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Hi everyone. I am writing this to share my research and experiences in Idaho to help others, although I will say, Idaho is full. Joking. Sort of. I will focus on our trip in Idaho Falls (IF), Coeur D’ Alene (CDA) area, and Eagle area that we took May 20-29th, 2017.
Around January 2016 I really began to feel the pressures of failed liberal policies affecting daily life in small ways and occasionally in larger ways. This includes crime, both minor and major crimes increased due to recent law changes, cost of living including taxes that keep climbing (gas, car registration, property), self-employed laws and regulations to start in a new industry and the list goes on and will not get into details in order to stay focused on Idaho. This pressure got me looking to move out of Orange California to another state. I truly thought Texas or Arizona would be the best fit as both are fighting hard for conservative policies and are very “free” states, but after some research, Idaho came out the clear winner.
I started with a simple search for most conservative cities and most affordable cities. Most of the affordable listed cities I would not want to live in due to crime, education and so forth, but Idaho Falls was a jewel in the listing. Idaho Falls came up in both affordable and conservative and even a bonus one of top places to live. My focus became on Idaho Falls and later the Boise and Coeur D’ Alene area. Please recognize my intentions are not to change the culture of where we move, but to embrace it and make it that much stronger so it does not become what we are fleeing.
As of today, I have spent over 1000 hours searching online and reading every Idaho thread on City Data forms, reading city information on City Data, reading Sperlings online, following all police Facebook pages and reading their comments (CDA keeps it minimal like Irvine as they don’t want to scare tourist, Post Falls has a shoplifting every other day at Wal-Mart), following the local news including East Idaho News (Amazing neutral to conservative vibe, uplifting, factual and fun), Krem News, KHQ News (All comments included), listening to local radio stations (The Hawk), following North Idaho Live on Facebook, talking to a friend that moved his family (Extended family too to CDA area), a random stranger from Tustin that lives the summers in CDA, and a couple (Our friends) that moved to Eagle a few years ago. I reached out to Banjo Mike in 9/2016 and when my wife and I made the trip to Idaho Falls, I had the pleasure to treat him to dinner. Banjo Mike and I had some great conversations and have stayed in touch. Thank you Banjo Mike.
About me. I am a 31 year old home grown Orange, Orange County, California guy married to my wife of 9 years. I own a mobile fitness business and I am past law enforcement with a police department. I am a conservative in all sense of the word. I am Christian, support law and order, am against taxes, respect firearms, live and let live philosophy, embrace assimilation to American values, believe in helping but not enabling others, am not a big consumer (Shopping and events), like being outdoors and so forth. I am a Ted Cruz” policy guy if that helps in political values. I can’t stand traffic as I run a mobile gym and drive about 3 hours daily from location to location plus long drives to Kern/Fresno for other activities. Gangs, traffic, liberals in general, street blocking protests, refugees, tons of homeless, and college based towns (parties, trash, parties, protests), high taxes, HOAs, and so forth are a huge turn off for me. I am not a fan of the endless summers in the OC and we both can’t stand humidity. Also, we have had many friends move around the OC area or even out of state. Hopefully in a smaller area, friends we make mostly stay over the course of life and if not, at least when we meet someone they will be physically close and accessible unlike in the OC where traffic is brutal from all but 10 a.m. to 2p.m. This part might be dreaming a bit, but could be a big upside.
Some activities I really enjoy are surfing (I know, outside of Boise’s river and flow rider machines in CDA and Salt Lake that is not an Idaho thing), cycling, hiking, rafting, small game hunting, shooting, lifting weights, and can learn to fish. Some things my wife enjoys are shopping, Netflix, friends, crafting projects, good weather (Basically cooler is better as she can layer) and she does not like humidity. Tornedos are a big no way for us but we understand earthquakes.
