anyone from colorado or lived there????

cj5walt

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Location
mooresville, nc
me and my wife are thinking of moving there when she finishes her nursing school. so i was wondering if anyone who had lived there wanted to share there opinions and impresions
 
I moved here from Colorado about 3 years ago. What do you want to know?


Just a few observations I had from the 6 years I spent out there:

The 4 Wheeling community is great!
  • Roughly 200 unique/challenging/picturesque trails across the state to explore. Some ending at over 14,000ft above sea level.
  • More challenges than you could ever imagine.
  • Trails that take 8 to 10 hours to run, with no loops
  • Sign up on Colorado4x4.org
  • Totally different style of wheeling out West. You will laugh at how your driving style will change.
  • Snow bashing is unreal... and miserable.... and awesome.... and freezing.
  • Denver is roughly 5 hours from Moab, UT (arguably the best wheeling in the country).

Weather changes by the minute.
  • Colorado gets more sunny days than Florida
  • It will reach 100 degrees in the summer
  • The snow is so deep in the mountains (90+ inches) that the actual wheeling season is from around late May/early June to Mid October.
  • When it snows, it snows hard. But the roads will be clear even it you got 12+ inches the night before.
  • You are expected to be at work on time even if it snowed a foot the night before.
  • 15 degrees in CO doesn't feel as cold as 30 degrees in North Carolina.


The mountains are majestic.
  • You can see all three ranges from most parts of the state.
  • Explore as much as you can. You won't believe what you see!
  • Climb some 14'ers.
  • Rocky Mountain National Park is fun to go to, every time you go.
  • Boulder is fun to visit, but I would never live there.
  • Ski or snowboard? Go to Vail, all others pail in comparison.
  • Don't want to pay extra for Vail? Go to Copper. Same challenge as Breckenridge, but without all of the tourists.
Housing is much more expensive out there. My house in Charlotte is nearly half the price per square foot as it was in Highlands Ranch (suburb of Denver).


No state seems more proud of their native (born there) residents than Colorado. When you get there, you will understand.


Other than that, buy a Subaru or SUV, strap some skis on it, throw a Siberian Husky in the back and you will blend right in!
 
we already have the husky and a jeep so just need some skis and a snowboard, were almost set!!

do you know how the economy has hit the state?

is the cost of living about the same as nc? ive read places near aspen are more costly, any others

what part of the state did you live?

i guess our moving will depend on finding jobs when she graduates.
 
Cost of living is noticeably higher than North Carolina- in all parts of the state. Groceries, insurance, houses, taxes, etc.

Aspen? They don't know what the real world is. Millionaires are the middle class there. Until last week, the most expensive home in the United States was in Aspen. Hamburgers are $20 there (not an exaggeration). The skiing is great, but it was a one time deal for me, just to see what it was like. I didn't enjoy it.


We lived in Highlands Ranch and the Tech Center, which are both about 15 minutes south of down town Denver. Unless you like living downtown (the lodo -lower downtown area night life is awesome!), I would highly recommend Highlands Ranch.


Again, this is just based on my experience.
 
Colorado

Lived there years ago. My son currently lives in Denver. Get out there at least once a year.

If you look at a map, North of Denver.....Ft. Collins etc is nice. Ft collins is a college town. Rest up that way is pretty open.

NW of Denver is Broomfield, Lafayette, Louisville... are a little more pricy than Denver proper.....definitley suburbs of Denver.

NW...Boulder. Separate city, college town. Lot of tree huggers, very expensive for housing.

West of Denver...Arvada, Golden etc are nice. More expensive than here but not bad. Good access to 70 and ski resorts.

Denver proper has a lot of variety as you would expect in a large city. All major sports, huge amount of outside activity.
Population tends to be very active and "in shape" .

Job market seems to be about the same as Raleigh area. Not great but not as bad as Detroit and others. Denver is a bigger city than Raleigh/Charlotte so it has most every thing.

Southern suburbs such as Highlands Range have been covered above.

South of Denver is Colorado Springs. Lot of military. Definitely separate from Denver.

South of Colorado Springs.....more wide open country side/smaller towns.

Straight West of everwhere is the mountains. No really big towns. Windy roads and snow can make travel slow for the winter months of the year.

