What’s in Idaho besides potatoes? Having promised my parents that I would visit their new home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, I thought the month in between would be a good time to get to know the state a little better. In partnership with Visit Idaho, I road tripped through the entire state, and what I saw and experienced amazed me to the core. I knew after that month long adventure that I did need change in my life, and that change was leaving California, the state I loved and lived in for most of my life, and trading it in for the quiet and laid back life that Idaho is.

There are a million reasons why I made this change, but here are the top 11 reasons why I moved to Idaho.

As with every other day of this year’s Treefort Music Fest, dozens of bands showcased at nightclubs and other indoor venues scattered throughout downtown Boise, Idaho, on Sat. March 26, the fourth day of the five-day festival. But many festival-goers spent the day outdoors, having fun on a section of the city’s West Grove Street that had been closed to traffic so that Treefort attendees could party in the street.

Other than entry to the Main Stage which required the purchase of a wristband, this whole part of the festival was free for anyone to attend, and it included this year’s edition of what has become a Treefort tradition, Seth Olinsky’s “Band Dialogue.” Olinsky, of Akron/Family and Cy Dune fame, composed “Band Dialogue” to be performed by 20 Treefort bands, and at 4:30 PM the musicians, lining both sides of the street, launched into the piece under Olinsky’s direction. Dashing around from area to area, Olinsky waved his hands constantly giving direction to the myriad musicians who ended up pulling off the piece nicely. A non-vocal piece, “Band Dialogue” was a long, droning piece that had occasional exclamation points put on it by bursts of percussion or flourishes of guitar, keyboards and even saxophone.

Petula Clark was right. The lights are much brighter downtown, where you can also forget all your troubles and forget all your cares. The 1965 Grammy Award-winning song, “Downtown,” still resonates loudly today, for good reason.

Downtowns are cool again. America’s city centers may have lost some luster throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, but they have come back with a vengeance.

“Boise is delightfully convenient for busy travelers. From our airport, where you can sample local food and drink, it’s just a 10-minute cab, Uber or shuttle ride to downtown. Once there, visitors might not need to use a car for the remainder of their trip. The Boise Centre, our meeting facility, is in the heart of downtown, just a few minutes’ walk from several Boise hotels, and is expanding with an additional 36,000 sq. ft. of meeting and event space by September 2016. And if visitors are planning ahead, they can anticipate more lodging options in the coming years. Boise is experiencing a hotel boom, with at least four new projects underway in the city’s core. From the doorsteps of the convention center, Boise offers dozens of new and revered restaurant options, brew pubs and cafes, as well as a growing wine scene. Need a break? Hop on a Boise Bike Share bicycle and cover even more ground in our compact, welcoming city.” - Carrie Westergard, executive director, Boise Convention & Visitors Bureau

March presents a difficult choice for outdoor recreationists in the Treasure Valley. Extract a few last memories from winter? Or dive into spring? One more day on skis? Or knock the rust off your golf game? Or maybe, you can have it both ways.

Since I was a teenager living in Bend, Ore., I’ve been familiar with the idea of combining skiing and golf in one day — but I’d never tried it until Sunday. That’s too bad, because I enjoyed the day, I never felt overwhelmed by it and the Treasure Valley likely is among the best, easiest places in the country to pull off the winter-summer double. We have easy access to Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area — the drive up Bogus Basin Road took less than 30 minutes with no snow or ice on the surface. Bogus is open at night — you could, conceivably, play golf in the afternoon and still get in plenty of ski runs in the evening. Our golf courses often are open most of the winter. And our days get long after Daylight Saving Time begins, which allowed me to flip my original plan. Instead of Tee & (Night) Ski, this became Ski & Tee.

Some top resort destinations like to market their golf-and-ski combinations. A quick Google search found references to the idea in Utah, Alberta, British Columbia, Pennsylvania, California, New Mexico and Colorado, for starters. But usually, that possibility is limited to a small overlap in the seasons — and might require enduring a frigid day on the course.

In the Treasure Valley, you can pick just about any pleasant winter day to give this a try.

The old adage of “location, location, location” is just one reason why Idaho as a whole has been recently making headlines as a blossoming national icon. The Gem State’s idyllic intersection of desert, mountains, and river oases creates an environment that offers something for everybody, while also quietly resting in close proximity to the urban centers of Seattle, Portland, and Salt Lake City.

But Idaho’s capital is making a name for itself for much more than its beauty and convenience.

With the goal of becoming the most livable city in the country, Boise is a bustling metropolis that has changed dramatically in the past decade or so, rising from a “bait and bullet” town, as it was called by the New York Times, to a thriving center for art, green initiatives, and community development. But it is in its uniquely isolated setting that Boise has truly found its niche as a hip, urban hub that is being praised by nearly every nationally published top ten list.

Boise Bricks and Minifigs opened March 19 on Fairview Avenue near Hampton Road, offering a place for children to build and play with Legos and miniature figures. The business is owned by franchisees Brook and Reed Brimhall, but it is operated by their entire family. The store has been “slammed” in its first few weeks, Brimhall said. People drove around for 15 minutes to find parking and lined up outside the door for the grand opening, she said. The store buys and sells new and used Lego products. It also offers an activity room that customers can rent or reserve for birthday parties, special-needs groups, home-school groups and daycare classes. 

If the thought of eating bacon makes you go nuts like that “bacon bacon bacon!” dog in the Beggin’ Strips TV commercial, then rest assured your tail will be wagging upon a visit to Bacon in downtown Boise, Idaho.

Bacon always has at least six types of bacon on hand, their signature Berryhill strip being one of them. Treated with a chile and sugar dry rub, Berryhill is always on the menu and is the “default” bacon when you order a menu item like eggs & bacon (you can change up your bacon if you want.) The other flavors rotate; a recent visit found the restaurant offering a Spicy Hot strip, the Kurobuta Herb bacon which is rubbed with thyme, sage, rosemary and lavender, the self-explanatory Maple Rosemary bacon and a dessert-like Candied Bacon that’s syrupy sweet and smoky at the same time. First-time Bacon-goers may want to order the Bacon Styx Sampler, a taste of all available bacons, which is cutely served-up in a flight of shot glasses.

There are plenty of things that go into deciding whether to live in the big city or decamp to a small town: culture, crime, careers, cuisine, commutes … and those are just the C’s! But surprisingly, one of the biggest determining factors is all about air—as in, “Is it safe?” It’s certainly a major issue in many urban centers across the U.S. With so many people and vehicles crammed together, it’s no wonder that pollution levels often rise higher than the highest skyscrapers.

But do you really have to trade away your health to enjoy the excitement of city living? We decided to find out. Our data analysts donned their realtor.com®-approved respirators and set out to discover big metropolitan areas where you can breathe freely—and, along the way, to determine the ones where, well, you can’t. 

Boise came in at number 10, right behind Lakefield, Florida and Colorado Springs, Colorado. With over 85% of good air quality days and the median home price being one of the lowest on the list. Boise, truly is a place where you can live a healthy life, without breaking the bank. 

Downtown Evanston might be cute and all, but it's no Boise, Idaho.

That's the verdict of editors at Livability.com, who gave the north suburb faint praise by naming it the 10th best small- or medium-sized downtown in the nation, four spots behind Boise. The website looked at 2,000 cities across the U.S. and ranked them for low vacancy rates, new development, cultural attractions, nightlife, diversity, affordability and walkability. Its editors admitted they used a fudge factor to help rank the top 10 based on their own preferences and to spread the love around.