Caribou / Presque Isle (Columbia: live, drive, passport)

[CWrens]

Also, I don't know how long we would be in Caribou (2-5 years estimate) so renting a home is tempting except I've looked online and I don't see any rentals. Is the available housing for buying only (which we can do)?

[maineguy8888]

There is a pretty good supply of homes to buy right now. There are never a lot of rental houses but if you look hard enough you can usually find a few.

[Brodels]

I was born in Caribou and spent much of my life in Presque Isle, so I'm fond of both. My vote is for Presque Isle due to the better shopping opportunities, colleges (which bring a little bit of life to town), hospital that offers more services, and a more traditional, active downtown. Both are safe and relatively quiet. Both are pretty isolated.

[maineguy8888]

Walmart is killing everything in Presque Isle (latest victim is Sears). We almost never shop at Walmart. We can either find it in Caribou or we order online. (Caribou has better shops).
Caribou's hospital is better by far.
Presque Isle's downtown is truly sad. It breaks my heart to drive through there today.
Presque Isle has some things Caribou doesn't, and Caribou has things that Presque Isle doesn't.

As for being isolated, a lot of people forget that we are right next door to Canada. We go over alot. It's neat being involved in two countries.

[Mainer61]

We live in Caribou and have Time Warner for internet and cable...reliable but expensive.
I think taxes are pretty high in the area.
The hospital in Caribou is good.
People are friendly and nice
Can't tell you anything about the schools.
There is much more shopping/restaurants in Presque Isle...also, more traffic

I prefer Caribou.

Good luck!

[maineguy8888]

Presque Isle is unfortunately suffering the Wal Mart effect.
The local electronics shop (best one in the area) just closed.
The local hardware store which had been around for 60 years closed last year (shortly after moving into a big, new location).
Sears is closing in a month.
KMart and/or Penney's are probably not far behind. They are empty.

Presque Isle also got way over "restaurant-ized". In the last couple years four or five places have closed. I wouldn't be surprised to see several more follow.

[Brodels]

Certainly both towns are nice, all I'm saying is that Presque Isle has more going for it from a higher education, healthcare, transportation, and shopping perspective.

And sure, some may prefer the smaller shops in Caribou over the greater options in Presque Isle, the smaller hospital over the larger one, etc., but generally speaking, Presque Isle is going to have greater appeal if these things are most important.

Caribou has a nice community feel though and is a good option.

[maineguy8888]

The only thing I would argue about is the hospital. Presque Isle has a terrible hospital. I have heard numerous horror stories, including people dying needlessly. My own family members have had terrible experiences there. My sons were born at Cary, and we have used it for other reasons. I have never heard a single negative comment about Cary.

I assume by transportation you mean the airport. Very few people use it. We always fly out of Fredericton.

[bangorme]

Neither hospital is topnotch, but neither is poor either. I found Caribou hospital to be disorganized and difficult to deal with at times. I found the Presque Isle hospital to be mediocre. But, what do people expect? These are small communities and are fortunate to have facilities of this size available. I did find that the better doctors frequent the Presque Isle hospital. We found some really good physicians there (but you have to look).

I wouldn't choose either community based on the hospital. Both are easy to get to from both communities.

[maineguy8888]

I have found just the opposite regarding quality of doctors at the two hospitals. Cary has some fantastic doctors (I can think of at least six which we personally have used).
Presque Isle is now part of Eastern Maine Healthcare System, which is the opposite of locally run (which Cary is). Since Presque Isle became part of that system, it has dropped in quality. Decisions are now made out of Bangor.
Cary is best known for its fantastic response to the arsenic poisoning case ten years ago, when they saved the lives of every victim except one (who was very elderly).