Anyone live in / know about the Boulder, Colorado area?

[AreaCode707]

Looks like that's where my family may wind up moving, somewhere in there. I'm not through with UCDavis yet, so I'll be a Cali for at least another year, but Colorado doesn't sound too bad (skiing!!!). We must have some Colorado ATers who can fill me in...

 

[OutHouse]

I do. I work in Boulder and have lived in the area all my life. well except for the 10 years i was in the Air Force.

 

[AreaCode707]

Any comments? What's it like, how much snow, how rural/city is the area, how viable is it for us to bring our horses, (is the air breatheable to a sea-level Californian)?

 

[bwb]

i go up there a lot and its really nice, beautiful and perfect for any outdoor sports! plus there are so many people there who play ultimate frissbee or bike etc you can always find someone to do something with.

>breatheable to a sea-level Californian
ya the elevation is really not a prob, after a week or so you won't notice, you will be a little short of breath at first

 

[XMan]

jonjonsanfru lives there, IIRC. You might PM him.

Boulder is close enough to Denver that you will at least have some stuff to do. I wouldn't live any further away (Dillon, Breckenridge, Vail, Silverthorne, etc.) just because the commute down off the mountain and back up again is a bitch.

 

[AreaCode707]

How about the horses, anyone? I mean, these are my babies - tell me that we can find a place with enough land to keep them... And about how much snow is there?

[Edit] Oh, and does anyone know anything about the Evangelical Free church in the area? Looks like that's where my dad might be working. Switching from technical recruiter to worship pastor...

 

[OutHouse]

Any comments? What's it like, how much snow, how rural/city is the area, how viable is it for us to bring our horses, (is the air breatheable to a sea-level Californian)?

Boulder is like an island onto its self. they have some whacky laws that makes the rest of the people in the state roll their eyes. Boulder county is sorta rural, you can bring your horses but be prepared to pay $$$$$ for boarding. Right now we are in a very bad drought. Boulder is considering of banning ANY outdoor watering, our reserves are that low. the town i live in we can only water every third day and for a max of 2 hours. If we get caught exceding that limit its a $999.00 fine with no warning.

Housing is very expensive in boulder, i dont know if you have looked at any prices yet but prepare yourself. dont worry about the air, after a month you wont notice any difference until you go to the coast and you think your being suffocated.

as far as snow, boulder gets just as much as denver. It doesnt snow that much and when it does its gone in 2 days.

here is some horse boarding info i found. Erie a town east of Boulder and Longmont is the town NE of Boulder.

Horse boarding in Erie: full care stalls at $220/mo. Pens from $150. Pasture w/ hay, $150. Relaxed, casual atmosphere. All disciplines welcome. PLANE VIEW FARM, 303-828-4824. Good horses always for sale. #632-33

here is another link.

Colorado Horse seek

 

[XMan]

Not much in Boulder-Denver area. The road crews are very good, so you usually won't notice a problem.

Up on the mountain though, anywhere from 300-400 inches a year.

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: Citrix

Boulder county is sorta rural, you can bring your horses but be prepared to pay $$$$$ for boarding.

If we went outside of Boulder itself, could we find a place with a few acres to keep them ourselves? Boarding is much less desirable anyhow.

Housing is very expensive in boulder, i dont know if you have looked at any prices yet but prepare yourself.

ROFL, compared to California? We were looking at prices and houses that'd be $700,000 in our area (2.5 hrs North of San Francisco) and several million in the Bay Area are only $350,000 in the outlying areas of Boulder.

And do you know anything about the E-Free church? Supposedly it's really big, but they have a crappy little website.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: HotChic

Originally posted by: Citrix

Boulder county is sorta rural, you can bring your horses but be prepared to pay $$$$$ for boarding.

If we went outside of Boulder itself, could we find a place with a few acres to keep them ourselves? Boarding is much less desirable anyhow.

Housing is very expensive in boulder, i dont know if you have looked at any prices yet but prepare yourself.

ROFL, compared to California? We were looking at prices and houses that'd be $700,000 in our area (2.5 hrs North of San Francisco) and several million in the Bay Area are only $350,000 in the outlying areas of Boulder.

