Idaho Misconceptions

The questions and misconceptions you hear when you tell people you’re moving to Idaho is entertaining.  If you grew up here, you might not be privy to what the rest of the country thinks about our state.  If you moved here from somewhere else, leaving family and friends behind, you’ve heard it all before.  Here are some of the most common things I heard: 

Good luck dealing with all that snow! 

If you came here from a warm weather state then maybe you think we get a good amount of snow, but I grew up in Colorado, where our average annual snowfall of 18 inches often falls in one storm early in the season.  The snowfall in Boise is an upgrade to most places. 

Idaho is nothing but potato fields! 

Actually, Idaho is more urban than farmland and has been since the 1940’s and it seems like that number changes towards city more and more every day. 

Idaho invented the French Fry 

If the French fry was invented in Idaho, we probably wouldn’t call it a French fry.  We did invent a pretty big French fry innovation: The frozen French fry!  It was an invention by JR Simplot and his company is still McDonald’s exclusive supplier. As far as inventions go, we do get credit for the television!

Maybe we shouldn’t tell people how great it is here, but it’s hard to keep it a secret when people come to visit, and they see Idaho for what it really is.