The 5 things you should do if you want to live in rural Colorado:

[Scott5280]

There is a old hold out bar in Newport Beach Calif. called Blackey's on the beach ( old school cowboy/surfer bar)which I frequent on occasion surrounded by multi million dollar hovels(somehow I have managed to be very welcome despite being a yuppie conformist/outsider& from Boulder Colo),it's parking lot filled with exotic autos you might only find advertized in Robb Report or Road&Track. The bar itself is a self described hole in the wall (anomoly)surrounded by it's uber high end reality,but continues to carve out it's existance through deep pocketed old school cowboy minded locals willing to fork out large sums of $ to keep this relic.

There is a note on the door reading something to the tone of---"We have the right to turn you away for any reason we see fit especially PC. and especially liberal" Most of the patrons are extremely aloof and distrustfull of outsiders (non local) they view the current attitude/status quo in their once affordable beach town as an abomination to their own desired surroundings and lifestyle. You bring up fine dining..they bring up past orange Groves destroyed..you bring up surfing...they bring up raw sewage conditions.. You bring up "where to bike or run"..they bring up..that area used to be a horse ranch& now look at it..Colorado hardly has a sole charter, firm grip on telling others to stay away because of what used to be descibed as untouched and pristine.

I too understand what they are saying,but do not fully understand some of the so called solutions offered by some of the posters before. I come from a long line of fifth generation Colorado natives..a family who opened both the first merchantiles in Aspen and Breckenridge; they were also large continuous land/business owners in the Grand Valley which is now called Parachute another Colorado region of great transition(oil shale/housing.) I bring this up because I have watched many things change here in my lifetime and will continue to do so. I think the issue here IMO..is not where are you coming from geographically, but how can you keep things as close as the way we see them now or how can we learn from past exploitation of other regions. Grazing/mineral rights/farming ect. will have to make adjustments for the new world..like it or not..we can hopefully someday agree on some sort of balance and not just point our fingers at an easily convenient outsider...Motives are the key.. not geography.