Transplants:What do you like about the Boise area? (Ketchum: houses, camps)

[poema304]

I have been hearing from a lot of people that have relocated to the area that they love it. I am wondering what exactly they love about it? We plan on relocating within the next couple of months and I'm curious if what we are looking for is lines up with what everyone likes so much.

[photoshopper]

I hope you don't consider my reply useless because I've only visited Boise once, and don't live there (yet!), but, since no one else has replied yet:

I first became aware of Boise's attractions after googling trout fishing in Idaho. The fact that a river clean enough to support trout ran through the middle of the city caught my attention. I next discovered the weather-- Four seasons to experience, without the long, snowy, bitter cold winters of the midwest. Currently, their low temps are warmer than our highs. The only downside seems to be what can be brutally hot summers. To mitigate that, however, dew points are non-existent, something really appreciated by me. What good is a warm summer day if you can't walk around the block without becoming a sweathog?

It's a great small big city. They have a lot of nice parks, and a beautiful paved multi-use trail (the "Greenbelt") runs for miles along the river right through town. Downtown is very cool, with a lot of neat restaurants, ale houses, coffee shops, etc. most with sidewalk seating. It's all very clean, we were amazed at the lack of graffiti and garbage. In my town, murders occur daily, and are 2nd page Local news. We turned on Boise tv one nite, the big story was someone caused a car accident and ran away. Oh yeah, he might have had drugs! Scary stuff, indeed...

A 3-hour drive puts you in Ketchum (yes, I know it's not really Idaho) or Stanley, comfortable basecamps for incredible hiking, fishing, biking, rafting,kayaking opportunities in some of the country's most beautiful areas. And you need not travel nearly that far, I'm sure, for similar opportunities. We didn't even get a chance to visit the panhandle and all that it offers.

We later discovered Boise has some of the lowest property taxes around. We could live in twice the house that we have now, and wind up paying less in taxes than we currently do here.

The negs seem to be the job situation, lack of major-league sporting teams (not a big deal to me) and to someone from the lush Midwest, a very arid topography outside of the city proper. Boise is called the "City of Trees" because once you get outside of town, there aren't any! Despite that, there's a real good chance we could move there upon retirement. Hope this helps.

[malagagirl]

Ok, I'm curious. Apparently Poema304 never posted again after this one. I always wonder about these danggling threads.. Did he/she move? Did he/she like it? What criteria does a person use in picking where to go? Guess I'll never know on this one.

[poema304]

I have not moved to the Boise area. I still monitor this forum, but at this time, we are not able to move as quickly as I had hoped a couple of months ago.

[GrannyKay]

I love the changing seasons- In CA. you have stagnant weather. I like the fact that Boise is still small enough that it has a small town feel. People are generally much friendlier than you deal with in So. CA. A short drive gets you into the country or mountains, without dealing with tons of people! Rush hour here lasts maybe 1 hour, is 24 hours in CA. Taxes are overall lower here than most anywhere!

[bf4587]

On a good day Boise has all the charm of a small town with the amenities of a big city ( friendly people, plenty of shopping, nice downtown, well kept parks). On a bad day Boise has all the annoyances of a big city and none of the rewards (no jobs, no money, poor traffic for the size).