Thinking about moving away from Colorado? Get in line and fill this out…..

[delta07]

Thank you New Age Redneck! You are right, the newness of a move will eventually wear off, but I always love the ride! For us, this will be the first time we will be leaving in the same town as family in over 14 years. We are excited about this as well. That has always been part of our inner dis-satisfaction with Grand Junction. We really don't know anyone, and we are so far away from family, that we are always waiting for the next vacation. Thank you again for your kind remarks.

[kalipsoh]

I think this is a great topic. Fellow Coloradans can either disagree or commiserate, and those thinking of moving to Colorado can either say "wow, that's exactly why I WOULD move there" or "oh, since that's exactly how I would feel, better scratch it off my list."

1) Current Colorado locale:
Colorado Springs (last 9 months)
Monument (4 years)
Englewood/Tech Center (4 years)
Westminster (1 year)
Denver (25 years)

2) Why do you want to leave?:
Ocean, need a life change, job opportunities

3) Where outside of Colorado and why:
Eastern Mass. Family there, fall in love with it more every time I visit, and the density of schools/universities is much better than here in Colo. I knew many professors who would teach 1-2 courses at MSCD (Denver), CU (Boulder), and community colleges in Littleton or such. They spent 14 hour days scratching out a meager full-time living. If you have increased job oppty's in a smaller geographic region, it's much easier. Ocean, ocean, ocean!!!

4) 2nd and 3rd Place Choices:
Coast New Hampshire, Maine, or RI.

5) What’s currently holding you back from moving?:
Waiting for my kid to finish the school year.

6) Anything else you want to tell us that we don’t know? =
The mountains are a gorgeous picture to me. I hate camping and non-urban hiking. They're pretty, but no fun for me. I'd much rather be out on a boat than camping. Even better, I'd rather be in museums, visiting architecturally historic sites, and shopping. I don't enjoy skiing either. So many of the best things this state has, which are indeed great to those who enjoy them, just aren't my cup of tea. While I only live an hour from Denver, I hardly ever go any more because it's such a large distance in terms of the drive that it feels much longer. I'm bored silly in the Springs and if you don't have young children or are college age, you feel out of place. I really dislike the conservativism in the Springs, and yes, everybody does asks what church you go to. I've seen people debate if that does indeed happen, and I've lived it for the past 5 years. It does. Daily. Incessantly. Irritatingly. Whereas many conversations involve "so, what do you do" - down here it's inevitably followed by "and so what church to you do to." When I mention that I don't worship anything other than the NFL after 11am on a Sunday, it's never received that well. Can't figure out why

[ryanek9freak]

HAHAHA, I love the "NFL on sunday "worship. I guess if you're not happy here, you need to go.

[zenkonami]

Originally Posted by funyon

Where: 4th generation native (Denver; Arvada for last 30 years)

Why: Climate, Climate, Climate--our weather is so overrated. I read that we have 300 days of sunshine--does that mean if the sun peeks out it's considered a sunny day? Hate the wind and hate the long winters. Sick of seeing all the dirt all winter long. Tired of all the cateriing to the skiiers.

Where to: Arizona --now that's sunshine. I know there are bad parts, however, the majority is very clean and pretty. You truly can be active all year long. When it's 115, you just wait until the sun sets to take your walks, bike rides, etc. People are much friendlier.

Just a word of warning about that Arizona climate - taking that walk in the evening after a 115 degree day still leaves you taking a walk in about 100 degree heat. Dust, smog and ozone are major problems in Phoenix and Tucson. Of course, if you can deal with those two things then I'll just say you're right, it is a beautiful place (well, the state in general...the cities have very little character, though there is quite a bit of work available) with a very spiritual vibe to it. I learned a lot from the desert and the high country.

[steveco.]

I've heard during the summer that areas of the desert rarely drop below 90 degrees during the summer. Even after the sun sets....

[CosmicWizard]

Steve

The person who told you this was mis-informed. Here in the desert climate of Grand Jucntion ( elevation 4789 per wunderground.com ), the warmest overnite temperature recorded during the past 2 summers was 77 degrees on 7-24-2006. There have been just 16 overnite lows of 70 or above during the past 2 summers. Both of these summers had above average temperatures. The average mean temperature for the months of May thru September for those 2 years was 2.48 above the norm, with July 2007 averaging 4.92 degrees above the norm.

