help us find a good place to live (Denver, Colorado Springs: transplants, rent)

[insanemomof3]

My husband is going to be working for the post office. we are currently in PA. we want to move west in the next two yrs. My parents are in mesa az, but we dont like the heat and dust..we want to live where there are tons of mountains, and we love love snow..the deeper the better. NOt afraid of winter driving.
but we need a town that is medium sized, right now we are looking at renting until we decide if we really like the area. I want to find a nice sized town that has a small town feel, where everyone gets to know everyone? A christian town where my kids are safe. I am having a horrible time finding decent public schools. we have three preschool/elem. age kids.
I am a nurse so work for me is always around.
can you suggest for me some towns in CO to check out? something we can rent out in the moutains, or we can drive into town for libraries and parks..?
and we are hoping to live close enough to az to make weekend trips there..if not CO any other suggestions?
thanks for your help.

[2bindenver]

Where will your hubby be working for the post office? How close or how far away from a hospital/dr would you like to be?

there are dozens of medium sized mountain towns. Durango comes to mind, but it is nowhere near Boulder.

[Katiana]

Don't count on being able to find a nursing job as quickly as you can some other places, especailly with the economy tanking. Colorado attracts a lot of transplants, many of whom are nurses looking for jobs. With many people being laid off, many nurses are working as the sole support of their families.

[tfox]

Well, Denver is about 13 hour drive to Phoenix, not including stops. I'm not sure if that is a must-have for you or not So, in my opinion it's not really doable in one day or for a weekend trip, especially with kids. The usual route is Denver - Albuquerque - Flagstaff - Phoenix on the interstates. If that's too long, Denver is a quick and cheap flight to Phoenix, and you have loads of options (I always fly when I go to Phoenix). In any case, I imagine Denver, being far from a small town, was not too high on your list to start with.

This is posted in the Boulder forum, but I am guessing Boulder is not what you're looking for either. It's far from small-town Americana and tends to be fairly liberal, and by Colorado standards is not very churchgoing. Despite what Boulderites claim it's still very much in the orbit of big-city Denver. Plus, It's also even further away from your family in Phoenix. On the other hand, Some of the towns in Northern Colorado (Fort Collins, Loveland, etc) are probably more what you have in mind but they're also, like Boulder, even further from Phoenix.

Colorado Springs or somewhere nearby (Monument, Falcon, Black Forest), is probably more what you have in mind, but it's still only about an hour closer to Phoenix (so about 12 hours), so still not doable in day trip but a bit closer -- and you'd still have the option of flying to Phoenix. It does have a reputation for having lots of churches and undeniably has some excellent school districts in and around it.

Colorado's mountain towns have the snow that you're looking for, but for the most part are not idyllic small hamlets that you're imagining -- mostly, think of either overpriced ski/resort areas or hardscrabble mining and ag towns. I can't really think of anything that would be both significantly closer to Phoenix and would offer something that the front range wouldn't offer -- most of the mountains are very expensive, even away from the resort areas, and jobs are usually scare and poorly-paying.

If proximity to Phoenix is a major factor, I'd recommend that you could look in New Mexico instead. Climate wise, it's probably not quite what you are looking for, but Albuquerque does get a bit of snow and is cooler in climate than its reputation would suggest. It's also only about 6.5 hours from Phoenix. Albuquerque is probably a bit bigger than you have in mind, but in my opinion it's a much more livable city than Phoenix both in terms of its beautiful climate as well as its size. Its schools don't have the greatest reputation but there are some good ones (the rocket scientists at the government labs send their kid to public schools, too). Las Cruces, New Mexico will get minimal snow, but is still consistently about 10-15 degrees cooler than Phoenix, and it's even closer to Phoenix than Albuquerque, about 5.5 hours. It's more of a small town compared to Albuquerque or Colorado Springs.

So, your best options may be Colorado Springs area if you're looking at Colorado and can live with being a bit further away from Phoenix, or New Mexico if you're looking to be closer to Phoenix but still not in Phoenix itself.

[suzco]

You might look at Flagstaff, Arizona. It has the climate you say you want and it's a couple of hours or so from Phoenix.

[insanemomof3]

thank you all for your input. I am not real familiar with these boards. I just came across them and trying to navagate around from a thread is harder then it seems.
I did want to live in az originally but didnt want the dry hot weather. I have been looking at flagstaff, and posted in the az forum but havent received any help so far. I was born with no sense of direction so trying to figure out what towns are where hasnt been easy.
the main focus of my research with towns is schools.
My husband is a truck driver by trade and has tried to get away from that with the post office gig, however he is thinking that in the end its truck driving in this economy that is going to get us thru, at least until I can return to work. I dont want to do that until our youngest is in school 6 yrs or so.
thanks again for replying..

[Shuffler]

If I were to suggest something to your husband, it'd be to not rely on a future in trucking unless he's driving for a major carrier that foots the bill for fuel. When fuel spikes again (and it will) it is going to kill a LOT of independents, and also have a major impact on carriers like UPS, USPS, Wal Mart, etc. He might be okay so long as he's not the one paying for diesel.

Not sure what kind of steady, solid trucking jobs there outside of Denver & other metro areas though, unless you're independent