My daughter has decided she hates the state of Georgia, Did not get accepted to CU Boulder with a 3.3 gpa, does not want to go to college here and want’s to move to Boise, IDAHO.
Anyone on this site live in Boise, worked in Boise, or went to school at Boise State? What’s the Tri scene like? Skiing at Bogus Basin?
Kayaking, Hiking etc. Any input would be great positives & negatives.
thanks all
Hopefully a real Boise person will respond, but I kind of know it, having visited a lot in the 90s and with a friend who lives there now. First off, its nowhere near as “cool” or pretty as as Boulder, but also much cheaper. Its been booming for 20 years and the whole area is filling up, so pros and cons there … It is close to some great outdoors, but its still a ways (30-60 min.) from forests, nice lakes, etc. I always thought it was sort of dull, but my friend says its big enough to have some cool, old neighborhoods and culture too. BSU is a pretty good school. I’m sure the cycling and tri. scene is relatively strong: Lots of outdoorsy people in a place with close to 1/2 million people.
Also not from Boise…but I do know that the tri scene is pretty to very good with the Boise Aeros Tri club being very active. 7 or 8 events in the surrounding areas over the year.
So I don’t live there (I’m in NorCal) but my wife’s family has been there for 10+ years - parents, aunt/uncle, brother’s family. So we’ve spent a lot of time there over the years through different seasons, for various occasions, etc. Also the company I work for has a large presence there so I know lots of folks that live there through work. We really love the area; it’s a great college town with HUGE alumni support (brother in law went there); big enough to have everything you need but small enough not to feel huge. Also there is a large cycling & running community, as well as all things outdoors.
We’d like to move there but are committed to stay put until the kids are through school…the youngest starts high school in the fall so not too many years more.
Would recommend it for sure.
Jon
The kayaking is awesome! We go up every year about a hour north of boise and hit the payette river, everything from class III to class VI. Ive been through Boise alot and know some people up there and seems like a nice little town, looks like there would be alot of good areas to do some long road rides.
Lived in Boise for almost 20 years, went to school at CU Boulder. I’ve since lived in Seattle, San Diego, Long Island, San Jose, Norman, OK, and Austin. Boise was one of my favorite places to live (better than Seattle, San Diego, LI, and San Jose). Growing up there was really fabulous. As a kid we used to go sailing almost every weekend in the summer. Drive to a lake (half dozen to choose from) Sat. morning, sail all day, camp, sail all day Sunday drive home in the evening. Bogus Basin is only 30 minutes from downtown. Mtn. biking is plentiful right on the edge of the city.
If I had a job there, I’d live in Boise again in a heartbeat… Well almost. I really like Austin.
The weather in Boise is pretty nice. Not too hot in the summer (hot, but desert dry so it doesn’t feel hot), not too cold in the winter, but 4 seasons. Doesn’t rain too much. Not too windy.
There does seem to be a strong and growing tri community. You’ve got Boise 70.3 this year, plus there have been some long standing triathlons in the area for 20 years or more. Good cycling scene too.
Certainly better cost of living than anywhere near the east or west coast and much better than Boulder.
I can think of far worse places to go to school.
Hi, Boise here. Can speak about tri scene, been in it 15 years since leaving the hell of the East Coast. Boise Aero’s, our club, close to 100 members. At least 5-6 local races in town. We train, race and party together. YMCA is generally the swim and workout spot. We have many hard-core (me 7 IM’s) and newbies as well. 70.3 is making a big splash this year.
I can’t comment on Boise State. Other than the fact that their rabid football fans always think they should be ranked #1, and generally are annoying and piss me off 
Most importantly, what kind of school is she looking for? BSU tends to have a LOT of commuters, so it’s not like a CU. They started a triclub there a few years ago.
Skiing at Bogus is good, but more importantly, cheap for a college student. She can buy a season pass for like $250. Really GREAT skiing is in Sun Valley, 2 hours away, or Alta / the Bird in SLC, 5 hours away.
