Northern Idaho.
I've got family out there, and spend plenty of time there myself most years.
You'll see people in the comments complaining about Mexicans, Californians, and rising house prices. Mexicans and liberal Californians all head toward southern Idaho, and don't seem to get much farther than Boise. In the panhandle, you'll see virtually zero Mexicans. In fact, you'll have an easier time finding white identitarians and neo-Nazis in basically every town except Coeur d'Alene. There's a decent number of Californians there, but if you speak to them you'll find that they're mostly very right-wing and were leaving behind smaller towns in CA, not LA or San Francisco or anything like that.
The rising house prices are true. They're nowhere near West Coast levels, but they are still higher than Idaho has ever seen before. I think it's a bubble, but I'm no expert.
Norther Idaho is all mountains and forests and lakes and rivers. Beautiful landscapes, and totally different than the rest of Idaho. December/January are frequently (though not always) below freezing, and July/August can be pretty hot. But the weather is nice enough most of the year that basically everyone out there is an outdoorsman.
I haven't been there this year, but my brother tells me that nobody gives a shit about masks or vaccines or anything.
Coeur d'Alene is the biggest city there (maybe 50k? not sure), and it feels like a suburb of a standard large city. It's not terrible if you like the suburban feel, but the smartest people just use it for occasional shopping and live somewhere else. Every other town I've seen in N. Idaho is more worth living in than any other place I've seen around the country.
Ive been up top in idaho a d you are right there are some sweat spots. And you are right its hot as fuck in the summer and cold as fuck in the winter.
(post is archived)