Reply #15: thanks fort the info

[cayanne]

Thanks for the info. I've never been to Boise although I've been thinking about going. I'm told it takes about 10 hours from Coeur d'Alene and I've driven that goat trail only once from Council. I may get there this summer. I didn't get to Idaho Falls but we did go into Pocatello this past winter when we drove to Park City, UT.

Northern Idaho is very different from southern Idaho. We're on Pacific Time due to our close proximity to Spokane. I do know that Cd'A and Sandpoint are more based on a tourist economy now but the science and technology jobs are more in the southern part. Granted my timber town is more isolated in the NW central part of the state where there is nothing here but timber.

There is a huge opportunity to switch to tourism but the St Maries people resist any kind of change. It is still pro Bush and they still only listen to Fox news and Limbaugh. There is little diversity here and when tree planters, thinners and pruners come in to the area to work, they may last a few days until the sheriff hunts them down and looks for green cards, then some get arrested and deported. There is a lot more diversity now in both Bonner and Kootenai counties.

I am aware that wages have increased in both Bonner and Kootenai counties in the 15 years I've been here. It's like northern and southern California, the north has the resources and the south has the wealth and population.