Taking a vacation to Idaho and looking to possibly relocate (Boise: home, schools)

[DannyHobkins]

Well congrats, Idaho is the #1 state of people moving into now. In early August we are planning on doing a vacation out west, but I'm also trying to use this time to visit new places to invest or relocate. Will be coming from NJ which is the #1 state of people leaving, due to the politics and high-cost of living (don't worry I'm not bringing the politics with me). However, would like to take this time to explore new areas to see what we may like.

I don't know much about Idaho at all but a few things we would be looking for:
- within a ~1 hour drive to an airport (work travel + plus my partners family lives in Europe)
- near a center of populace
- nature around / trees/ lakes
- preference of more influential areas
- Schools are not a concern immediately (no kids yet), however they might be in a few years.

Looking forward to suggestions.

- Danny

[ejisme]

You are basically looking at three cities/areas of Idaho based on your criteria. All are popular areas to move to or live in due to matching your criteria. You could visit probably two areas on your trip at most. If looking at North Idaho, then only the one area in that part of the state.

Boise of course, since it is the capital and biggest city. It has the biggest airport too. Boise is in the southwestern part of Idaho.

Idaho Falls in the southeastern part of Idaho. You could possibly visit both Boise and Idaho Falls in one trip by car. Idaho Falls is growing, and the airport is growing airlines and flights that service it.

In north Idaho you want to be in the Coeur d'Alene, ID area. Very beautiful, likely considered the most scenic of the three cities listed here. You'd travel to Spokane, WA for the airport. Boise and Idaho Falls would be a two day drive and probably not an easy flight away, so would be hard to visit all three cities in one visit to Idaho.

[cleosmom]

Originally Posted by DannyHobkins

Well congrats, Idaho is the #1 state of people moving into now. In early August we are planning on doing a vacation out west, but I'm also trying to use this time to visit new places to invest or relocate. Will be coming from NJ which is the #1 state of people leaving, due to the politics and high-cost of living (don't worry I'm not bringing the politics with me). However, would like to take this time to explore new areas to see what we may like.

I don't know much about Idaho at all but a few things we would be looking for:
- within a ~1 hour drive to an airport (work travel + plus my partners family lives in Europe)
- near a center of populace
- nature around / trees/ lakes
- preference of more influential areas
- Schools are not a concern immediately (no kids yet), however they might be in a few years.

Looking forward to suggestions.

- Danny

Boise has an airport with both flights to Portland and Salt Lake City for your international flights.

If greater population is your thing, Boise area again.

Plenty of out door activities anywhere in the state, Boise is known as The City of Trees

Not sure I'm understanding preference of more influential areas... Money, politics, religion...any of those can be influential

Lastly, we don't have kids so I'm of no help there.

Enjoy your visit!

[StarrySkiesAbove]

Originally Posted by cleosmom

Not sure I'm understanding preference of more influential areas... Money, politics, religion...any of those can be influential

I was wondering the same, perhaps the OP meant to say affluent?

[banjomike]

Hi, Danny...
My best advice is to plan a visit here that has enough time to look the entire state over.

Your questions will largely be answered if you give yourself at least 2 weeks here, as it takes 2 full days to drive from Idaho's southern border to the Canadian border at the northern end.

That's with no stops along the way until fatigue takes over. The northern panhandle is tiny compared to the rest of the state, and once south of Boise, Idaho is much wider. It takes about almost a day to drive from the eastern border to the western border. Again, with nothing but travel stops.

Idaho is essentially uninhabited in almost 1/2 of our territory. The center is full of impassible mountain ranges that extend from the panhandle to the edge of the Arco desert in the south. An the Arco Desert is an impassible lava flow that's as un-inhabitatble as the mountains.

All our major cities (there are only about 8 of them) are located along the edges of our wilderness except for the Treasure Valley.

The Treasure Valley is the home of Boise, Nampa, Caldwell, and Meridian. This is the only true metro area in the state. Coeur d'Alene in the north is a micro-metro center, a fairly small city that serves a huge outlying area.
The other major cities are in a very long corridor on the southeast edge. Idaho Falls, Pocatello, and Rexburg. The corridor stretches from the Utah border on the south to the Montana border on the north, with Wyoming lying along our eastern border. All are micro-metro cities, each serving its own huge area with little overlap.

The sole micro-metro on the western edge is Twin Falls, which lies close to the Nevada border on the south and the Oregon border to the west.

These cities are the 8 I mentioned. They are all larger than 30,000 population. Only the Treasure Valley has cities that are 100,000 or above. (the 4 that I mentioned).

In between them all, there's mostly nothing but plenty of jaw-dropping scenery. But you won't see most of it if you stay on the Interstate There's only 1 Interstate that stretches from north to south, I-15.
I-90 cuts across the narrow width of the panhandle east to west. The panhandle is more vertical than horizontal.
Idaho is so rugged that the Interstates were built where the terrain allowed them. The view from an Interstate here is usually pretty barren as a result. So if you study a map and use our 2-lanes, you'll get a better look at all our natural splendor.
But since all our 2-lanes tend to wind along our rivers or around our mountains, they are all much slower drives.

We only have one route that stays inside our boundaries that runs from north to south. It's a 2-lane that hasn't change much since it was built by the WPA in the 1930s.

I highly recommend a vehicle tune-up and good tires, if you haven't planned for them already. You could be the only people for miles on some of our highways, and if you car breaks down, you would be stranded.

Out here, cell phone reception is still very sketchy around our mountains, and non-existent once inside a mountain range. Even when reception is good, it can take hours for help to arrive.

Come prepared, and I'm sure you will have a wonderful time here.

[ThaEnd]

Originally Posted by DannyHobkins

Well congrats, Idaho is the #1 state of people moving into now. In early August we are planning on doing a vacation out west, but I'm also trying to use this time to visit new places to invest or relocate. Will be coming from NJ which is the #1 state of people leaving, due to the politics and high-cost of living (don't worry I'm not bringing the politics with me). However, would like to take this time to explore new areas to see what we may like.

I don't know much about Idaho at all but a few things we would be looking for:
- within a ~1 hour drive to an airport (work travel + plus my partners family lives in Europe)
- near a center of populace
- nature around / trees/ lakes
- preference of more influential areas
- Schools are not a concern immediately (no kids yet), however they might be in a few years.

Looking forward to suggestions.

- Danny

Just come to Idaho. I am from NJ too, Secaucus. NJ is a swamp. Idaho is beautiful. I moved here sight unseen, just sold my home, put stuff in storage and came. It's not Alice in Wonderland but it's better than NJ.

[skyviewconcrete]

Hey Danny,

I would suggest Nampa or Caldwell. They are pretty close to Boise so you an drive there but far enough away to get away from the city.