Click this link for more information about the Climate of Colorado

Prior to spending the past 2 summers in Grand Junction, I spent 16 summers in the very humid climate of Virginia Beach. I can assure you that summers ( days and nights ) are far more comfortable in the dry heat of the Colorado desert than the humid heat of the Atlantic coast. In Virginia Beach, the overnite low rarely drops blow 75 during July. On top of that, the humidity is usually at its highest early in the morning. I can remember some overnight lows that failed to drop below 80....now that is u-n-c-o-m-f-o-r-t-a-b-l-e! I also remember one summer when I spent 2 weeks in Pheonix in July and dreaded returning to Virginia Beach becasue Pheonix seemed more comfortable to me.

PS...For the first 108 days of 2008, the average mean temperature in Grand Junction is running a very noticable 3.08 degrees BELOW the norm. It's been pretty chilly!

[RangerDuke08]

Hey I interviewed several people in person about this and the top 3 choices:

1) Oregon - cheaper, greener, less regulations for now, still got the mountains, the beach, wetter, driving distance to a couple other cities.

2) Montana - cheaper, same Rockies as long as your on the Western side of Montana, less populated, more land, less regulations-libertarian.

3) Any major city U.S.A. (NY, Chicago, LA, DC, Miami, Boston) - more fun, make more money, more to do.

About myself I currently live in Fort Collins, CO (I could live here forever if I chose to), a Denver native originally who has traveled the U.S. and globe intensely. Complain all you want but travel more around the U.S. and you'll be grateful that your in Colorado!

There's ups and downs of every place you go, Colorado sort of has trends, keyword:trends, of second homes, suburban sprawl and a bigger liberal government. 10-20 years down the road it's gona be a social war zone (ie, CA, AZ, TX, FL), if it already hasn't begun. It probably won't affect us much in 5-10 years but if your not from a large extended family and in the middle-class starting out on your own and want to have a family and provide for them, Colorado is still possible today but will be looking hard 10 years down the road.

I currently am finishing my Masters and employment contract and will be done next year. I would like to stay and do a PhD at CSU in U.S. Environmental Policy but 5 more years in FOCO would probably put me here with a house, wife, kids and the list goes on and on for good. Thus I'm almost certain I'm going to hit the road once again. I did think about other countries - Australia, Chile, Greenland, but I figured I wanted my kids to grow up Americans. And it came down to two places Helena, MT or Knoxville, TN.

Both still have affordable housing, open spaces, I can work as a professor, Park Ranger or in government. Montana has a libertarian government, a lot more land and a slower growth. Though Montanans complain more about people moving in, seem as if your there with Colorado plates they just want you to conduct your business and leave. I think those two effects combined will make MT more affordable in the long run and continued to have more open space. Knoxville, TN on the other hand does not have the growth since all the growth goes to Nashville, which is good for me, was very hospitable gotta love Southerners, there's University of Tennessee, great school, great football team, has some good and bad neighborhoods, while as MT and FOCO has a low crime rate. I'd say in the end my top 3 would be Knoville, TN; Helena, MT, Fort Collins, CO.

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by steveco.

I've heard during the summer that areas of the desert rarely drop below 90 degrees during the summer. Even after the sun sets....

That's absolutely correct-- if you're talking about the city of Phoenix. Due to the urban heat island it doesn't cool down at night much at all. Now, NewAgeRedneck, you're right if you're talking about almost everywhere else in desert areas, even other desert cities. It's Phoenix that has the monster night-time heat problem. And there are many different types of deserts too; you can't really compare Grand Junction/ Colorado Plateau with Phoenix/ the Sonoran desert.

[CosmicWizard]

Yeah, I know what you mean about the overnite heat in Phoenix. I was there one time when the overnite LOW was 98! Can you imagine waking up and the temperature is already 98 degrees? That sucks.

[darjoh]

I'll never forget this:

I was in Phoenix for training, in the month of July a couple years ago, I went out with some co-workers on the last night, and while leaving the bar, I looked up at a bank clock along the street. At 1:01am, it was 101 degrees.

I was blown away. I had watched the clock/temp change a few times to make sure I was seeing it straight.