My wife and I did a vacation/scouting trip on May 20-29th, 2017 (Saturday to the following Monday of Memorial Day). We flew to Salt Lake City and rented a car on May 20th. We stayed May 20-26th in Idaho Falls. The 26th we drove from Idaho Falls up the 15 to the 90 to CDA. We had half the day in CDA area then drove the 95 to the 55 into Eagle/Boise for a day and a half. We had an overnight stay at Twin Falls (Air B&B, nice couple we spoke with for about ½ an hour), then off to Salt Lake City to fly home.
Basically, all my impressions of the Idaho Falls, CDA area, Boise area were what I expected. All were full of great people. We had great conversations with strangers and the areas were as described on city data. I just felt at home and I never got home sick. Also, the weather was all upper 60s to 70s and lows that were in the 40s. Absolutely perfect.
After we landed in Salt Lake City, we drove to Pocatello for a quick stop at a convenience store to stretch our legs. I noticed a person wearing a gun on his hip and my wife noticed his shirt when I asked her what she noticed about the man. Too funny. That was our only stop before we checked into the hotel (Homes 2 Suites) as we had registered for a specific time for a free tour of the Mormon Temple. We got to the temple in time for our tour which was the last tour on the last day it was open to the public. It was impressive and the people were great. We are glad we attended.
Idaho Falls. Saturday-Friday (May 20-26, 2017)
We stayed in the Snake River Landing at Homes 2 Suites by the river in Idaho Falls. It was a great place. Idaho Falls had no traffic, beautiful country views with the hills in the background, an amazing River Walk Green Belt for miles on the main section and a few more miles of less traveled path, and had most of the major shopping stores. Idaho Falls had a mall similar to the Mall of Orange where I live and had a Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and JoAnn’s, and Target all right next to each other plus two Wal-Marts in the city. What more could a crafty woman like my wife want as one usually only has to shop at one store and not multiple “repeat” stores. Also there was a TPT Homes and Home Décor store in Idaho Falls. Idaho Falls is big enough to have most of everything and if it doesn’t have it, one probably does not need it, can get it on Amazon, or can do a monthly run to Boise or Salt Lake. I did a ride along with Idaho Falls PD and was impressed by the policing and it confirmed how “slow” the city is and listened to the officer a Huntington Beach, CA transplant years ago. He said what many Idaho people repeated, they would not go back to CA and when they do to visit family, they remember why they left. I got to know the officer pretty well and we spoke about politics, policing, religion, and life. He is a great guy and I really received the inside scoop from him and saw the city from the experience.
My wife and I had a 30 minutes conversation with a family member of the owner at the Home Décor store and we learned all about each other’s lives. We had a sizable conversation with the Pastor Rick Brown of Water Springs church after service and I thanked him for his sermon series I had heard online prior regarding the Mormon faith. I had a long conversation with an employee at the Guns and Gear who introduced me to a deputy who walked into the gun shop to pick up his firearm. A young lady at Dave’s Bike shop and I spoke for a while and we talked about the three areas. When I returned the bike, she said she looked up information on CDA to better compare her life of Idaho Falls with what she learned about CDA. In the pool at the hotel we spoke to people and had a good time, but they were not native Idaho people and just passing through or working in the area. I made friends with an employee at the hotel and we spoke about 10 minutes each day at breakfast and I learned a lot about the area from her as well. The healthy choices of breakfast (health nut here), the gym, being able to grill food on the patio, and the pool were a huge plus at the hotel.
I walked the Green Belt from hotel to downtown a few times and just loved the green trees, grass, river, waterfalls, the landscaping of the areas that included coves, picnic tables, benches, and it was all well-kept. I saw employees painting and doing maintenance a few times. I also biked about 30 miles on the streets and all the trails along the river including the less popular trails past Sunnyside, downtown streets, Russ Freeman Park, and by INL. Idaho Falls is very flat and has light traffic at slow speeds on side streets so cycling is really easy to keep up with “traffic.” I actually was sun burned a few times even though I did apply sunscreen.
Idaho Falls had tons of Mormons as expected, and during conversations, I would dance around asking if they were Mormon and if raising a non-Mormon family here would be fine. All the people could tell what I was trying to ask as it was a normal question they must get a lot in Idaho Falls. Some said they were Mormon, some were atheist, but all said it is a great place to raise a family and were not offended by the question. Everyone in Idaho Falls was nothing but amazing.
