Two year plan to move to Colorado

[BillyBeru]

Jen, Tom, Miki -

Thanks for all of the feedback. I have been to Boulder 6 times but have always been on vacation so obtaining a true feel for a city's "real" flavor has been a challenge.

Unfortunately, I am not making Rockygrass. 

Of course you will all have a great time although I don't know what Jen is going to do since the duo will be partying in Lyons.

peace,
Billy

[gipper0324]

I'll be in Iowa floating down the Missouri River on a noodle... 

[BillyBeru]

I'll be in Iowa floating down the Missouri River on a noodle... 

For real?!?!

[Dean]

There's good and bad in all parts of of Colorado, as well as the rest of the country, depending on what you're searching for.
If you want the big city life, then Denver or Boulder may be your cup of tea.
If you want the small city feel, then there's plenty of places within a few hours drive of those bigger cities.

Those of us in Southeastern Colorado feel we've got the best situation. I'm 90 I-25 minutes from Denver, enjoy a reasonable cost of living, an unbeatable climate, cultural diversity, terrific food, the biggest lake on the Front Range and the 3rd largest BG fest in the state. 

We do lack skiing, but then again, I take a dim view of any sport that requires you to create your own wind chill factor. 

Dean

 Listening to: Mozart Piano Concertos #9 #14

[apollo]

Boy, what a one sided article.

True, I haven't spent a lot of time in Boulder since the early 70's and I'm sure a lot of things have changed since then, but I doubt it's as bad as the article proclaims. Sure, the cost of housing has skyrocketed due mostly to people wanting to live in a nice area away from Denver Metro, but isn't that the case everywhere?

Boulder has had one of the highest increase in the cost of living in the United States since 1980. The last index I could find was 135 based on 100 being average. Denver is at 103. There are lots of reasons why Boulder's cost of living is so high, but the city comes up in city planning on zoning debates from coast to coast.

As friends of my say: "Ft. Collins: Just like Boulder without the attitude and expense".
Boulder is a great town to visit. But it isn't a place I would wish to stay for very long, even I could afford it. While the article is a big over the top, it is rooted in the truth

 Listening to: Appropiate Dipstick - Natalie MacMaster

[Roach]

WOW.  Can't believe the clown who wrote that article still lives in Boulder!  Pretty humourous article, I must say.  But yea, if you can make a living in Lyons, that's where I'm looking to move to next (or maybe Nederland).  Rockygrass outside your front door, that's the life.

[Matt and Becky]

I guess I need to chime in here.  I have lived all over the front range.  I lived in Golden for 2 years, Boulder for 4 years, Coal Creek Canyon (the foothills outside of Boulder/Golden) for 2 years, and have lived in Fort Collins for the past 2 years.  

All I can say is that I loved living in Boulder. If you are on this forum chances are that you would really dig living in or around boulder.  Yes, its pricey.  But there is just so much stuff to do to make it worth it.  The music scene is hard to beat.  You would probably need to move to Austin or SF to find a music scene that rivals Boulder.  

I think that most of the bad stuff you hear about Boulder is a bunch of crap.  I really didn't encounter all that stuff when I lived there.  If you go do the things that you are into then you will meet a lot of cool people who are into the same stuff.  Sure, there's a lot of elite athletes, but there's also a lot of beginner and intermediate athletes around too.  I'm far from an advanced rock climber, but I'd still go out with a bunch of friends and climb and I never encountered any attitude.  I've found that most people are actually pretty encouraging if your willing to try something new.

I also really liked living in Coal Creek Canyon.  The real estate is much cheaper than boulder.  It's a nice mix of feeling away from it all, yet being close enough to Boulder/Denver to enjoy the nightlife.  The gas expenses sure did add up though.  

Right now I live in Ft Collins and I really dig it.  I've been doing a ton of road and mountain biking since I moved here.  I have to say that I think Ft Collins is a little more bike friendly than boulder.  Most of the trails around Boulder are hiking only, and don't allow bikes.  Most of the trails aroung Fort Collins allow bikes and there are some pretty nice trails.  The rock climbing isn't nearly as good though.  The thing that I don't like about Ft Collins compared to Boulder is the music scene.  The Fort has a decent music scene, but it is in no way as good as Boulder.  It's gotten better for bluegrass since Bradford from Open Road opened a bar called the Swing Station.  We've definitely been getting a lot more national bluegrass acts.

Well, that was a little long-winded so I'll leave it at that for now.  Peace

Matt
      

[Matt and Becky]

Yeah, Lyons is pretty sweet too.  I haven't lived there, but it seems to be quikly becoming the center of the colorado bluegrass world.

[BillyBeru]

I guess I need to chime in here.  I have lived all over the front range.  I lived in Golden for 2 years, Boulder for 4 years, Coal Creek Canyon (the foothills outside of Boulder/Golden) for 2 years, and have lived in Fort Collins for the past 2 years.  

All I can say is that I loved living in Boulder. If you are on this forum chances are that you would really dig living in or around boulder.  Yes, its pricey.  But there is just so much stuff to do to make it worth it.  The music scene is hard to beat.  You would probably need to move to Austin or SF to find a music scene that rivals Boulder.  

