A friend asked me if I’d tell another friend, who’s looking at moving out of New England, about Colorado. I did, then thought, “Hey, great blog fodder …”
Colorado is great. Having come from California, I’m not sure I can compare it to New England, but …
… there are seasons.
… there’s snow — but, generally speaking, the roads are dry within a day.
… it’s dry. It’s not humid.
… there are very few insects in the summer, and none in the winter.
… it’s sunny (more sunny days than either Miami or San Diego).
… it’s pretty.
… if you like hiking, skiing, or out-of-doorsy stuff, this is the place. And Denver has zillions of miles of bike trails.
I can mostly speak about the Denver metro area, since that’s where I live, though I could probably comment on stuff from Ft Collins to Colorado Springs.
Good schools, up through college and post-grad. Good medical centers.
Denver’s a good city. Large enough to find whatever you want. Small enough that you can get to *know* it. It has a lively downtown.
Good sports teams, if you’re of that inclination. Except the Nuggets, of course. We don’t talk about them.
Down sides:
– No Trader Joe’s or Ikea. Some chains are reluctant to locate here because it generally requires them to build a distribution network into the area. Really there’s not another major city for several hundred miles in any direction, which is both good and bad.
– A certain measure of suburban sprawl.
– Denver International is in the grips of a United Airlines monopoly.
– State politics are generally more conservative than I like.
– It takes forever to drive anyplace outside of the area.
All in all, though, we love it, and plan on spending many, many years here.
Of course, probably the last thing I should do is paint a rosy picture of Colorado. I mean, with that suburban sprawl thing I just mentioned, we hardly want to attract more immigrants, right?
So all of you except Sarah’s friend, ignore what I just said. Colorado. Bleah. Snows all the time. Except when it’s dry as a dust-bowl. All the newcomers (anyone who’s arrived here since 1994) have Californicated the place up. Terrible. Don’t come here. Go away. Danger. Do not enter. Here be dragons. …