Idaho Falls, ID

Anyone here from there? Looking for thoughts, opinions (informed or otherwise), facts, whatever.

I know it is fairly close to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, closer to SLC than Boise. What else? Interviewing for a postion out there. I am familiar with North Idaho, but not Eastern Idaho.

I'm from there. I don't live there any more, but my parents still live there.

What do you want to know?

Job for the INL?

Eric

Yeah, INL. My knowledge of the area is based on a mixture of the Idaho Falls wikipedia page and terrible stories of people who went there for Navy prototype training that always seemed to revolve around cold, snow, and a long bus ride out to the site.

If you could get a job there would you go back?

I've got a set of WWII-era postcards from the Navy training center there....not sure if that helps you much though. 8)

I love Idaho. But I've met so real Una-Bomber like wack-a-loons, too.

I live in my own Private Idaho underground like a wild potato

TJ wrote: Yeah, INL. My knowledge of the area is based on a mixture of the Idaho Falls wikipedia page and terrible stories of people who went there for Navy prototype training that always seemed to revolve around cold, snow, and a long bus ride out to the site. If you could get a job there would you go back?

No, I wouldn't. I love Michigan, and I love the culture around SE Michigan a lot.

However, if you are more the outdoor type- fishing (including ice fishing), hunting, hiking, etc- IF is one of the best places in the country- within 2.5 hours of the Tetons (my favorite national park), Yellostone, the Sawtooth Mountain Range, and the Snake River passes right through town (where the Falls part comes in). If you are even remotely interested in skiing, well- Idaho is less known, generally, than Utah- but again, there's Grand Targee, Jackson Hole, and Sun Valley as the big names within a short drive.

The bus ride for the Navy guys was pretty much required- their facility (BTW, one of the only desert based Naval facilities in the US, but the top nuke Navy training site) is out in the middle of the desert. If you are going to work at the Chem lab or any of the nuclear facilities, then you get the very well organized bus ride out to the Site. Most INL workers, though, work in the facilities within Idaho Falls.

To me, persoanlly, Idaho Falls lacks the culture that I get here- music, arts, food- just fun stuff. There is a car club- the Eastern Idaho Sports Car Club- I tried to get a link from Google, but my firewall blocks it.. I was a member of it for a while- they do a lot of autocrosses, but there isn't a track nearby. For watching organized sports- the closest university with a program is Idaho State- 50 miles to the south in Pocatello. DI-AA. The big headline sports school- Bozo State, is in Boise- a good 5 hour drive from IF. I went to school at U of Idaho, up in Moscow- 10 hours away. It's a very, very big state.

The other thing to mention- Idaho is very, very conservative. I don't know if that matters, but it is...

Eric

Small world I too am a Vandal! You me and Dennis Gage of big moustache fame.

I used to find it funny that when I lived in Moscow, ID we were closer to Seattle than Boise. Yes it's a big state, with a big portion of it entirely empty of everything except nature.

It looks like SLC is closer to Idaho Falls then Boise. That means Miller motorsports park is the 'local' track I guess.

Do you find it sorta Mayberryish when you go back to visit?

TJ wrote: Small world I too am a Vandal! You me and Dennis Gage of big moustache fame. I used to find it funny that when I lived in Moscow, ID we were closer to Seattle than Boise. Yes it's a big state, with a big portion of it entirely empty of everything except nature. It looks like SLC is closer to Idaho Falls then Boise. That means Miller motorsports park is the 'local' track I guess. Do you find it sorta Mayberryish when you go back to visit?

Dennis Gage is a Vandal?? I had no idea. I graduated in '90 before coming to Michigan. Loved it up there, and am geeked that the Football team is finally starting to get better again- when I finished, it was over 6 games in a row over Bozo State.

Miller is, indeed, the local track. Which also makes the Bonneville Salt Flats the local track too. There are a TON of Idaho plates when we head out to Bonneville.

Mayberry? No, more Napolean Dynamite. Not him, but the rest of the school. It's not like there is nothing- there is the Idaho Falls Symphony (which I was a member of), and quite a few artitst. I hear there is a small art fair in the summer, and there are some cool other summer things.

It is a pretty nice town, just not for me. Or most of my friends I grew up with. My wife spent two years working for the INL before we met, so she has more friends there than I do.... We only visit during Christmas, which does limit what you can do, due to weather.

One nice thing is that you can still get a good chunk of land just outside of town and do almost anything you want.

E-

alfadriver wrote: Dennis Gage is a Vandal?? I had no idea.

PhD in chemistry from Idaho...before he went on to work for Proctor and Gamble making Pringles.