Fantasy vs. Reality- Our First CO Trip- Questions/ Observations (Denver: rent, condo)

[SweetHome7]

I've really enjoyed this topic. As a progressive, vegan, massage therapist I am still trying to find my niche in CO. I decided to settle in Boulder as I lived there 20 years ago and thought there would be more opportunities than a smaller mountain touristy town. As far a vegan lifestyle goes, while CO has Whole Foods not much is local organically grown food like in states like CA or OR. One interesting thing I have discovered as I've gotten older is that while I am very liberal I tend to enjoy being around people who are the salt of the earth types who aren't judgemental. I am finding that places like Boulder feel quite "liberal elitists/entitled" to me. To the OP, the red rocks that are so beautiful are only located in Southern CO, Utah and Northern AZ with arid climates. We are all looking for our paradise, that's also totally affordable, with nice housing and great weather...LOL

[Lugnuts]

Originally Posted by SweetHome7

... To the OP, the red rocks that are so beautiful are only located in Southern CO, Utah and Northern AZ with arid climates. We are all looking for our paradise, that's also totally affordable, with nice housing and great weather...LOL

There are scattered outcrops around the state as well:

Park History - Garden of the Gods Visitor Center

[Sunderpig2]

Originally Posted by SweetHome7

the red rocks that are so beautiful are only located in Southern CO, Utah and Northern AZ with arid climates

I know of other areas that have iron ore deposits, red rocks, and dark orange soil that are not in those above mentioned states. They are also not in dry regions. It's only shortness of research that limits us to the many possibilities out there.

[SweetHome7]

I have lived in 8 states and been to just about every state and the only place I've seen red rocks were CO, AZ and Utah and perhaps a very small amount in NM. South Carolina has red dirt but it's not the same as the the large rock formations seen in the West. What other states have red rocks?

[NW Crow]

In part it depends on how strict you are about strong red vs. orange, pink, purple, beige, yellow, tan and brown or rocks with some red streaks along with these other colors. A lot of Utah and Colorado rocks are more these colors than "red". Red Rock Canyon Nevada may be the reddest.

Some candidates (especially under loose standard): Nevada (Red Rock Canyon), Montana (Red Rock Lakes, Painted Rock Lakes, maybe Missouri Breaks) Wyoming (Red Desert and east of Cody), Oregon (Painted Hills, Smith Rocks Kentucky (Sandstone along Red River Gorge), North Carolina (Stone Mountain), (Red Rock Point) Missouri (Elephant Rock State Park) Washington (Peshastin Pinnacles), Idaho (in Craters of Moon NP, Owyhee canyons and uplands and Malad Gorge and City of Rocks?), California (Red Bluff?, Death Valley), probably west Texas (Palo Duro Canyon, Enchanted Rock) South Dakota Badlands and North Dakota (Theodore Roosevelt NP), maybe Oklahoma (Wichita Mountains), maybe Nebraska (Scottsbluff), maybe Minnesota (Iron Range and cliffs along Mississippi River) and Wisconsin (rocks around Devil's Lake), Michigan upper penisula shore cliffs, perhaps Hawaii, maybe Alaska (near a volcano?)...

[Sunderpig2]

That's a great list NW Crow. Thanks for sharing. I wish we all could get out and explore more. That list sure makes it tempting!

[flipsidem]

First of all, I want to tell you that I love the honesty of your post. Second, we are getting ready to move out of CO (more on that later), so I might have a more jaded view than somebody that is planning to stay here forever.

I do love looking at the mountains, especially on clear days during the winter. Sometimes the mountains are not visible from the metro area. I'm not an expert on this subject. It seems like it's no big deal because it isn't really mentioned on the news or anything, but the air gets bad enough where you literally can't see the mountains. Sometimes it's from forest fires, sometimes I never can figure it out because nobody ever really says much about it. There have been a couple of summers recently when it seemed like the mountains weren't visible more than they were.

Snow is really magical to those of us that didn't grow up with it. For me, it took about 10 years for me to get sick of it. Once you stop feeling the magic and you start seeing it as the amount of time you will spend shoveling, you will be over it.

The roads are pretty good in general. This is one of the few places I have lived where the infrastructure is ahead, or at least close to keeping up with the traffic load. There are some key areas that are known to have bad traffic. I have noticed that traffic in general is getting worse and worse in the last few years. Also, this is the most expensive state to register a car that I have lived in. If you have newer cars, be prepared to shell out some big $$$.