I walked into my First Cabela’s and that was a big thing for me. There were few employees or customers, but unlike in CA gun shops where the employees (stores have 6-10 employees just for the gun racks in CA to handle the firearms with you), I could experience handling the firearms on my own without feeling pressure and the waste of wages or a line. It should be noted that any store we walked into seemed like there were just few people. For me that was refreshing not to be bumping into people, hearing tons of Spanish (I actually speak some Spanish, but I like hearing English), having short lines, and having plenty of parking near the store.
My wife taught the barista at Starbucks in Target how to do a double shot drink as she is a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf vanilla latte woman. Some coffee shop in down town Idaho Falls failed at making the latte as it tasted like warm milk. The best one was at Water Springs church coffee shop/thrift store, but it was only satisfactory for my wife.
We also did a day of traveling to the West entrance to Yellowstone and exited out the South entrance. Then we drove to Jackson Hole. We only had a little time in Jackson Hole, but it was cute and plenty for me. Very scenic drive. Plenty of animals and amazing mountains, lakes, and open spaces. We met a family from Idaho Falls and we talked to them for a half hour while we were waiting for Old Faithful to erupt. They were super friendly and informative. Idaho Falls is the launch point for many somewhat close nature attractions such as Yellowstone he said.
Another day we traveled to nearby Heise hot springs. It is a natural spa and it was fun, but it was not “OC” standards so my wife was not as impressed, but she had fun. That is 30 minutes outside of Idaho Falls. We also did some thrift store shopping in Idaho Falls as my wife likes Thrift stores and I like the price.
We ate at Jalisco’s (Mexican) on the River. Typical food, but if you are going to eat, why not eat watching the falls so that was really nice. We ate at Arugula (Sandwich), Uncle Benny’s (pizza), Black Bear Dinner (I know it is a chain, but great fish there), and Rizo’s (Pizza). We tried for fun Soda Tsunami and you can get mixed sodas basically. I thought my wife would go for that, but she was in the mood for a latte and they basically did a homemade coffee.
The zoo at Idaho Falls was $7.50 per person and I think the Los Angeles zoo is $22, but the zoo at IF was perfect. We drove right up to the fence, parked, payed, walked in and spent a few hours checking out the one tiger, the lion and baby lion, the sloth bear and baby slot bear, 2 otters (The best!!!), and numerous of some other animals including monkeys, flamingos, penguins, camels, birds, and more. The IF zoo had just a few of a good variety of animals but it did not have the cost, parking issues, crowds, tons of walking, and just the exhaustion of a big zoo while having enough of everything. It was great!
My general impression of Idaho Falls was just awesome! It would be my choice. I really enjoyed biking the river rail and in the downtown as it is not crowded and just fun. It is not a college town as it now has a junior college and has professional jobs. The tourism brings in the money to the hotel and restaurants, but the people leave for Yellowstone so they don’t pump in tons of traffic. She was not a fan of Idaho Falls as it felt small and not much to do. There literally is almost everything, waterparks, skate parks, escape rooms, nerf businesses, trampoline parks, restaurants with a river view, and shopping. Many things are just one company or a smaller scale or possibly a city away on a small scale (Like the water park). I love that one could just stay in the city limits (Ammon included) and have everything instead of having 8 Targets in and around Orange, but I only want to travel to the closest because even though all 8 are close, all but the closest during the constant traffic makes the drive 15-30 minutes away. Idaho Falls does not have that problem at any time of the day. Idaho Falls had a nice breeze all day every day and can get windy, but we escaped the one windy day in Yellowstone. Usually the breeze is about 15 MPH so it seems. Downtown is distinct and easy to find free parking just like the whole city. The number and letter streets near down town are not as new and have more history. The West side of the Green Belt is distinct and so is the new Snake Landing Area that is a more modern small vibe. I say this to say there are distinct areas and housing in the city. Idaho Falls is close enough to drive to different remote places to go hiking, mountain biking, skiing and so forth, but it is not in the city or right next to the city like CDA area. People do love fishing in the Snake River that runs down the middle of the city and if I were a fisherman, that would be a huge bonus. Idaho Falls is an amazing city.
