I tried to respond to you on email, but no luck, so you get a reply as a new post on my blog. Welcome (almost) to Idaho! I was actually raised the daughter of a Game Warden in a very small town about 60 miles north of Boise then moved to Boise after I graduated from high school in 1974. I never actually adjusted to big city life (yes, we consider Boise a big city!). I came to Hidden Springs when there were only 3 houses here and was determined this was where I wanted to live. A few years later, we were actually fortunate enough to get to do it! We've lived here over 5 years now and I just love it. I love hearing the coyotes at night, we had a deer walk through our yard a few weeks ago, I love feeding and watching the birds, and what I love the most is that while we have a fire station here, I've only heard sirens once. That was last summer when the foothills just north of us were on fire.
It's a really peaceful place and the people are great. While some people think of it as "Pleasantville", it's anything but. There are extremely wealthy people living here, but more are just like us, living a comfortable life but FAR from wealthy. It's a great place to raise a family if you have kids. We have two grown kids that live in Meridian and one son still at home who's 14. He feels really safe here and can go down to the creek and play with his friends or go to the village green by the Merc and play football with all the kids. All of his Boise friends always want to come up here to hang out even though you'd think they'd rather be in Boise where there's more to do.
My mom moved up here over a year ago and she absolutely loves it. Her back yard backs up to a hill near the watertower and she has deer in her yard about once a week and she's a big bird person so she loves feeding and watching the birds.
The north end is beautiful. I personally love old architecture. It's a lot like Hidden Springs except it's noisier since it's right in town and I personally think the house prices are extreme. However, either place is nice, I guess it just depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for a slower pace that's peaceful, you would love Hidden Springs. Some people from "down the hill" think that it's too far out here. But personally, I find the drive home peaceful and relaxing. I would much rather drive the 4 miles from State Street to Hidden Springs than 4 miles from State Street across town! No stop lights or traffic!
So are you retiring here or being transferred?
Well, I've probably gone on enough! If you come back to Hidden Springs, give us a call! We'd love to meet you at the Merc for coffee or a beer and if there's anything specific you'd like to know, I'll be happy to give you my email address. Hope you enjoy Idaho, it's a great place to live!
Hi Jan!
ReplyDelete(um, who's Jan??)
She found my blog and is moving here from California. Jan, this is my sister Kate. She's not a hillbilly but she's kind of a dork.
ReplyDeleteSuch a nice response!
ReplyDeleteWe really appreciate you giving us more "context" for HS, and for you too. I have to confess, I've never responded to a blog before so I'm a little clueless...I'd be happy to give you my email address, but is there a way to do that without it appearing on the blog? (Sorry: we're still subject to SoCal identity-theft paranoia -- especially since it's happened to us).
Meanwhile: we are empty nesters: my husband doesn't have kids of his own, I have two sons (one is 26, an airline pilot in Colorado, the other is 20 and at Arizona State U) -- we've just sold the family lumber & moulding business that I ran for 5 years after my 1st husband died, we are both semi-retired (he's an actor; I have also acted, taught, run a biz, etc.) and we're looking to make use of our California equity (what's left of it) and reinvent ourselves in Boise area. We are OVER SoCal...mostly the mind-numbing traffic and congestion everywhere.
And what you have to say about HS confirms our impressions of it, and of the people we've met who live there -- SO nice. Our neices and their families live in Meridian and Kuna and think HS is "far", but we've clocked the time it takes to get to Boise proper and it doesn't seem like a big deal (especially by our present standards!). BTW, we currently live in a foothills location that has its share of wildlife: deer, raccoons, MANY coyotes (we've lost 2 cats to them) and lots of trash-stealing bears. Yep, bears. They're rather a nuisance.
I do go on...thanks again for the swift and thougtful reply and we would love to look you up when we get to Idaho. Meanwhile, if you like you can take a peek at our house's website: www.627springpoint.com - you can see why it's way too much for two peeps!
And hi to Kate (I'm sure your sis means "dork" in the nicest way possible)...
cheers,
Jan
Wow Jan! What a beautiful home! I can see why you like HS and the north end. You obviously like the older style architecture too. Ok, I'm going to be brave and put my email address here so you can email me. It's jpogue56@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteSo how long do you think it will take you to sell your house? Most of the houses here in HS are "Energy Star" homes which means they've been certified as built with standards that exceed normal building standards and have great energy efficiency. We even have a few "LEED" homes which means they are built Green and with local products and healthy paint and flooring products. You could have a lot of fun finding the right house! Hope to talk to you soon.
And my sister is awesome! I love her.
ReplyDeleteHi Jan, I'm Jodi's Mom. Jodi convinced me to move to HS too (she's such a salesperson ) and I love it. We have a number of Californians who have found us and they too love it, though my neighbor had to shovel snow and got tired of it. I promised her we have light winters. oops
ReplyDeleteSo, we are a diversified group and everyone is so friendly. It is great.
Come to Idaho !