[plazul]

Yes, Idaho is a world away from those places and you can still afford to buy some land and build your family a decent home. Jobs in much of Idaho are scarce though with a lot of areas being dependent on logging, trucking, and other rural occupations. You can make it if you want to though. If I were starting out I might go into the outdoor outfitting and survival business as there are many outdoorsmen, tourists, and survivalists there. Either that or telecommute as an engineer or some other profession that works well online.

Too bad about the City and LA. You're not much younger than me (I'm 51) so you remember when San Francisco was a real cosmopolitan town. Even the bums in the Tenderloin had class. My grandmother on my father's side was born and raised there and she had the memories, let me tell you.

I watched from my hillside home in Mill Valley (I rented from relatives and there were still dairy cattle near by) as 101 widened and the commute backed up for miles. I saw the Haight and the demise of free love. I watched the street people degenerate and turn dangerous. I saw the excess of the gay revolution before AIDS. And sadly, I saw people taxed out of their homes in Mill Valley in spite of Prop 13 which didn't help everybody.

I remember all the fruit orchards in the LA basin. They're mostly gone now replaced by urban sprawl and ugly townhomes. Some parts of LA were more dangerous, I think, in the Seventies. There were more murders. But today vast areas are like a war zone of gang activity. And the culture is cheap and plastic with everybody claiming to be "in the business." Yuk. My niece lives in Santa Monica and she can't wait to get out.

Tell your kids to count their blessings and warn them about running away to California.