We just made the move from Idaho to Manassas, VA 2 months ago. My hubby was working for a big semi conductor company in Idaho which wasn't (and hasn't been) doing well and he hated his job. He made the switch and applied for his dream job with the Foreign Service. In Sept. he went to DC. by himself to start training leaving me and a 2 and 4 year old behind to see to the movers and get the house ready to put on the market.
Leaving behind my youngest daughter's birth family was the hardest part about this move. We love them fiercely and saw them all the time. They babysat for us regularly and bgrandma is having some serious kid withdrawal already. We talk on the phone a lot and are trying to figure out when we can see each other this year. Summertime probably, when our house is in a more presentable state.
We bought a house in Manassas which was a foreclosure and sight unseen by me since I couldn't just fly over to go house hunting with him. The kids and I flew in December and boy it has been a big change for all of us.
You are very lucky that your company will buy your home if it doesn't sell. Ours has been in the market since right before Thanksgiving. Terrible timing, I know. Hopefully it'll sell in the spring. In the meantime the house we have here needs SO much work that I cried when I first saw it. But we tackle it one room at a time. Yesterday my husband crawled into the crawl space to do some wiring and found 2 feet of water. He had to run out and buy a new sump pump! Yikes!
I'll say this though since it was one of your concerns, it is extremely diverse! Our neighbors are AA and we see lots of different nationalities around. I'm struggling with getting used to traffic but the one time we made it into DC. I loved it! It is so rich in history and things to do you would never get bored.
The weather is really different to us too. Boise is a desert climate and we have had so much rain here and a lot more gray skies.
Of course since DH now works for the Foreign service we will be spending lots of time overseas, so we will be doing lots of traveling and living in foreign countries soon enough. We can't wait to get overseas, we both have always had a serious travel bug problem.
Long story short, yes we do like it here and I would imagine you would to wherever it is you are moving from. Good luck!
