Colorado Springs weather and housing (Denver, Canon City: public schools, college, casino)

[ConnieandFrank]

To: Mike from back east
Hi!! Thank for the great reply!!! See...now we're taking advantage of you. (smile). We were watching a show of <Full Force of Nature> and we saw CS come out. I did not catch when this event occurred; I was hoping you can let me know of this. It showed it rained so much and recieved hail so much that a major street there in CS was FLOODED with water-snow slush. The water covered half of most cars (SUV's). Rescue workers were getting trapped people out of their cars; they stated if was terribly cold. Do you know of this event? Did you happen to see it? Do you (in colorado) experience any time of natural disaster? (Tornadoes--I read somewhere that Colorado was in threat of tornadoes)Any major Floods? In the Tucson are this is always a problem, every monsoon IT'S A BIG PROBLEM. Law enforcement apply "the stupid law" for drivers that drive into pools of water, fines are pretty BIG. I'm serious about the name of the law..that's what they call it. What about hail storms, earth quakes, or volcanoes? A Realtor from CS sent me some listings on housing how far is Elbert from CS? We are thinking about visiting in the summer (driving about 12hrs or so) we'll probably have a nice scenic drive. What places would you recommend so we can take our kids (10yr, 3yr, and almost 1yr old)? Maybe visit the mall? A place with arcades? (for dining?) you guys don't have a chuck e cheese do ya..? My 3 yr old always asks us that question (lots of smiles) he would probably love a train ride of some sort. Where would be a good place to visit to check out jobs in the area? Regarding shopping....grocery stores in the area....Safeway...farmer's market? Walmart...Target...Kmart....? Thanks again for all the great info. Love to hear from you again.
Connie and Frank

[Mike from back east]

Yes, I recall that. One day last summer we had a heavy Thunderstorm go over and it dumped TONS of rain and hail in a concentrated area downtown. It was a major t-storm, with much hail, and the water and air were very cold. It overwhelmed storm drains for a while before it all flowed away, but it was a sight to see and made TV news in many parts of the country. I've seen similar overwhelming storms in DC and Baltimore. We get frequent evening t-storms in June to mid-July, and scattered rain/snow the rest of the year. The official meteorological classification for the Springs is "Alpine Desert" with about 250 days of sunshine and only 15 to 16 inches of precip annually. Graphs on the main city-data page for the city show most of our rain in Jun-Jul-Aug, which is good as it reduces the need for lawn sprinkling. Further info on our climate is at this encyclopedia entry: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-79052

Tornado's aren't a problem. They show up the further east on the plains you go. By the time you get to KS, they can get cranked up, but the worst ones are much further east, witness the recent activity back in KY and TN. We've been here almost a year now, and haven't seen anything but an occasional windy day. We have fires in the mountains at times, but that can happen most anywhere in the west. No earthquakes or hurricanes.

There is one Chuck E Cheese here, see: http://www.chuckecheese.com/find/index.php (broken link) We have a place called Mr. Biggs, http://www.mrbiggsffc.com/findus.php This is huge place, the lad may never want to leave.

STORES / GROCERIES: We have: KMart, Wal-Mart, Sams Club, Target, Super Target, big box stores, strip malls, big malls with food courts http://www.chapelhillsmall.com/html/index5.asp, and an hour north is Denver, with everything. We have Safeway, Albertsons, King Soopers (Krogers), and Whole Foods. We have specialty butchers selling gourmet beef and bison meats. Grocery shopping here is great, we love the hot french bread at 4PM at King Soopers. Albertsons has a line of frozen foods (Essenia) that beat the pants off the big names in the frozen entree biz. In addition to hot roast chickens every afternoon, our Albertsons also has hot roasted pork loins and ribs. You can make a picnic up in a few minutes at Albertsons and not have to pay restaurant prices. One thing I don't see in supermarkets are salad bars, but they have bags of salad stuff and you make one from that very easy. We have many restaurants here with salad bars. Trust me, you can shop for anything here with the same variety you'd find in any major city. And we have Starbucks all over the place (yeaaaah).

