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Moab is actually in Utah (1 husband, 3 wives, 18 children). Colorado? It can have a wow factor if you have lived in the Midwest your entire life but doesn't compare to the diverse scenery of Idaho imho. Add in neighboring Oregon and Washington and there's more than a lifetime of exploring.
I love that photo, summed up my feelings about CO.
I've noticed a few people have commented they're following this thread in order to plan their own trips in the coming months, and I suspect there are dozens more lurkers with similar thoughts - I was a lurker for 8 years, so I know - so I thought I would briefly mention a couple of resources I've used to learn about Idaho and plan my trip that *might* be under the radar for some.
The first is called Issuu - it's an app for your phone/tablet and can also be used in a regular browser on your laptop/PC/Mac. Issuu is free and provides access to hundreds (thousands? it's a lot) of free magazines about any and all subjects - the kind of publications produced by local entities like the Chamber of Commerce and tourism boards and stuff; not Sports Illustrated or Vogue. I could not believe the amount of Idaho publications available, with back issues available too. Quick sampling: Idaho Travel Guide (multiple years), Boise Valley Spotlight, Visit McCall, Sandpoint Magazine, Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Living, Idaho Family Magazine, Idaho Falls Life, Boise Eats Boise Drinks, Boise Weekly, Sun Valley Magazine, and the 2017 Directory of Idaho Guided Outdoor Adventures. These are high quality color publications with clickable links and advertisements (although this feature is probably YMMV, likely dependent upon the original producer of the magazine and not the app itself). I found reading through these publications invaluable in assessing where I'm going to visit, but more importantly to begin the assessment of where I want to eventually plant roots. Lots of information to gain from reading the featured articles themselves, but also, like them or not, the advertisements really help capture the tone of a locale; if the second page of the magazine is an ad for a five star restaurant, that's a different audience than if it were for an Arbys. Like physical magazines, issues come out weekly, monthly, or quarterly, and I've been alerted via email when a new issue has arrived, so I suspect that's basically like a subscription. I'm looking forward to many more months of following these publications and learning as much as I can about Idaho, provided my trip goes well.
The second source of information I lean on daily is definitely something you've heard of, but may not be using the way I do: Twitter. Idaho in general does an outstanding job of self-promotion via websites - see https://visitidaho.org/ and Stanley Idaho, Trailhead to Idaho Adventure just as two examples, but they also have a great social media presence as well. I've set up a Twitter list for myself called All Things Idaho and given it a dedicated column in my Twitter client (Tweetdeck). This list includes the Twitter feeds of about 20 Idaho sources (and I'm always looking to add more) who send out tweets about - you guessed it! - Idaho things. I daily get links to tons of photos that make you want to move to Idaho yesterday, information about events like the X Games in Boise, and even major traffic alerts. I just sit back and watch the Idaho news roll in! Again, all you need is a Twitter client with the ability to create a dedicated column for a list (and you can do this with any subject, by the way - I have about seven columns set up for my biggest interests).
I hope these tips help someone out there! These forums are an amazing resource for sure, but if you're looking to dig in deeper, these two free sources can help satiate your Idaho itch!
Last edited by SabreRyan; 06-10-2017 at 08:04 AM..
Reason: added link
I've noticed a few people have commented they're following this thread in order to plan their own trips in the coming months, and I suspect there are dozens more lurkers with similar thoughts - I was a lurker for 8 years, so I know - so I thought I would briefly mention a couple of resources I've used to learn about Idaho and plan my trip that *might* be under the radar for some.