Western slope......Grand Junction is a remote area. Western slope is the western side of the rocky mountainins. Close to Moab but you have to like living far from "big city" things you can find in Colorado Springs and Denver.

If you are into outside events, skiing, hiking, mtn biking, motorcycle trail riding.......all are great out there.

Personally, weather is great. Dry, 100 in summer is like 85 in NC with the humidity. Winters not that cold due again to low humidity.

Colorado is a long way from anywhere else. Kansas is a long way across without a whole lot to look at. West through Utah the same. Driving from Charlotte to Denver will take you two and 1/2 days is you are moving along.

All considered, I would live there again in a minute. If you move there we will come and visit.
 
As someone who was born and raised in Ouray CO, let me weigh in. Denver is NOT Colorado. Denver is Denver and just like any large city, it sucks. It has high crime, high traffic etc. Wanna experience REAL Colorado you gotta go to the western slope. (Western side of the mountains.) Grand Junction is in a desert Where it routinely gets over 100 degrees. And it feels like 80 does here. The reason natives are passionate about being a native is they don't want to be lumped in with the F'in liberal tree hugging Kalifornians that have taken over the state. Much like the northerners here. Natives DESPISE them with a passion. They've pretty much fucked the state up and turned it into a (much more beautiful) Kalifornia, and the locals resent it. I love Colorado, but couldn't live there anymore because of it. Most locals wish the hippies would just move back and fall off into the ocean and then it would be livable again. It is MUCH more expensive to live there because of these people driving up the property values. (And everything else.)

The scenery is second to none and the wheeling is from town to town, not just ending up back where you started. If you like the outdoors, (rock climbing, whitewater rafting, skiing etc,) you'll love the place. (If you can put up with the hippies).
 
Hmmmm....hippies ehh idk about them, never had to deal with many......But we do love the outdoors and activities there in. We are not looking to live near a city but, Im afraid we will have to be in a close proximity due to our profession, Im a deisil tech/service writer and my wife will be an occupational therapist (old people rehab). We are going to try and visit there in the next year or so i belive, she has been befor but I have not.
 
I spent a lot of time in Colorado Springs and graduated high school there. My parents and sister still live there. I agree w/ the Kalifornia stuff. Peeps from cali moved in and brought all the cali problems they were trying to escape.

Its also hard to answer your question without a more specific location. ALL the responses are correct...lol The cities...are cities. The country...is the country but with real cowboys and ropes and horses:lol:.


I say GO FOR IT!
 
Look in Glenwood Springs. It's right on I 70, (so there will be trucks for diesel service) and it's a mid sized town so there will be opportunities for the wife. You will want to live down the valley in New Castle or Silt (for what the water tastes like when tey are irrigating) or Rifle. There will be a decent amount of snow there, but you can wheel "the res" out behind Rifle all year. Bring a gun with you too when out there cause you can shoot out there too.

Glenwood has a great hot springs (though it's a sulfer springs so it smells like rotten eggs) but for the most part is a nice town though a bit on the preppy side. Rifle is a hick town so it's better and so is Silt. (Very small) New Castle is very small too and it has a coal mine that caught on fire many many years ago and is still burning under the mountain creating warm spots on the hill side above town. In the dead of winter there will be snow on the ground everywhere and green grass on the warm spots. (Kind neat to see even if you don't live there.)
 
I lived in Rifle for a while and worked at Mountain Off Road. I loved it out there but wanted to move back to KY to start my own shop. I'm not sure if it was a mistake but I do really miss it. Rifle has really grown over the past 5 years. I still have more friends in CO than I do in KY. They are spread from Glenwood to Rifle to Montrose to Durango. I would suggest spending a week or two in several different towns. I think you would enjoy the life style offered.
 
Thats the plan, visiting a few different places for a while and see what we think. We love NC but Colorado is such a beautiful place, offers all kinds of activities we like, and offers off roading that we are more into long, sometimes multiday trails that lead to places. My wife aeems to be all for it when she graduates I guess Im nervous about picking up from a job Ive been at for so long and Ive also never really been out of NC
 
spent a lot of time in Ft. Collins and it's probably one of my favorite cities I've ever been to. You can bike anywhere in the town and the proximity of Poudre canyon (great trout fishing, kayaking, camping, hiking, mountain biking, endless mild wheeling) makes it great. I love to trout fish and it's a great place. No humidity and summer in the 80's is also nice
 
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