What I Miss Most about Leaving California for Idaho

I made the move to Boise, Idaho, from San Diego, California, and I get asked all the time if I'm actually glad that I made the move here. Do I have any regrets? What are the biggest things that I miss about California? In this video, I'm going to dive into whether or not I'm actually glad that I made the move here and what those biggest things that I miss about California are. If you're thinking about making the move to Idaho, I, a local real estate agent, run one of the top relocation teams here in the Boise, Idaho area, especially helping people move from California to Idaho. If that's you, all you got to do is reach out via phone, text, or email, or you can book an appointment directly on my calendar. We'll sit down, have a consultation, and work out the timeline and the plan for you to make the move here to Idaho.

Am I Actually Happy About Moving to Idaho?

Well, I think just the fact I'm making this video for you to dissect whether or not I'm happy about Idaho probably indicates to you that yes, I am very, very glad that I made the move to Idaho with my family. A lot of people say, "Hey, why would you move from San Diego? I mean, that's a super conservative city. Why would you ever leave that? Plus, the weather is amazing." Well, I remind them that San Diego was conservative. San Diego is a military town heavily dominated, of course, by Navy bases, etc. However, the entire culture in the military is also moving rather liberal, if you haven't noticed. Very progressive. It's kind of an experimentation for a lot of the liberal policies going on. Not to say that's driving the culture in San Diego, but what is happening is that there are nine city council members on the San Diego City Council, and eight of those nine are Democrats with very liberal policies, including the Democrat mayor. The County Board of Supervisors is three to two Democrats that controlled the policies during 2020 through 2023 when the state of emergency was still in effect in California. So, it certainly has shifted much more liberal even within San Diego, and of course, the entire state of California is just going crazy. Idaho is certainly much more conservative.

Of course, there are liberal elements here in Idaho. Boise itself is a blue city, a blue dot in the middle of the red state. It's about 55% Democrat, 45% Republican, so there is some concern among Idahoans that the mayor of Boise wants to basically turn Boise into Portland. A lot of people are trying to prevent that and stop that, but she did just get reelected, so that's a little bit of a concern. However, Boise itself has the more liberal contingent, but the rest of the cities around Boise, around the Treasure Valley, right outside of it, like Meridian, Eagle, and Star, are much more conservative. So, I am certainly happy that I moved here. I just feel a lot more comfortable. I have no problem discussing and debating with people that disagree with me. I've done this my entire life. I'm very even-keeled. I'm easy to get along with, and I'm happy to have meaningful conversations with people. Unfortunately, as we know, that's not usually how it goes, and the government likes to ramrod all kinds of things down our throats back in California. So, I certainly am glad that I made the move here purely for that. Plus, there are just so many other freedoms. You don't feel oppressed like so many people feel like in California. It's so much more free here, and I absolutely love it.

What Do I Miss About California?

What are the biggest things that I miss about moving from San Diego? Well, certainly a big factor is some of the family that I still have in San Diego: my parents, my sister and her family, and some of my aunts and uncles still live there as well. So, I certainly miss them, but I do still travel back and see them. It's a short flight away. A direct flight, you're in San Diego in less than two hours. Right now, you've got Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines that typically have direct flights. Alaska is more consistent; Southwest really just in the summertime. So, you can get back and forth very quickly.

I certainly miss my family, but they now come up and visit. I have relatives in North Idaho, so my parents make it a trip to visit us and then visit my dad's sister, my aunt, up in North Idaho. But certainly, the big thing is the weather. You just cannot beat the weather in San Diego. It's relatively dry, although compared to Boise, San Diego feels humid, believe it or not, because it's so dry in Boise, Idaho. But certainly amazing weather. You know, San Diego is 70 and sunny all year round. If you're in Southern California, similar weather. Of course, the more inland you get, the warmer it gets. So, if you're moving from more of an inland area of Southern California or California in general, the weather up here may be somewhat similar to what you're used to. Obviously, inland areas of California get very hot in the summer, 90 to 100 plus degrees. That's going to be like Boise. It is going to be in the '90s most of the summertime, potentially in the low 100s as well, but very, very dry heat because it is high desert in Boise, Idaho.

I certainly miss the beach in San Diego. I love going to the beach. In fact, we love going to the bay in San Diego. We have inflatable kayaks. We brought those with us, and we would take those on the bay. They weren't ocean-worthy, but certainly in the bay, we could paddle around. Absolutely beautiful and gorgeous. Yes, I miss those things. I've replaced that with hanging out on the Boise River during the spring, summer, and early fall. You can float on the Boise River. In fact, during the summertime, that is the big activity. You start up at Barber Park, float down the river, it takes about three hours. You can stop, have lunch, eat a snack along the way, whatever it might be, jump in the water to cool off. When you're done, you pay about three bucks for a shuttle to take you back up to your car. The whole process is about five or six hours. Between renting the raft, or if you have your own like we do, then it might be a little bit faster. Plan about that. So, we've replaced the beach with the river.

Certainly, there's a lot of great camping in San Diego and in California as well, but there is absolutely amazing camping and outdoor activities here in Idaho that we are transitioning over to and love. We love going up into our local mountains here in the Boise area. From where I live down in Nampa, to get into the mountains, you're looking at about two hours. Now, you can get to other spots closer than that, about an hour, hour and a half away, but the spots that we like to go to so far are really about two, two and a half, to maybe three hours if you're pulling a trailer. We have a camper trailer that we absolutely love camping in. It's this old camper trailer we renovated the interior on, and we love pulling that and going camping. There are a number of lakes around the Boise, Idaho area. Now, you do have Lake Lowell in South Nampa. However, I would not recommend swimming in that. It's kind of a big drainage area for the whole Treasure Valley. Now, we have a number of other lakes around the Boise, Idaho area, including Black Canyon Reservoir in Gem County near Emmett, Lucky Peak Reservoir, and we also have Arrowrock Reservoir, all just a short drive away from the Boise, Idaho area. Much better options for you than Lake Lowell, but great options for fishing, boating, swimming, whatever kind of water recreational activities you want to do.

Embracing Freedom in Idaho

I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the freedom around the Second Amendment and gun control here. It's so awesome to be able to go into a gun store and simply purchase a handgun with an instant background check and walk out with it. I just recently did that over Christmas time 2023. I went in and wanted to purchase a concealed carry handgun. I'd done my research on it, bought a P365, and I was able to check them out there in the store. I'd already gone to a local shooting range with some friends and shot a number of different concealed carry style weapons and went ahead and purchased this. I was able to walk out with it the same day. No 10-day wait period. Ammo is very easy to get here, a little bit cheaper than what you're going to find in California as well. A lot of my clients that move here are moving here with some pretty big gun stockpiles. It's pretty crazy what I see sometimes.

Final Thoughts

Those are the big reasons why I made the move here to Idaho. I'm still very happy I made the move here. If you're looking to make the move here to Idaho, all you got to do is reach out to me via phone, text, or email, or you can schedule a call with me on my calendar right down below in my contact information here. We'll jump on a Zoom call and figure out the best timeline and plan for you to make the move here to the Boise, Idaho area. If you're looking to make the move in one to three months, then there are certainly options for you, whether that's resale or new construction homes or spec homes. You can purchase new construction, or if you're looking maybe a year out, two years out, then we can plan for build options with a local builder where we can plan a semi-custom build or maybe even a full custom build for you. \