Coeur D’ Alene
Early Friday morning we drove the 7 hours to CDA area from Idaho Falls (I-15 to the I-90). We saw Kellogg and the US flag on top of a tree at 4th of July Pass. We did the tourist thing and parked at the CDA beach where a non-uniformed meter reader was inspecting the cars for violations. They take parking seriously apparently. We walked The Shops of the resort and CDA. To me it felt very trending, overpriced, a bit crowded, and California the whole way (How people dressed, walked, talked, moved, just something about it). We then drove around the neighborhoods for an hour especially North of the I-90.
We stopped at Meltz Extreme grilled cheese as my wife loves grilled cheese so this was a planned must stop. I don’t get paying more than $1 for bread and cheese, but I know, people like my wife do. We were eating and I heard the neighboring guy at the table talking with an out of town couple that he was friends with. He gave the impression he was the owner so at the end of the meal I went up to them and asked if he was the owner. The guy said yes and of course I told him this was a must stop for us. He was super kind and it turns out he was spying on us for marketing as he noticed what we ate. We chatted about his business we talked to him and the couple for an hour about everything Idaho, CDA, and California. He was trying to motivate the couple to move to CDA as he was friends and wanted them to come for the usual Idaho reasons. It turns out the owner went to high school at the high school next to mine (Rivals) and we just had a great chat with them for that hour. The owner said he is glad he picked Idaho and does not miss CA.
After that we met up with my friend (Acquaintance, but we met a few times in life and are Facebook friends) and his wife and kid. They took us to Falls Park in Post Falls and to Hayden Lake (Honeysuckle Beach). Both were neat places. We talked and they said what everyone in Idaho was saying, they wish they had moved sooner and they love it for the people, beauty, and laws. We had dinner at Cracker Barrel, my first. I know it is not unique, but it was great and the people were awesome. We stayed the night at the Red Lion Resort and were upgraded to a room with a spa. My wife loved it. Then we left early the next day to get to Eagle. Before leaving we stopped at Dutch Brothers as they are the place to have coffee in the Idaho and my wife said it was good, but not CBTL good. We drove the 95 to the 55 through all the towns Moscow, Lewiston, McCall, Cascade and so forth. We had a scenic and long drive to Eagle, but our friends (Another couple and their kid) live right off the 55 in Eagle. I think it took about 7 hours.
My general impression of CDA was good and like a small town that has grown quickly and did not seem prepared for the growth. Our time was really short and I am going to take a trip this winter to get a good feel and check out CDA and PF (Post Falls) police departments. Traffic moved, but the roads were full unlike in Idaho Falls. It had a California vibe and had almost every shopping and restaurant experience. I noticed South of the freeway was more old style houses, trees, and neighborhoods that are well established versus the north section that is just tract homes and newly planted non-pine trees. Granted downtown had many non-pine trees too, but the trees were mature. I did a search and google street view around the Northwest of CDA and saw new development homes that backed up the edge of the forest. Now that and a few blocks are all new homes and no forest. Sad. My fear is that CDA/Hayden/Post Falls/Rathdrum, will all connect in 20 years or less. Also hints the giant price hike of nearly $50,000-$100,000 in just two years on homes or so it seems checking Zillow’s price history. My wife impression of CDA was that CDA is pretty, had much more shopping (like the thrift store row on 4th St though we didn’t stop.) I heard the wealth of CDA and lack of makes the thrift stores have some good variety. Tubbs Hill, Cherry Hill, boardwalk along the river, the CDA beach park areas are right next to the main nature attractions within city limits. The upside is that it is so easy to take advantage of these close by places, but the downside is so many people in the area make these areas much more crowded and parking can be an issue as well. CDA has the sun rise about an hour earlier than IF in the summer and the sun sets a little sooner than IF as CDA is one hour ahead of IF and is further North.
