Searching for sanctuary in Idaho (Idaho Falls: apartments, renter, buying a home)

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by nm9stheham

I'll take that over living in the upper midwest again, near Ft Wayne IN. Bleak and flat and alternating brown and white in winter (harvested/plowed fields and snow), then 1 month of green as the crops spring up in late May-early June, then the corn blocks your view for about 4 months, then it all gets chopped down in Oct-Nov and you are back to brown again. Low altitude cloudiness all winter long, as bad as Seattle. Booooring!


And the same short transition from winter to summer to winter.... just a few weeks of spring and fall. Not enough snow to snowmobile and no public lands anyway. Boooring!

Oh... I never said life in I.P. is boring!
To the contrary. There is never a dull moment up there. When the people are peaceable, nature becomes a foe. When nature is peaceable, the wildlife are trouble. When wildlife are minding themselves, the tourists go crazy. And when the tourists leave, the residents have no new people to argue with, so they go back to messing around with each other.

It's sometimes fun, sometimes distressing, rarely mundane, but never boring. If there isn't enough natural drama happening, the residents will create some.

While I never lived there full-time for more than a few months (an uncle owned one of the lodges there for quite a while), I was up there all the time, usually doing work or playing music professionally, and I got a very good taste of life up there. I came to know quite a few folks who lived in Island Park and called it home.

I seriously doubt you have ever lived in any community that's like Island Park. It is an unincorporated town that is 500 feet wide and 33 miles long, with a population of about 300 people.

I don't know how many people pass through Island Park, but it has to be in the millions yearly.

For sure, it is nothing at all like Ft. Wayne; I've spent a little time in Ft. Wayne, and I say that in confidence that comes from experience.

None of anything I said doesn't mean you would not like life there. You may- I don't know if you would or not.

[nm9stheham]

LOL..... Oh I know it is all different there in I.P. I was just saying there are a lot worse places if you like pretty scenery and some variety of environment. Been real estate shopping in I.P. in the last coupla years and through there a few times.

Yeah, the shape is quite amusing.

Been living on top of a mtn in VA for the last 30 years..... lots less snow, but when we get a big nor'easter snow dump and it blows hard, the drifts will get to 2-4' on the county road. One year, we had a 10' deep drift in a steep part and they had to bring in a rotary snowplow from western MD to cut a way through. I have chains for all 4 tires on one of my trucks. So, I am used to a bit of snow from time to time, but it rarely lays more than a few weeks.

[highplainsrunaway]

So, I've been watching the weather in the Coeur d' Alene area lately and it seems like every day is ~32 degrees, cloudy or foggy and >90% humidity.
Is that normal winter weather for the area?

[volosong]

Originally Posted by highplainsrunaway

So, I've been watching the weather in the Coeur d' Alene area lately and it seems like every day is ~32 degrees, cloudy or foggy and >90% humidity.
Is that normal winter weather for the area?

Yup, pretty much. However, it seems that the sun has been out more than usual this year. That's nice, but still cold. Too cold to ride my bike. Been tempted a bunch of times because I have a new bike, but just don't want to get all bundled up.

We had a minor snow storm the other week and the snow has melted on the sunny side of the street. Their side got all nice and dry while on my side of the street, in the shadows, the snow turned to ice. Finally, a couple of days ago, the high temps were up into the high 40's and my neighbor and myself went out there with our ice hoes and broke up the ice on the sidewalks and the street. Had a few days to dry up.

But it's snowing again today. Pretty light, but supposed to hit harder on Sunday. Yesterday was glorious. Took the pups to Farragut for our daily walk/hike. Not too cold either. Rally nice.

p.s. The fog has been a little unusual. It seems to hang above the lakes and down by the river, then spread out from there. On my side of the prairie, it has been clear.

p.p.s. Your humidity number is a little high. Maybe that is for the areas where it is foggy, (makes sense). Normally, the humidity is about half that. The 32 degree temps really don't feel all that cold when the humidity is lower. When the wind picks up, it does feel cold. Otherwise, it is actually fairly comfortable.

[highplainsrunaway]

So is the cold & gloom a "bottom of the valley" thing, or is it better at higher altitudes?

[volosong]

Being a prairie, there really isn't a valley bottom. It's pretty flat. But, yeah, it clears up when you ascend in altitude, (the fog, that is - it's still cloudy). I took the pups for a walk in the mountains above Fernan Lake last week. It was foggy on the prairie, (around the east and southern end by the lakes). As soon as I started climbing the mountain/hill, it cleared up pretty quick. Just a couple hundred feet and it was clear.

The jeep trail we like to hike/walk starts just above the shooting range. We only went a few miles and by the time we got back out, it had cleared up. I had expected the snow to be melted because I remember the trail being mostly in sunlight, (from summer hikes when it felt "hot"). But, the road driving up was icy. In hindsight, I should have not gone up because I also needed to go back down that icy road. And, there are no guardrails on that road.

I just put the car in low gear and rolled down slowly. No traffic, so no problem. It was a nice day, except for one of my dogs getting spooked by a quail in the bushes who made a racket when we walked past. He shot down the road like a bat out of hell. Finally caught up to him about a quarter mile down the road. He really must have been picked on when he was wandering the streets. He spooks easily.

- - - - -

I have only been living here for about four years now, and came from living my whole life in Southern California. As you might know, the winters down there are pretty much just a mild summer. Pretty benign. I have not found the winters here unbearable at all. Well, except for not being able to ride my bikes, (I won't ride when it is wet outside or too cold).

The snow, ice, cold? None of it really bothers me. And, I like to be outside as much as I can. The winters are not really bad at all. Thirty-two degree temps are not all that cold. Usually, I just wear a lightweight jacket and a good pair of gloves. Unless the wind is blowing, I really don't need more than that.

The only thing that really bugs me about winter is the length of the daylight hours. They are pretty short. Vitamin D really helps with that. Still don't like it, but at least it is now bearable.

But then, I realize that other people might not tolerate extremes in weather as well as I seem to have adapted to it. To me, the environment around here is too spectacular to be cooped up all winter and not be out and enjoying it.

[Boone1791]

Originally Posted by volosong

The only thing that really bugs me about winter is the length of the daylight hours. They are pretty short.

Yeah, up around Pend Oreille, the sun sets behind the distant mountains around 3:30 pm! And it gets dark pretty quickly after that.

[highplainsrunaway]

Where I am now, (next to COS airport) is not a valley, but due to inversions the temp here can be 15 -20 degrees colder than just a few miles away. It can be cold & gloomy here and bright & sunny 5 miles away.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Weather? We have a lovely coating of fresh snow this morning and cloud cover looks like snow clouds, so I expect there will be more snow.



This year, freezing weather and snow started at the first of October.

[folkguitarist555]

Originally Posted by nowhereman427

Yes seems to be every place is going up plus those areas in East Idaho Pokey, Twin Falls and Idaho Falls are growing fast and having a major employer INL coming in will increase need for more workers and homes.

Sadly thanks to the Californians, Idaho is becoming more expensive by the day. They take their 800k from the sale of their house in CA, and roll into a property in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and jack up all the real estate rendering it unaffordable to the rest of folks. This has been a dilemma on the west coast for years.