Attention my Colorado peoples!

[mazeroth]

My wife and I are taking a trip to Colorado from May 5th through the 12th to check out the state and see if we want to move out there. We've visited California, Arizona and New Mexico but really wanted to give Colorado a look before we make concrete plans of where we want to live. I LOVE lots of sunshine and it has to be relatively green, which is what is drawing me to check out Colorado. I loved the weather of the other three states but the lack of green kills me (I love to golf).

We're flying into Denver on the 5th pretty early and plan to stay for the Cinco De Mayo celebration (if you think it's worth it!). What I'm wondering is if you could point out some great places for us to check out? I've heard and read fantastic things about Fort Collins, but the downside is the job market can't keep up with the population growth which scares us (from what we've read). I have 5 years of college without a degree (can you say 5 majors?) but am employed by a pharmaceutical company as a chemist and am working toward getting my bachelors in Business Management and hope to get my MBA as well while my company pays for it. My wife has an early childhood teaching degree and is getting her masters in special needs. We're both young (26) and would like to live in a place that's also relatively young and has tons of outdoor activities to do. Our degrees are pretty general so I don't think that should influence our move due to the job markets. Sorry if this is dragging on; I just thought I'd throw it all out there!

With that, can you recommend any other places we should check out? I'm trying to get our itinerary completed soon and want to book all the hotels before we leave so I can get some decent deals on them booking in advance. For example, I don't want to book x amount of nights in Fort Collins if it turns out to be something we aren't interested in. Don't worry, I won't be holding anyone accountable at all if our opinions differ!

Aside from checking out places to live, can you recommend any fun activities we should check out? We're definately going to visit the Rocky Mountain National Park and also wanted to do some white water rafting. I would also love to rent some 4-wheelers somewhere and take them out in the hills/mountains.

Sorry for the lengthy message. Any help you can give us is GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[eplebnista]

curiosity bump

 

[wetcat007]

Colorado Springs, not sure how the job market is there, but beautiful area.

 

[theeedude]

Fort Collins was really nice. I may move there. You can go to free tour of that brewery that makes Fat Tire (New Belgium), it was really awesome beer.

 

[nsafreak]

Colorado Springs is indeed a very nice area. Boulder is also nice but it is very expensive to live in that area. I used to live in Littleton before I moved to the DTC area and the suburbs out there are pretty nice.

 

[novasatori]

no green in California? maybe you were to far south/southeast?

 

[Mr Incognito]

Sorry man, I got no advice, I am only a freshman at CU Boulder.

 

[angminas]

I lived in and near Grand Junction until I was 9. I liked it there. It's grown a lot, and I haven't been there in about 20 years. It's desert climate, but there are two rivers, so there's no lack of water. Mountains on 3 sides and Utah 30 miles to the west. Lots of fresh produce for sale. A decent amount of mosquitoes and grasshoppers. Pretty mild weather. You can go up on the Blue Mesa, which is a lot like being in the Rockies, or you can go up on the Monument, which is like the area around the Grand Canyon. Denver is 4 hours away by car or 45 minutes by plane. A little bit of a lot of different things all in one area. I suggest you check it out.

 

[mazeroth]

Thanks for the replies!

Up for others to see.

 

[5to1baby1in5]

CO has lotsa sunshine, a climate you can actually outside in in the middle of summer, and is geting greener as we speak (hello spring). If you can deal with a little snow, then you would probably like it. I think we have some golf too.

Seems like someone always gets shot during Cinco De Mayo (usually at night though).

Longmont has a big pharmaceutical company (Amgen), and Boulder has one too (Syntex I think). Boulder's housing cost is about twice what the surrounding area is, but it's a college town and is tucked right up against the mountains. Longmont has always bee a kind of crappy town, but is getting better. Ft Collins is a fun town.

The best rafting might be the Arkansas river. Rampart range is good for local ATV'ing. We like Colorado State Forest State Park for camping/fishing/ATV. Not sure where to rent though.

 

[Landstandr]

Colorado is basically 3 vertically divided parts: West of the front range - the front range - and east of the front range. West of the front range is full of great mountains, ski areas, recreation and few jobs. East of the front range is brown prairie hardly distinguishable from Nebraska and Kansas. The front range is where all the big cities are - along with the jobs. Here's a quick rundown of the front range from north to south:

Fort Collins/Greeley/Loveland - Not too expensive, close to lots of recreation, expanding rapidly, hick level: medium

Boulder - Way too expensive but full of great stuff, close to lots of recreation, good schools, hippies with money, hick level: low

Denver - Denver is a big enough city to find everything: slums; nice neighborhoods; horrible ecological disaster areas (commerce city); hip downtown; english not spoken here areas; cul-de sac farms; close to lots of recreation, hick level: medium to low

Colorado Springs - Worst traffic in the nation for a city of its size, square mile after square mile of ugly housing projects that look like every other housing project, nice areas up the hill towards Pikes Peak include Old Colorado City, Manitou Springs and everything near Garden of the Gods, great airport (if you can get a flight out of there), hick level: medium to low

Pueblo - mostly unremarkable but has some nice housing areas in the city, way too brown down here (or south of here) if you like green - it's a semi-arid region, no close ski areas, hick level: medium

You really need to drive around and visit it all to see what fits you.

 

[RaiderJ]

Touring all the breweries in Denver, then going to a Rockies game is cheap and fun! It was free for the tours, and $9 for the game ticket.

 

[kyzen]

I currently live in Fort Collins and love it. The job market is a little rough, but it exists. Commuting to Denver isn't too bad if you'd rather live up North and work in the big city.

 

[Spydermag68]

Find out where you get a job and then find out where you want to live. Right now I live in Highlands Ranch and drive to Colorado Springs everyday...(The job was only going to be 3 months long and now has been a year.)

 

[5to1baby1in5]

Originally posted by: kyzen
I currently live in Fort Collins and love it. The job market is a little rough, but it exists. Commuting to Denver isn't too bad if you'd rather live up North and work in the big city.

I wouldn't wish that commute on my worst enemy.

 

[pcnerd37]

If there is a concert at Red Rocks while you are in Colorado, definately go. Its considered one of the top concert venues in the world, although its a bit of a hike to get to it. I plan on seeing the GooGooDolls there at the end of June. Its a nice place. My advice is to not live in Pueblo. The job market is really starting to grow there, but its not a fun place to live. There is nothing to do there. I have lived there for 19 years until I moved to Utah in October. The only thing that is decent in Pueblo is the State Fair and the Chili festival that they have every year. If you move to Colorado, I would recommend sticking with Colorado Springs. I took any opportunity I could find to get out of Pueblo and go to Colorado Springs, its a much nicer place with tons to do.

 

[compman25]

I hear Southpark is a great community, and very family friendly. Good schools with great teachers and counselors.

 

[mazeroth]

Bump