I think that most of the bad stuff you hear about Boulder is a bunch of crap.  I really didn't encounter all that stuff when I lived there.  If you go do the things that you are into then you will meet a lot of cool people who are into the same stuff.  Sure, there's a lot of elite athletes, but there's also a lot of beginner and intermediate athletes around too.  I'm far from an advanced rock climber, but I'd still go out with a bunch of friends and climb and I never encountered any attitude.  I've found that most people are actually pretty encouraging if your willing to try something new.

I also really liked living in Coal Creek Canyon.  The real estate is much cheaper than boulder.  It's a nice mix of feeling away from it all, yet being close enough to Boulder/Denver to enjoy the nightlife.  The gas expenses sure did add up though.  

Right now I live in Ft Collins and I really dig it.  I've been doing a ton of road and mountain biking since I moved here.  I have to say that I think Ft Collins is a little more bike friendly than boulder.  Most of the trails around Boulder are hiking only, and don't allow bikes.  Most of the trails aroung Fort Collins allow bikes and there are some pretty nice trails.  The rock climbing isn't nearly as good though.  The thing that I don't like about Ft Collins compared to Boulder is the music scene.  The Fort has a decent music scene, but it is in no way as good as Boulder.  It's gotten better for bluegrass since Bradford from Open Road opened a bar called the Swing Station.  We've definitely been getting a lot more national bluegrass acts.

Well, that was a little long-winded so I'll leave it at that for now.  Peace

Matt
      

Matt - thanks for your thoughts and advice. 

[Daniela]

That article was one-sided, and very funny.  Even though he was stereotyping, I did agree with a lot of the stuff he said.  I guess the bottom line is, if you have the money and the right attitude, Boulder might just be the place for you.   

[Re-Searcher]

I have to add my 2 cents to this thread. I have lived in Colorado since 85 including 8 years in Telluride, a brief (less than a year) stint in FT Collins, and the last 11 years in Boulder. First I want to thank Matt. It's not often you hear a resident of the Fort say such nice things about Boulder. In fact, Boulder bashing seems to be a favorite sport of many Colorado residents. You can draw your own conclusions as to why. Sure the cost of living is higher than other Colorado towns, but you could easily argue that the "quality of life" is correspondingly high. You get what you pay for. It ain't cheap in Manhattan Beach CA or San Francisco either (Or DC for that matter). If you have to live "in town" I'd take Boulder over just about any other Front Range city. 30 mins to DIA, 45 to RMNP, 30  to Red Rocks, and 20 to Planet Bluegrass, several quality brew pubs and a bunch of great resturants, not to mention a thriving music scene and all of the cultural opportunities that come with a major university. That said, Tom probably gave the best advice so far: Ya gotta look around and really see for yourself! There are lots of little mountain enclaves along the front range from Manitiou Springs in the south to Ward and Gold Hill in Boulder county and lots of smaller towns out to the east as well. Longmont is getting hipper all the time and is as accesable as Boulder if not more for DIA and the I-25 corridor. Ft Collins is a nice little college town with an interesting mix of hippies, yuppies, and rednecks and a pretty sizable festivarian population. Lyons is a great little town. In the end it's more about you and what you want out of a place than about the place itself. 2 days 3 hrs 10 mins till onsite camping opens.

 Listening to: John Hartford Telluride '85

[krenlee]

Hiya!

My BF and I recently took the plunge and bought a house in CO, after 13 (YES 13) trips over the past 2 years to this gorgeous state.

We are limited financially (being teachers), and were seeking quality of small town life and access to outdoor activities.  We also love local businesses and microbreweries - luckily, MOST towns in CO sport plenty of both.  Another huge plus for us is 100% non-smoking everywhere!!!  YAY!!!!!!

We LOVED Golden, Ft. Collins, and Castle Rock (south of Denver), because of their centralized old-town downtown areas and easy access to other important stuff (airports, climbing/other outdoor sports, etc.).  We sidestepped Boulder purely for financial reasons, but really enjoyed Lyons when we were just there for RockyGrass.  We ended up lucking into a repo in Castle Rock, and are really excited to fix it up and move up here next summer.

To echo what other wise people have said on this thread, you should spend more time up here, talk to  the locals (they will usually be really honest about what it's like to live in a place), and then just commit to making it happen.  I have lots of friends right now ooohing and aaahing about The Secret, which basically says if you act like it has already happened, or is going to happen imminently, "the universe" will pull everything together for you. 

Good luck

[aquariumdrunk]

We ended up lucking into a repo in Castle Rock, and are really excited to fix it up and move up here next summer.

Congrats to you!

 

[BillyBeru]

First part of the plan is coming together:

My first open house to sell my place is 9/30.

Help me realize my Colorado dream by buying me out! 

[arcticdesertnomad]

First part of the plan is coming together:

My first open house to sell my place is 9/30.

Help me realize my Colorado dream by buying me out! 

But by doing that, we prevent ourselves from realizing the same dream