Kayaking, biking and running are HUGE. The trail system starts less than a mile from downtown. over 100 miles of trails. the number of people road and mtn. biking are staggering. They are also putting in a big kayaking play-wave complex right in downtown on the river (and it is super clean. millions float it every summer, not like that muddy brown ick of GA!). i wil say this. if you are NOT active and love the outdoors, Boise is NOT the right place for you.
i have been in this paradise for 16 years. boise’s “reputation” prevents alot of people from ever investigating. people think there is nothing here, and people are dead-ass wrong. i know, because my friends who have never been here always say “BOISE, EWWWW”. go ahead, act that way, it keeps the riff-raff out :). my BF, who moved here 5 years ago from ATLANTA, feels the same. can’t pry our road / mtn. biking, trail / dog running, river lovin, outdoor cafe hanging asses outta here with an ice ax. we are like the Boulder of 1970-80’s.
no crime, no traffic, no hassle. good jobs. i work for HP, drive or bike 7 miles to the site, and make more money than most people in comparable positions in East Coast / Bay Area with 2 hour commutes (stepmom and sister are both big time HR people, so this is a fact). my mortgage payment for a NorthEnd 1500 sq, ft, NICE house is $600 a month for me and my Labrador.
i will never leave. ever.
Sue
Yeah, yeah, yeah…But you still haven’t helped ME find a job in Le Bois…
Wassup wit dat STO?
Say hey to Keene.
Puskas
hey BUDDY! aren’t you somewhere in the Midwest learning war or something. IPG has a hiring freeze, now, which sucks. say hi to Rachel! when you coming back out west?
IMAZ in 9 days…Yahoo!
I’m in Kansas at the Army’s Command and General Staff College learning about the elements of national power…Not just war, but Diplomacy, Information, and Economic incentives as well…It’s pretty interesting.
I’ll be back in PDX during Memorial Day. Hopefully, we’ll have a sister for Bugaboo by then (assuming Boo’s hips heal).
Shhhh. You’re supposed to say it sucks here. =) Far from civilization, always cold, full of backwards country folk, potatoes, weird blue football fields, etc. At least that’s what I hear when I travel. I’m like, “yeah you got it!”. I’m kidding; I love it here and can only say nice things about Boise. But I moved here from Portland/Vancouver 12 yrs ago and being seen as a “destination” can be a mixed blessing.
This mid-sized city has many benefits, especially for lovers of the outdoors. Very low crime, family oriented, reasonable prices, short commutes (mine is 5 minutes, also to HP), clean air (save the occasional inversion) and water, etc. In fact, a popular summer activity is “floating the Boise” which basically means rafting or tubing the river right through town. The water and environs are so clear and clean, it looks just like a wild river was plucked from the mountains and dropped into the middle of Boise. Seriously. The river is fed from the bottom of a reservoir, so the water is very chilly even on hot days. There is a forested bike path (“the greenbelt”) that runs along almost the entire Boise stretch of the river, which is very nice when out for a casual stroll or cruise. It can be pretty busy so any hard training on it is best left to winter or bad weather days. I often see bald eagles in the trees along the greenbelt during winter. There are also quite a few small lakes/large ponds near the river that are clean and good for swimming.
Outdoor recreation options are vast and, if you look for it, you really can find your own private Idaho within a 1-2 hour drive of Boise. Large sections of local wilderness areas rarely see people, if you like that sort of thing. You can even avoid crowds in the popular Sawtooth mountains by going off trail and popping over a ridge and into an unnamed lake basin. By contrast, I was hard pressed to find areas of true solitude in the OR/WA mtns. Although the Wallowas in NE Oregon are also pretty nice.
Oh, and the 4000 ft road climb up to the Bogus Basin condos is pretty sweet, too. We’re spoiled to have a climb like that right off our doorsteps. I do that ride at least once a week in the summer/fall. Tons and tons of MTB options in the foothills.