And do you know anything about the E-Free church? Supposedly it's really big, but they have a crappy little website.

I have never heard of e-free church.

true houses will be less than in cali but remember those houses for $350,000 are about 1500sq feet. I dunno i have just seen the housing around her get so over inflated it pisses me off. those houses you see for over a quarter million are nothing special.

But to answer your question land is hard to get, especially for livestock and right now with the drought the hay season really sucked many farmers are getting their hay imported from other states.

oh i edited my earlier post with more info.

 

[SuperGroove]

I hate Boulder.

Traffic stinks. Police dept not very adept to handling a somewhat big city(lotta students). They'll nail you for going 5mph over though. Skiing is great. You don't do it every day though. Sucks when it's cold. Hard to get a job in Boulder too with all the students around. Crime rate is high too with CU there. Some serious stalker problems here. Theft is a big problem. Parking tickets stink too. YOu can't park anywhere in Boulder without having to pay. Lotta snooty people in Boulder, because in general, it's a pretty much upper middle-upper class people.

What do I like about Boulder?

The frat girls that don't give a flying flip about guys who aren't in frats? Mm....no. The only thing I like about Boulder is that it's fun in the summer. There's always something to do until midnight. Night life sucks in Boulder. Hope you have friends.

Average Boulder night:
-look for party or club
-party
-drink
-try to/get laid.

Wanna eat past 8:00? Illegal Pete's gets old. Paying $15/plate at one of the restaraunts on Pearl isn't so neato on a tuesday night right before a big test. Where are all the smaller joints that serve good cheap food? Ah yea...NOTHING IS CHEAP in Boulder. Gas price in Denver could be $1.00/gal in Denver, but in Boulder you'll easily pay $1.40. Who knows though, I hate Boulder because I hate CU. I don't think you're going to Boulder for school though..

Boo. I only go to school in Boulder because i love Colorado. If you're rich, you'll like Boulder. The only way you can enjoy the outdoors is to be rich. Boo.

 

[RossMAN]

Damn $350,000 could get you a brand new house prob with horse stable in a city just outside of Portland, Oregon.

 

[AreaCode707]

E-Free is abbreviation for Evangelical Free Church, I edited one of my above posts to ask but I didn't think you saw it. It's supposed to be a few thousand people, and it's where my dad would work if we move there, as a worship pastor. So I was curious, and their website doesn't tell me much.

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: SuperGroove
Gas price in Denver could be $1.00/gal in Denver, but in Boulder you'll easily pay $1.40.

Gas for a $1.40???? It's a pretty fair price now in Cali - about $1.60 where I am, can't ask for lower than that.
Your description of the night life doesn't bother me, I'm not a partier anyway. I'd much rather scrape up some friends and just hang out and watch a movie or talk anyway. Is there really that much of a crime problem though?

 

[OutHouse]

Ski area info

Eldora Ski area. 20 min west of Boulder.

map of ski areas

 

[notfred]

Boulder, CO = Santa Cruz, CA except with mountains instead of an ocean.

I liked it while i was there.

 

[KaBudokan]

Boulder's a cool town. I've lived in Denver for about 5 years. There's a lot of "farm-type" areas outside of Boulder that you may be able to find a property in.

As far as the major "problems" Supergroove mentioned, that sounded like a typical college student's perspective, which it was. I have some friends who have lived in Boulder for years and love it. I prefer living in Denver personally, and I am not sure I would want to live directly in Boulder, but... (I'm generally a big city boy or a country boy, but I don't like the in-between that much.)

 

[OutHouse]

boulder crime stats 2001

 

[SuperGroove]

Boulder is heavily dependent upon CU. If anyone thinks otherwise, they're ignorant. My opinions are still valid.

Of course, my opinion changes as I stay in the nicer parts of Boulder(parts far away from campus). Not too much though. Nicer parts of boulder remind me of cherry creek. Different walks of life with the same income, and the same snooty attitude.

and my gas example was exaggerated. It's currently a 1.34 here in Lakewood at one of the cheaper gas stations. Tack on 20-30 more cents for boulder.