!
It’s pretty common here. I’ll notice them on the way out and on the return, they’re gone. My guess is that the owner didn’t want to carry for the entire trip.
It’s pretty common here. I’ll notice them on the way out and on the return, they’re gone. My guess is that the owner didn’t want to carry for the entire trip.
I live on the green belt. I see poop bags left everyday when I walk my dogs or when I’m fishing here in Eagle.
@SacTown11
Indeed everyone will have a unique motivation for why they wish to move from their current locations. Yours makes sense and indeed having done the preparation is going to make things significantly easier. In our case it was all about some opposites to others. We wanted a scantly populated area for peace and quiet. A reasonably short drive to competent medical care, consistently clean air and near no traffic. Shopping nearby but major shopping a little greater distance away. For retirement purposes it's completely different then having kids or being a young person or young couple. Boise is far more suited towards those folks. For retirement there are tons of places in Idaho more like what I described, and happy I found one. Idaho, unlike virtually all the other States I investigated (such as Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington) was far more accommodating to those over 65. Tax wise and benefit wise. It's not too surprising that so many are finding it desirable up here. Certainly beyond where I came from........
@dcisive
You mentioned health care in your post. We are thinking of relocating next year to the Boise/Meridian area and my 75 year old mother will be joining us. How is the health care out there? She has heart disease and diabetes. Any input you can provide is greatly appreciated.
IMHO.... the St Luke's Hospital system seems pretty good. Took good care of my brother-in-law when he was ended up on death's doorstep during a visit. Health care operations have pretty substantial employment in the Boise area.
I already posted on this thread, but that was before I got laid off. I didn't want to post up again until I got a job, and it took a while! I got laid off on Dec. 4th, and just got a good offer today, and accepted.
In a smaller job market like Boise (I grew up in CA), getting a job here requires some analysis based on what you do for a living. I was a Senior IT Manager, and had about 12 years in management. When I started looking, I found a few here and there, but in this market often IT Management jobs are really individual contributor jobs, and the salary is low, like less than an engineer job in CA. I tried, and then started to shift focus and look at Managed Service Providers (MSP's), and started to get some action. I ended up finding a job in sales, kind of a pre-sales engineer position that is base/commission-based. The upside is that I'm making more than I did in CA (which I was very surprised about), but it's in a completely different specialty.
Engineer/systems administrator type of jobs were everywhere, but that was what I did 10 years ago and didn't really want to re-train and go that route.
So, if you're planning on moving here, I'd do some research and see what the job market looks like in your area, and if it isn't good, start thinking about other options and possibly training that you might need to do to get those jobs. I moved out here with a remote job, like a lot of people do, but when the layoff notice comes (often remote employees are the first to go), you'll need to have something already figured out or it might take you a long time to find something. Maybe no, depending on your area of specialty, but for me it did. You don't want to be caught with your pants down and unprepared.
I'm super glad it worked out the way it did, I finally cut the cord and have no ties to my old home state anymore.
YMMV
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