The CDA area is a great area.
Eagle/Boise area
Coming into the Eagle area we traveled through McCall and that area. It was like watching a line of cars doing close to the speed limit but packed bumper to bumper coming up for the Memorial Day weekend as we were traveling on Friday. It reminded me of Big Bear, CA where an 1 hour ½ drive takes 6 on weekends and holidays, but not nearly as bad from Boise to McCall yet. I was still glad we were against traffic instead of fighting it.
Our wife’s went shopping and us husbands hiked for 2 hours on the Eagles Sports Complex which is just a bunch of hiking trails. It reminded me of Peter’s Canyon in Orange, CA as it was hilly, dry, weeds, shrubs, but no trees. The path was narrow for one person most of the time and we yielded to bikes. It was not too crowded. Turns out we met a friend of his on the path too. We went to church with them in Eagle and it was great. The pastor said he left CA in the late 80s I believe and mentioned he does not miss it. The husband I went to a Wal-Mart, check out the Boise River that was so high the underpass was closed because it was 8 feet underwater and not passable. We had lunch at The Village at Meridan (Eagle/Boise/Meridan border) which was just a giant shopping mall with an outdoor fountain that does fountain shows. Parking was hard to come by on the Memorial Day weekend Sunday. Julius Kleiner Park next door was packed. On Monday in the evening, Boise’s Bernardine Quinn River Park that has two lakes was packed. People were walking, biking, stand up paddle boarding, swimming, and circling a completely full parking lot. Cool, but crowded park.
We drove by the Meridan Police Department, Make A Wish Boise (That is important to us), and the capital on the way to out of town. Downtown was a larger downtown as expected and had parking structures and was more crowded even on a Sunday evening. Basically Boise/Eagle, Meridan, Caldwell, Nampa, Star seem to be in the process of becoming one big area in the next 20 years. I heard Eagle was like Star is today, but is quickly becoming part of the metro. Boise metro struck me as a smaller version of Orange County (Not a bad thing, as long as it keeps its values). I say Orange County because it is hot, dry hills in summer, dense, traffic but good people generally speaking. I can see how traffic will continue to grow as many Boise areas are exploding in population (50K towns like Nampa and Caldwell where 40K new additions came in the last ten years to bring the population closer to 100K).
We left to Twin Falls and arrived a few hours later at the Air B&B place. A nice couple in their 70s greeted us and we talked for an easy ½ hour. Great people. We rented a private room as it was just a crash pad for the night. Twin Falls did not impress me online or the bit we drove through. We did stop at Shoshone Falls in the evening and the falls were not falling. No water. Our hosts were surprised. We saw some water, but nothing going over so they must have damned it for whatever reason.
General Idaho and Observations
Idaho is great because the people make it great. The beauty is just the frosting on the cake and the laws are great. People did the speed limit when driving like I have never experienced before. It was refreshing as I got used to doing the speed limit instead of a “CA speed limit.” I got passed maybe 5 times in SE Idaho, a few times in CDA, and a few more than a few in Boise area. Plastic bags are still allowed in Idaho (CA the voters banned them), and CCWs (Hard to get in LA/OC area) and even exposed firearms are fine in Idaho (I have a Utah CCW). I loved feeling safer in case of emergency for my wife and I as I know a higher percentage of people chose to protect themselves and people act like firearms are a tool, which they are. Idaho was very clean and did not have much graffiti or gangs hanging out (Police departments don’t even have a gang unit) so the crime is more from individuals than territorial gangs. CDA sometimes can see the Northern Lights, but the lights were not active when we were there.
