BOISE

I feel like all of my threads have been travel-related lately, but I'm in the process of finding a place to relocate, so anyway...

My girlfriend (perhaps irrationally?) wants to visit Boise with the intent to possibly move there. Having never been to the Northwest, I couldn't know any less about the area. What's it like? Give me a full rundown.

We're basically looking for a decent sized and socially-minded city (roughly 400,000 to 1,000,000 people in the metropolitan area) that offers access to great outdoor activities (lakes, hiking, biking, skiing -- I think Idaho is known for its nature, so that's a plus0, but also with a great arts/music/culture scene. Does Boise have much to do in the way of culture?

If you don't think Boise is what we're looking for, where would you recommend along those guidelines? I'm trying to avoid Portland and Seattle because I hate rain and I don't want something as congested as the latter.

Thanks for any info/tips!

Abbott to thread!

Indeed! I'll give you the epic story in an hour or so.

BOISE, then. I lived in Boise from 2002-2006 and it was totally awesome.

The city: Boise's about 100k but the surrounding towns (Caldwell, Nampa, Eagle & Meridian) + it are about 400k in population. It has this feeling of a concentrated big city – not many people or crowds but with most of the amenities/vibes of a neat urban area.

Social-mindedness: Boise's the liberal bastion of Idaho, which is saying very very little. Your electoral vote (all 3) will never go to anyone but the repubs. Local politics are pretty liberal. (If you hate libertarians, well – there's a lot of them. It's a freaking backwoods state.) There's a curbside recycling program. The town is INSANELY bicycle friendly – I never had a problem interfacing with traffic (OTOH I lived near the center of town). Most of the main roads have bike lanes. It's a very gay-friendly town and the two best clubs in town are by far the gay bars.

Outdoor activities: Bogus Basin, the ski slope, is a quick drive up eighth street, and many more ski slopes are in the area. There's the fun summer tradition of floating the Boise River: sitting in a raft or innertube and drinking beer while floating down the river, which cuts through the middle of town/the university. Other nearby rivers in the area offer better fishing/rafting/etc. Boise is in some foothills and there's plenty of great bike trails, the most famous for racing being the one leading to Lucky Peak reservoir (also a good place for swimming). I should also note, in fairness, that in addition to wee BLM-protected fores areas, the bulk of the range is sage and cheat grass (not very attractive or romantic).

Climate: It gets in the 90s (F) in the summer and snowy in the winter. The winter is seldom bitterly cold.

Cost of living: So crazy cheap. I don't know if you'll be renting or buying. Renting was great: places in the 'north end' (the liberaliest part of town that is within walking distance of the downtown) were about $550/month for an attractive, big 2-bedroom. 2-3 bedroom house wld be abt $700/month to rent. Groceries are super cheap. They have a great farmer's market in nearby Nampa, a co-op, but best of all, WINCO. WINCO is a fucking cheap and rad grocery store, that is so so cheap (& is employee owned & operated).

Arts/culture/etc: They have a great record store. There's a lot of galleries, a few of which have some damn fun stuff. There's a university in town, so you can always go see the bassoon club concerts or whatevs. The bar next to the record store gets some good bands to come (I saw Jarboe, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Cat Power, the Melvins, Fantomas, blah blah blah). The other concert place in town I guess got bought by the Knitting Factory (!!!) – I haven't been there since then, but I guess they get better bands now. There's a fun sort of underground crowd that has house shows, weird-ass art shows, stuff like that.

Boise has the world's second largest amount of Basque people, so you'll get to know a lot of stuff about Basque culture and food (which is fatty but NOM). They have the Basque center downtown & several restaurants.

The variety of restaurants is really great (that's one of the things I miss most), and they have a lot of different specialty grocery stores (Asian, Indian, Mexican, etc.).

I think it's a really great town. You'll at least enjoy a visit there – I know that for sure! And if you move there, I'll get super jealous.

Thanks...you really covered basically everything I wanted to know about Boise. I was unsure before, but it really is starting to sound like my kind of place now. I'll probably be there mid-July to visit, if not sooner. Just wondering...what was the reasoning for you moving out of Boise, and how does it compare to where you're living now?

I moved because I failed out of college and ran out of financial aid, but New Mexico State wld give me some (+the husband's mom lived down here & offered to help). Hilarious, eh? I didn't move bcz of anything to do with Boise! I miss it like hell.

I live in Las Cruces, NM, and Boise is cheaper and has about 800,000 more things going on. They are both beautiful in different ways. The climate is about sixes for me...actually, I'm starting to miss the snow (but as a pedestrian, it's nice not to have any). Also Boise police are surprisingly diplomatic compared to here. OTOH, there are a lot of Catholics here, so during Lent fish is really cheap. The end.

Also, both Snoop Dogg and the Barenaked Ladies named Boise their favorite places on tour. !!!

Also also, Boise is a town that is sufficiently excited about its library:

http://www.boisepubliclibrary.org/About_BPL/images/bpl3.jpg

LIBRARY!

That's several levels of great.

No kidding!

Actually I wld think of you most every time I saw it, Ned, and how you wld appreciate that. :D

Too kind! :-) Post it on the 2009 librarian thread, I sez.

that is awesome

LIBRARY!

I wish all govt bldgs adopted this practice

department of parks and recreation!
police station!
division of motor vehicles!
county clerk!

PLANNING! & ZONING!

JAIL!

cemetery!

I thought I lived near the "liberal bastion of Idaho" - it was one of only two blue counties last election, at least, and not the one full of Hollywood ski money. But yeah that really does not mean a lot.

I live a couple hours north of Boise but have only been there once - I live closer to Seattle and Portland so Boise, believe it or not, never really makes the cut when planning weekend trips. I spent a couple of days there a few years ago and wasn't sure if I liked it or not - I had been on a big road trip and had spent the weeks before in Portland, Seattle, and Eugene so Boise felt very different and not as fun in comparison. But objectively, it's probably all right. It felt like it was very sprawly and lacked a really dense center or a any really tight, cohesive neighborhoods like Seattle and Portland have, and it all felt really shiny and new, which I imagine it is having grown a ton in the last 40 years or so. I was being driven around by friends who were showing me their haunts so I didn't really explore things myself.

Two friends from college lived there for 8 years, from 1998 until 2006, and absolutely loved it. They only moved away for a change of pace and because they got really sick of the summers, as it is basically a desert there. Not that that's bad, but like me they both grew up in Michigan and missed having water around. The moved to Coeur d'Alene in north Idaho and like that a lot, but they do complain that it's a lot more redneck than Boise was.

I really should go there again. I think they're having the big every-10-years Basque festival next year so I kind of want to check that out.