ALCOHOL: Liquor stores here sell beer-wine-liquor, nothing else, save a few mixers, and are closed on Sundays. Supermarkets sell only 3.2 beer (aka "near" beer) and thats it, 7 days a week.

TRAIN RIDES: We have great train rides. One is the Royal Gorge Route http://www.royalgorgeroute.com/ (a real full sized train, out in Canon City). There's a world-famous one here in town- Pikes Peak Cog Railway http://www.cograilway.com/default.asp (NOTE: It's always 30 degrees cooler at the top, 14110 feet up than down here and the oxygen is a bit thin). Also in Canon City is the Royal Gorge Theme Park, 700+ feet above the gorge/train: http://www.royalgorgebridge.com/ and a full-day's fun. Up in Cripple Creek are casino's, and lots of stuff to do, with a train ride and a tour of a deep mine, see http://www.cripple-creek.co.us/index.html Depending on your route taken, the grand-daddy of train rides is the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge, stunning scenery, an all day trip, see http://www.durangotrain.com/

ELBERT: Is a small town out on the plains, about 20 miles east of I-25 and roughly 25 miles from Colorado Springs. If your work is mostly the office type stuff, you'll have to commute a ways from there, but the area is nice, with a good deal of farming, ranching and horses.

[starling]

We moved from Tucson to COS in 1992 and then moved to PHX in 1997. We loved COS and also liked Tucson. VERY BIG POLITICAL CULTURAL SHOCK...liberal, democratic Tucson vs. conservative, republican COS. I had a very hard time adjusting as we were not of the predominant conservative christian faiths. Some of the neighbors were not the friendliest when our kids went Trick or Treating on Halloween night...something to do with Halloween being a pagan holiday. We adjusted the same way we adjusted to the Mormons in Idaho and Mesa, AZ. COS has conservative areas (Briargate) and less conservative areas (downtown/Colorado College area). Even though it is primarily conservative christian there is also some diversity. You will feel like the liberals and conservatives are always at each others throats, but you just write them off as "ignorant". The traffic can get pretty bad sometimes, but the traffic in Tucson is just as bad or worse. I think you are making a good decision to move out of Tucson; TUSD is terrible. Colorado Springs Public Schools are much better schools than any in AZ! Wishing you the best.

[Curious in CT]

Starling,
Where did you live in COS when you had the experience with the trick-or-treaters? Are there any other less conservative areas in COS other than downtown? I don't know if any of this political or religious stuff will really bother me since I'm not political and only catholic by the way I was raised (I'm not the biggest church-goer these days.....just lazy I guess) but will I really notice these things? It concerns me only when people such as yourself will write how major these groups of people are in ALL CAPS. Is it truly that bad on a day-to-day basis? Being from New England do you think I will be in culture shock as well? Where else could I live in COS besides downtown to be near or around down-to-earth people who really don't have opinions on these issues? (cuz I'm one of those). The last thing I want is for my kids to be looked down at for trick-or-treating, one of America's favorite past times. What's this world coming to? I would love to live in the finer parts of COS like up in the northern end but will I be happy there, being who I am? Did you love COS better than Tucson? If so why?

[CitznFish]

ALCOHOL: Liquor stores here sell beer-wine-liquor, nothing else, save a few mixers, and are closed on Sundays. Supermarkets sell only 3.2 beer (aka "near" beer) and thats it, 7 days a week.

Is the beer from Liquor stores different than the beer at supermarkets?

[COflower]

CitznFish - in the fact that they only allow 3.2% of alcohol in the beers, malt beverages (like Zima) and wine coolers in the groceries and convenience stores. Might as well drink a pop with caffiene in it as you will get a better buzz. Heck, go with coffee!

Haha, I remember that rain/hail storm, that was fun but I thought that was two summers ago hmmm. Kind of fun like today where it's positively snowing sideways outside. Gotta love it. What I don't love is the fact I am going to have to shovel the 2 1/2 foot drift in front of the garage. But that probably wont happen until tomorrow.

It's lovely out there even though there is a 6 foot drift in the back yard, the dog doesn't like it much either.