I like how both CDA and IF have access to colleges, but are not college towns. Both are not “refugee” centers. CDA has more crime than IF and being close to Spokane is similar to some crime comes from LA and travels to the OC to do their crime. CDA and IF do not have the cultures that typically get into territorial gang activity. IF has an expensive airport and the more affordable airport of Salt Lake City is 3 hours away while CDA has Spokane only 30 minutes away and is affordable. People in IF (Unless living in the smaller outlying towns) have a very small commute and people in CDA might commute from Spokane, which is not awful, but I personally want to ditch most of the commute. There are more large animals like deer, moose, mountain lions, and even bears that can walk into CDA versus IF which is more remote from the forest of the mountains. This can be good and bad. Bad for car crashes into deer or cats going “missing” but good as animals in nature are awesome. CDA has more commercial activities closer and the places are larger, (Example- Silverwood theme park) vs IF’s commercial activities. This can be good for options but that means the population and crowds are greater too.
Housing in Idaho Falls is about $150K-$200K for homes my wife and I really like, in Boise it is around $210K-$250K and CDA it is around $210-$250. The starting pay for police officers is around $21.50 hourly in IF and around $24 hourly in CDA so the financial choice would be to go to IF as the housing is more affordable and pay rate only a little less. Housing varies, but IF has many homes with basements and the numbered streets have more “style” with detached garages. CDA has more modern open concept homes, especially in the new development, and many homes are split level where one walks into the home and has to decide to walk up to the main floor for entertaining or down to the basement for the bedrooms and additional family room.
I think Idaho will stay great longer for conservative values as the population is less people as all large cities (Except Forth Worth and Kansas City I believe) become liberal for whatever reason. CA has been controlled by San Francisco and Los Angeles politics until most of the state recently went off the deep end. We have lost a few friends and acquaintances to Idaho over the past few years as political refugees who left to embrace Idaho values. We are not the kind to find work or move for the scenery and drag typical CA values to the place. This vacation was about having a good time and scouting to see if we did fit into the existing culture and boy did we fit, especially me. It is hard to try to summarize my experiences and observations while giving as much information as possible. I hope writing this helps others get a feel for the areas. Idaho is amazing and might actually be full
Wow...
This has to be one of the most complete, balanced and extensive comparisons of these cities, if not the very best, I've read on this forum! Thanks, K-Dog. That took a lot of effort, and it's very well done.
A personal note- I truly enjoyed meeting K, and having dinner with him. He's a very personable young man, a dedicated law enforcement officer, and will make a fine addition to any community he decides to settle in. He's also, as is apparent, very intelligent, too, and very well organized. Any police force here would be lucky to have him.
I'm sorry he couldn't stay longer, but I'm glad he checked out the local hot springs swimming resort. I recommended it, and I thought his assessment was quite fair and accurate.
Let me know if you're coming up to this neck of the woods again, K... I would love to show you around on some of the back-road countryside here. And I hope you join us soon!
Hey Banjo Mike. Thank you for your appreciative and kind words.
It was fun to write about the scouting trip/vacation we did as it was like re-living many aspects of the trip. So fun.
I uploaded additional photos to this website. City data updates every few months so all the cities we visited should have more photos. This includes more than just the traditional river or lake photos of the area.
Idaho will happen again for sure as I have a hard deadline of moving to Idaho by 2020 at the latest. Things are on track for a great transition as of now. When I am back in Idaho Falls I will be sure to give you a ring and we can tear up some back-road countryside for sure.
Forgot to note, the open carry in Pocatello. I have lived outside of Poky and go into Poky quite a bit for shopping and never seen anyone open carry, even though it is totally legal. Have seen a few that, like me, have the shirt ride up over the gun while driving and when getting out of the vehicle the gun is open for a second till the shirt is re-adjusted.
Out in the forests, or some of the smaller towns (e.g. Leadore, Stanley, etc.) I see a few.
Forgot to note, the open carry in Pocatello. I have lived outside of Poky and go into Poky quite a bit for shopping and never seen anyone open carry, even though it is totally legal. Have seen a few that, like me, have the shirt ride up over the gun while driving and when getting out of the vehicle the gun is open for a second till the shirt is re-adjusted.
Out in the forests, or some of the smaller towns (e.g. Leadore, Stanley, etc.) I see a few.
We've been in Idaho for 6 years now, from the very northern tip of the state to Idaho Falls, and I still have yet to see anyone open carry, lol.
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A few Idaho Falls Photos