The first is called Issuu - it's an app for your phone/tablet and can also be used in a regular browser on your laptop/PC/Mac. Issuu is free and provides access to hundreds (thousands? it's a lot) of free magazines about any and all subjects - the kind of publications produced by local entities like the Chamber of Commerce and tourism boards and stuff; not Sports Illustrated or Vogue. I could not believe the amount of Idaho publications available, with back issues available too. Quick sampling: Idaho Travel Guide (multiple years), Boise Valley Spotlight, Visit McCall, Sandpoint Magazine, Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Living, Idaho Family Magazine, Idaho Falls Life, Boise Eats Boise Drinks, Boise Weekly, Sun Valley Magazine, and the 2017 Directory of Idaho Guided Outdoor Adventures. These are high quality color publications with clickable links and advertisements (although this feature is probably YMMV, likely dependent upon the original producer of the magazine and not the app itself). I found reading through these publications invaluable in assessing where I'm going to visit, but more importantly to begin the assessment of where I want to eventually plant roots. Lots of information to gain from reading the featured articles themselves, but also, like them or not, the advertisements really help capture the tone of a locale; if the second page of the magazine is an ad for a five star restaurant, that's a different audience than if it were for an Arbys. Like physical magazines, issues come out weekly, monthly, or quarterly, and I've been alerted via email when a new issue has arrived, so I suspect that's basically like a subscription. I'm looking forward to many more months of following these publications and learning as much as I can about Idaho, provided my trip goes well.
The second source of information I lean on daily is definitely something you've heard of, but may not be using the way I do: Twitter. Idaho in general does an outstanding job of self-promotion via websites - see https://visitidaho.org/ and Stanley Idaho, Trailhead to Idaho Adventure just as two examples, but they also have a great social media presence as well. I've set up a Twitter list for myself called All Things Idaho and given it a dedicated column in my Twitter client (Tweetdeck). This list includes the Twitter feeds of about 20 Idaho sources (and I'm always looking to add more) who send out tweets about - you guessed it! - Idaho things. I daily get links to tons of photos that make you want to move to Idaho yesterday, information about events like the X Games in Boise, and even major traffic alerts. I just sit back and watch the Idaho news roll in! Again, all you need is a Twitter client with the ability to create a dedicated column for a list (and you can do this with any subject, by the way - I have about seven columns set up for my biggest interests).
I hope these tips help someone out there! These forums are an amazing resource for sure, but if you're looking to dig in deeper, these two free sources can help satiate your Idaho itch!
Thank you for that, Ryan.
I'm particularly interested in Twin Falls, as I'll be on a limited retirement budget and real estate seems to be much more affordable there than Boise. Boise prices have gone crazy since I last visited nearly 10 years ago, Twin Falls much less so. Perhaps Boise is simply the default or knee-jerk destination for most Idaho transplants from California. But if there are specific reasons people are avoiding Twin Falls, it would be good to know up front. Anyone?
I visited Twin Falls for just one day/night in the summer of 1988. Back then, it seemed an almost idyllic little town....on the surface, at least. As we all know, it takes a lot more time than that to get the true flavor of life in any new place.
CrownVic95: To be honest with you, my day dedicated to Twin Falls is the day I'm most, hmm, concerned(?) about - "concern" seems a bit strong of a word, but I can't think of another. It's the one place on my trip that I don't have an overflowing agenda for...pretty much just Shoshone Falls, and I can't imagine that will/should take a whole day. I think all I really know about Twin Falls otherwise is that they have a Chobani factory and a Clif Bar factory there (and that seems cool) and you can legally base jump off their big bridge (and that seems cool too, but no way I'm ever doing that). I just haven't seen a whole lot else online...and maybe that's good for a permanent residence? Perhaps it's still the lovely place you visited in the 80s, untouched by massive growth in other parts of the state? I don't believe anyone from Twin Falls has chimed in, although I suspect banjomike could probably share plenty if he revisits this thread. I'll be there in about a week(!), so perhaps I'll have some feedback to share.
My interest in Twin Falls is location. Just looking at it on the map relative to the rest of southern Idaho, I like its station between Boise and Idaho Falls west to east, and its station between Ketchum/Sun Valley/Stanley and Nevada/Utah north to south. In a 2-4 hour drive you can be in Boise, Stanley, Idaho Falls, Yellowstone, and Salt Lake City, among other places. Making it a "central hub" only makes sense if the town itself has the infrastructure and amenities to make daily life enjoyable, and that's the big question I have about it.
