Place close or in mountains with country to raise family? (Denver: ski resorts, house)

[Xm4rksthespot]

My wife and I are considering moving to Colorado, but we would like to know the following information:

1. What are the coldest and warmest places in the state on average?
2. Where are the Casinos and ski slopes (so we can stay away)?
3. We would like to work in the city but live in the country. Amount of time alotted for daily one way driving = 1 hour. If we worked in Denver, could we live in the country or be able to find reasonably inexpensive acerage at the edge of the 1 hour driving radius? If so, where?

Thank you for taking the time to provide some insight

[2bindenver]

Sorry, your wish to live in the high country on acreage, but work in the city of Denver is a common, but unlikely to be fulfilled wish.

What is your budget?

[Iowaguy23]

Originally Posted by Xm4rksthespot

My wife and I are considering moving to Colorado, but we would like to know the following information:

1. What are the coldest and warmest places in the state on average?
2. Where are the Casinos and ski slopes (so we can stay away)?
3. We would like to work in the city but live in the country. Amount of time alotted for daily one way driving = 1 hour. If we worked in Denver, could we live in the country or be able to find reasonably inexpensive acerage at the edge of the 1 hour driving radius? If so, where?

Thank you for taking the time to provide some insight

I'm far from an expert and don't live in Colorado, but I've done a lot of research lately. I'm sure others will chime in.

1. The Western Slope (like Grand Junction) seems to be about the warmest, essentially an arid climate. Places next to the frontrange are generally pretty mild too, but colder. Of the bigger cities, Pueblo would be warmest, followed by Co Springs. Denver and then further north would be a little colder than those two.

2. No idea on casinos. For ski slopes, generally most every small town in the mountains would have at least one nearby. I don't know if Grand Junction has one very close or not. If you want to be as close as possible to the mountains and not be surrounded by ski slopes, the front-range cities would be about your best bet. Probably the same with the smaller front-range towns.

3. I don't know enough about this to answer it properly. I know Colorado Springs is about an hour away from Denver, unsure if that figure applies to rush-hour or busy traffic though. There's a ton of suburbs and smaller cities and towns within 1 hour's drive of Denver. As for the price of acreage in this area, it would probably be roughly similar to the national average, depending on exactly where. Pretty much anywhere in the mountains or near any of the many ski resorts further west - land is going to come at a premium. The frontrange towns and cities would be cheaper in general, although I'm sure there's bound to be exceptions depending on the specific community or local area. Boulder would be one example.

[Marc Wishner]

The Fraser Valley and the Gunnison areas are about the coldest places. Central City/Black Hawk are ther gambling Places. Plenty of opportunity for cheaper country areas out side Denver (w/in hr.) and Boulder area is very nice with country and/or mtn. areas near town...your budget, schools and jobs should be your driving factors.

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by Xm4rksthespot

My wife and I are considering moving to Colorado, but we would like to know the following information:

1. What are the coldest and warmest places in the state on average?
2. Where are the Casinos and ski slopes (so we can stay away)?
3. We would like to work in the city but live in the country. Amount of time alotted for daily one way driving = 1 hour. If we worked in Denver, could we live in the country or be able to find reasonably inexpensive acerage at the edge of the 1 hour driving radius? If so, where?

Thank you for taking the time to provide some insight

Probably the warmest places in the state would be the SE prairie and lower elevation western Colorado close to Utah.

Coldest places there is a huge variation as some of the valleys that towns like Alamosa, Steamboat Springs, Fairplay, Walden, etc sit in, are not necessarily high in elevation, but cold air can sink into those valleys causing very cold temps. Pretty much any part of mountain Colorado, I would consider "cold" with winter the dominate season. Some will say the sun helps, but then what I find is the frequent wind can take away any gains from sunlight in winter when it comes to being outside. Colorado is a windy state.

There are ski slopes all over mountain Colorado.

Casinos are confined(unless something changed) to Blackhawk, Central City and Cripple Creek.

Depends on what you define as "country". A 2 acre house lot? 50 acres? There is no such thing as inexpensive acreage an hours drive from Denver, unless you want prairie and even that is pricey now. And pretty much Denver has expanded to the point, that it nearly takes an hour to get from downtown to any outer fringe, much less "country". That wasn't the case maybe 30 years ago, but it's changed.

Denver is not in the mountains but near them and is pretty much surrounded on 3 sides by prairie grassland with some minor hills/bluffs south of the city near Castle Rock.

You can live up in the foothills with some ponderosa pine forested lots but a lot of that is pricey as well as being in the crossroads of some wicked weather as it moves up and down the short elevation change from Denver to the Continental Divide.

Country living with city type jobs/pay is something desired by so many but so few obtain or can manage to pull off in Colorado. Colorado is a weird state in that it is either very urban/suburban or very rural with not much in between. It's not like back east pokadotted with little towns every few miles and then larger towns/cities every 20-50 miles and then larger cities every 100-200 miles.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by Iowaguy23

I'm far from an expert and don't live in Colorado, but I've done a lot of research lately. I'm sure others will chime in.

1. The Western Slope (like Grand Junction) seems to be about the warmest, essentially an arid climate.

It may be the hottest in the summer, but it's colder in the winter than other places in Colorado.

2. No idea on casinos. For ski slopes, generally most every small town in the mountains would have at least one nearby. I don't know if Grand Junction has one very close or not.

Not that I know of. I think people would drive from Grand Junction across the mountains to Blackhawk (near Denver) to go to the casino.

3. I don't know enough about this to answer it properly. I know Colorado Springs is about an hour away from Denver, unsure if that figure applies to rush-hour or busy traffic though. There's a ton of suburbs and smaller cities and towns within 1 hour's drive of Denver.
As for the price of acreage in this area, it would probably be roughly similar to the national average, depending on exactly where.

The price per acre of land in the mountainous area of Littleton (near Denver) runs at $200,000 an acre.

[CosmicWizard]

There is a mom and pop variety ski slope called Powderhorn, located about 45 mins from downtown Grand Junction. Grand Junction is usually one of the hottest Colorado locations in the summer, and one of the colder places in the winter...but not much snow accumulation. It's about a 4 hour drive ( in good road conditions ) to Denver on I-70. IF the Grand Junction economy ever picks up again, you could live in the country and work in the city. Many people around here are already doing that. But, the Grand Mesa ( one of the biggest flat top mountains in the world ), the closest mountainous area, is not the typical Colorado Mountain scenery that you are likely to have in mind. It's an acquired taste.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by CosmicWizard

But, the Grand Mesa ( one of the biggest flat top mountains in the world ), the closest mountainous area, is not the typical Colorado Mountain scenery that you are likely to have in mind. It's an acquired taste.

Grand Mesa is very pretty. Different look and feel than the rest of Colorado. I think Jazzlover explained once that it has a different type of vegetation and has more of the conifer and spruce trees than the pines. I like the Grand Mesa a lot but a very short hiking season unfortunately since it always seems to be under snow.

[CosmicWizard]

Personally, I love the Grand Mesa. IMO, it's one of the most under-rated places in Colorado. I especially enjoy hiking up to the craggy section of the Crag Crest trail. Also, winter snow shoeing is spectacular on some of the flatter trails.