Yeah, it can be tough come summer weekends deciding whether I want to do my scheduled workouts, or opt for hiking/backpacking/rafting instead… such a quandry.
I better shut up now. =)
i know, in know. i should keep my mouth shut, because the growth alone freaks me out. just sort of annoys me that some people still act like moving to Boise is the "end of civilization / “good lord, why would you want to move THERE?!?!?!” they truly are clueless.
ps. i tried to get Kempthorne to close the border in 2000, but sigh, those greedy bastards from California kept bribing him for our cheap land and great weather.
Like Sue said…Boise is pretty awesome. We have a very outdoor oriented community, good jobs, and low cost of living. But, if I were a triathlete looking for a college in the ‘Great Wide Open’, I would have to recommend University of Montana in Missoula. Great tri community (Team Stampede, Matt Seeley, Lindsay Corbin…the list goes on), and a great school with a college feel!
To be young again:) Best of luck on your search!
TL
OK, since you asked for negatives as well as positives. I left Boise about 30 years ago swearing never to return. It was definitely not the place for me – a slightly nerdy high school kid who had moved (with my family) from New Jersey about 6 years earlier. I had no money, a crappy car, and worked at crappy minimum wage jobs. So I moved to Southern California where I’ve lived most of the time since.
Things I didn’t like about Boise:
- People in Idaho can be very provincial. After living there 6 years I still felt like an outsider. People had bumper stickers: “Don’t Californicate Idaho”, or “Thank you for Visiting Idaho, Now Leave”.
- Looking forward to going to BSU, in no way appealed to me. At the time it was a seriously podunk university. The smarter kids went to U of Idaho up north, and the smartest left the state.
- The snow. It’s just this dusty stuff that comes down and blows away. You can’t even make a decent snowball, and forget about making a snow fort. There’s never enough for a good sized 2-3 foot drift – nothing like what I had in New Jersey. I couldn’t afford to go skiing, so the best parts of living in snow were lost to me.
- The people in Boise t-a-l-k, s–o d—a—m—n s----l----o----w----l----y. You just want to reach down their throats and drag the words out. My New Yorker wife would not be able to survive.
In truth I’ve visited family in Boise and other parts of Idaho many times since I left, and I like it better every time. I’m also heading up for the Boise 70.3.
I don’t know which has change more: Boise or me. But for now its a nice place to visit – but living there (as STO would be happy to know) – I just can’t see it happening.
John
Thanks everyone. Appreciate the comments. Grew up in Boulder in the 70’s.
.02
Convince your daughter that wherever you go, there you are. Get her on the Hope scholarship, and use the difference to send her on international travel once or twice per year.
Sweetie, home girl here grew up near Philly, and you are ab-so-freaking-lutely right about the SLOW talkers! LOL! holy hell, i thought it was just me!
when I moved here 16 years ago, what you have written still applied, but things have changed dramatically in the past 10 years. if you left Jersey and came here 30 years, ago, OH MY. what a horrible shock and disappointment this place would have been.
glad to have you back for 70.3. see you in June.
Sue
Awesome food co-op there…
“you are ab-so-freaking-lutely right about the SLOW talkers! LOL! holy hell, i thought it was just me!”
Hey, we are just very chill out here in the inland NW. Very understandable … Its the Northeasterners (and NYers) I find to be frenetic freaks. Blahblahblahblahblah … Huh? Rented Gone Baby Gone a week ago and understood like 20% of it.
I used to be based in Mountain Home just 40 minutes down the highway. I miss Boise. I wish I could move there. There is a great mix of bike shops and no one looks at you weird when you run. My ex-wife got her degree from Boise State and has been doing great climbing the cooperate ladder so it’s not a bad school. Bogus Basin is a kick. Small but the runs are fun and the drive there from Boise is interesting and even more fun to ride in the summer.
I miss it. I miss it bad.