Ultimately, like most people from not-Idaho, Boise seems like the safest, likeliest entry point to Idaho living for me. The smallest place I've ever lived is Springfield, Missouri, which is not too much smaller than Boise. I'm from Kansas City, and I've lived in Denver and Phoenix (very briefly, so brief that 99% of the time I don't count it), so yeah, perhaps it would be wise to wet my whistle in Boise before attempting the transition to, say, Stanley, with a population of 68.
Maybe the Californians are thinking the same thing? Although I will say that I've seen more California-related threads/discussions pertaining to northern Idaho, Coeur d'Alene specifically, than Boise. I think a lot of Californians are attempting to escape the "heat," and think the remedy is to plunge head first into cold weather living. It appears the results, as I've witnessed them, are mixed.
Last comment: in all my research of all these places I've looked to move to, EVERY one of them has "Oh no! The Californians are coming!" thread(s). A "California Diaspora" appears to be a real epidemic to the PNW states, which boggles this Midwest mind a tad. I've never seen "More stupid Missourians moving here!" threads before, and I wouldn't know how to react if I indeed saw one. I know this deserves its own thread (if at all), so I really don't want to hijack my own dialogue with a conversation about it, but the immense amounts of Californian transplants moving literally everywhere else AND the reaction to said migration from their eventual landing spots is highly interesting to me.
Last edited by SabreRyan; 06-10-2017 at 11:04 AM..
There are many Californians moving to Boise, but also many moving to north Idaho. I suspect most are not primarily looking for a cooler climate, but rather are moving for other reasons and either are OK with getting 4 seasons in addition, or may see that as an additional but lower priority positive aspect of relocating to Idaho.
I think my wife and I are probably unique in that we specifically wanted to move to a climate with real winters. For us that was one of our "must have" requirements, but even so probably not the most important one on the list.
The reaction to the large numbers of Californians migrating to other states is interesting. It's not just in Idaho, but you find similar reactions in Oregon, Colorado, Montana, and perhaps other places as well. I understand that long time residents of these states may not appreciate the changes that come with population growth, and it's certainly the case that enough growth often degrades the very things that make these states attractive destinations.
I find it ironic that much of the growth in California through the latter part of the 1900's and early 2000's was driven by migration of people from other states, and that certainly ended up having significant negative impacts on the quality of life in California IMO. One difference with California is that the immigrants came from many other states. In fact, at one time the #1 destination for those moving from Idaho was California.
Challis has some interesting things to see as well, a couple nice hot springs and not far from Mackay Reservoir and Mt Borah. Also Pahsimeroi Valley outside of Challis is a beautiful place to adventure thru, great views of Twin Mountain and Long Lost River Mountains amazing wildlife thru there too.
I'm here! I got to Idaho Falls around 1:30pm after driving approximately 18 hours from Missouri (I stopped in Rawlins, Wyoming for a night). I had a late lunch at a brewpub right by the falls, then walked on the greenway a bit, then checked out the zoo before I finally succumbed to exhaustion.
I'm going to save my impressions/analysis of my travels for later, after I've had some time to ponder - and also when I'm not so dang tired, but I will say this: thus far, Idaho has lived up to and probably exceeded my expectations. Considering I've been here for like 7 hours, that's an extremely small sample size, but the amount of times I've said "WOW" can't be denied.
I do want to mention how I arrived, for future readers contemplating their options. If you're coming from the east on 80, I highly recommend taking 191 from Rock Springs to 89 and then to 26. The drive goes from ho-hum to OMG at about Pinedale on, and when you finally hit the Idaho state line, well, for me, there could NOT have been a better welcome mat than Palisades Reservoir. My jaw dropped, my eyes watered, and I thought, "I've been in this state for 25 seconds and I'm already sold!" Now granted, that type of scenery is probably old hat for most of you, but for me it was profound.
I'm off to Twin Falls sometime tomorrow! If you see a blue Wrangler with Missouri plates, honk and say hello!
I was at Shoshone Falls yesterday and it was spectacular. Tons of water. Have fun, SabreRyan.
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