Mountain Home
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1/13/2008
Wow, Can't believe I'm the first one to review this city considering it's about 10 min from a military base named the same. Lots of people must be stationed here or have been. Mountain home is a small town of about 11,000 people. It has a wonderful relationship with the military base. They have a great parade veterans day and really show their appreciation for the military. I have to admit there isn't a lot to do here. I am from Freeland, Michigan which is another small town and there wasn't anything to do there growing up either. I've found that to be the case with small towns. It does have a pool, coffee shops, library, parks, and golf course. It also has car dealerships, eye dr's, dentists, spas, grocery stores, clinics, small hospital, gas stations, etc.. It is in the desert so it's pretty flat and lots of cows and sagebrush. I've also noticed on base a lot of grouse and rabbits. On the highway you can see falcons flying overhead. I've also seen an occasional coyote and some antelope. You can see the mountains in the distant from different areas of the town. We arrived in July 07 and it was HOT ( in 100's) and dry. The winter hasn't been to bad so far. We've gotten a few inches of snow, but it melts relatively fast within a few days. It has been windy on/off through the winter so far though ( it's Jan). They have your typical fast food restaurants and some mom and pop places. There aren't a lot of choices for eating out. Shopping is limited to Wally world and Maurices ( women clothing store). Boise is only an hr drive and has every convience you could ever want and more. I've heard rave reviews about the elementary school system. I have a 4 yo son who isn't in the school system yet. I've heard drugs are a problem in the high school from my 17 yo daughter with pot and drinking being the most popular. I think that's the case with a lot of high schools though. We were stationed in Montana and meth was the problem there, Alaska pot was popular, and again when I grew up in a small town pot and drinking were the thing to do. I'm not saying it isn't a big deal, but the key is to be involved in your child's education and keep that child involved in sports, after school activities, church, etc.. The housing market is A LOT higher than I expected with a nice newer house averaging around $178,000 and up. There are TONS of new subdivisions going up. I don't know where the people to buy them are coming from, but have heard because of Boise's increasing housing prices and high traffic problems people from Boise are commuting to Mountain home. I don't know a lot about the crime in town, but haven't heard it being to much of a problem in Mountain home. Boise pretty much dominates the news. The town is making some efforts to grown with a new cheese factory that opened in 07 and they are suppose to build some kind of race track. Hopefully, they will bring more business's into this area. I have heard quite a few military spouses say they cried when they got here. Some say they got use to it and some say they can't wait to get out of here. I have found that I didn't really like Mountain home at first, but SLOWLY I have found that it snuck up and grown on me somehow. I have a good job and my husband is retiring in 2 yrs, so for now we are going to probably retire here. I think any place is what you make of it. You have to be willing to go out and find things to do and surround yourself with family and friends.
Deniece | Mountain Home AFB, ID