My hands bleed every winter. I probably wash them too much, but my skin has never gotten used to the dry winters.

It's never really green here. It's a desert.

People don't do as much outside during the winter. It's a mode.

I honestly think Denver is an ugly, dirty city. I don't like going downtown. I think your observations are pretty valid. I have never been able to wrap my head around the concept of paying huge money for a tiny house on a crowded street with cars parked all along both sides. We have lived in the suburbs and semi-rural areas the whole time we have lived here, and that has been ok. Downtown type living just isn't our jam.

Boulder..... I don't think very many people really get Boulder. I don't. I would live in Boulder County to be close to the mountains, like you mentioned, but the City of Boulder is something I've never really even given much thought. I'm not interested.

You're disappointing realization of the difference between expectations and reality is something I can relate to. We have been looking for somewhere to move to for a couple years now. We had really high hopes for the Portland, OR area. We went out there to check it out and had a pretty similar experience to what you had here. It just wasn't what we though it was. The city seemed huge compared to what we were expecting. There was some pretty nasty traffic. Homes seemed to be even more of a ripoff than they are here. There were beautiful forests, waterfalls and beaches, but it just didn't add up to our expectations. We have decided to look at moving to Hawaii now. We are going out there next week to see what it's like when you are there with the perspective of moving there, as opposed to just being on vacation. I hope we don't have the same experience that we did with Portland, that you did with CO.

It says something about CO that we can't seem to find a place to move. We want to move really bad, but we've yet to find a place we really like better. There are lots of things about CO that are really awesome. I love, love, love, love camping in the mountains. I love riding bikes here. I like it here a lot better in the summer than the winter. I think it is more about being outside than what your house is like, but as more and more people move here from LA and Dallas, that is probably changing. I can see that change happening. That's part of why we want to leave.

[SweetHome7]

Thanks NW Crow for the Red Rock spots, great camping list to check out. I forgot that I visited a place about an hour or so outside of Vegas with Native American petroglyphs. It was so red where we hiked that fair skin people became white as a ghost, slightly greenish tint, like when someone is sick. Little kids were running around yelling "Look I'm green". My favorite red rocks are Southern Utah.

[TrexDigit]

Some gems in here as well:

Colorado's Canyon Country: A Guide to Hiking & Floating Blm Wildlands

[Shellybug]

Just wanted to update this post. My husband and I decided to take an "impromptu" drive from our home in Florida to Utah a few weeks ago. We wanted to head out to Zion National Park and hike The Narrows.

We stopped in Santa Fe for two days, which I absolutely LOVED, but New Mexico, in general, seemed to have some very depressed areas overall. We absolutely loved, loved, loved Utah! What a beautiful state! Of course, Zion is a hiker's paradise. I could live in Southern Utah for five years just to try to hike all of the surrounding areas. We didn't expect to love Utah so much. Part of the irony as that we are fairly liberal and it looks like Utah is a fairy solid "red" state (politically speaking), although we found everyone we met to be lovely. I'm really over worrying about choosing a place based on political leanings (as long as it isn't a painfully regressed state). I do question if we would truly be accepted as non-LDS residents. It seems to be a hot topic over in the Utah forum, so that is honestly all I have to go on. We stayed in Hurricane while we were there and drove into Springdale and everyone was very nice.

We took a longer route and drove through southern Colorado on the way back to Florida via 160 East. Wow! What a beautiful part of the state. We fell in love with Durango, but it looks like there is literally nothing to rent and jobs are scarce (based on a quick search). We drove through Texas as well and really liked it. We were focused on Austin, and loved it, but I don't know if I can deal with the too-cool hipsters . At 40, we were feeling a bit old in that city. Lol! Now, we just have to visit Oregon and Washington. I think California might be a little out-of-reach for our budget, but it looks like a beautiful state as well.

Needless to day, we are STILL on the hunt for a place to move. I just signed another year's contract to teach here in Florida. It's absolutely killing me to be stuck here another year, especially after hiking through Zion! A colleague of mine just picked up and moved to Denver this summer, without having visited. I had to wonder, is that what we should have done? Good for her for having the courage to do so! But I just need to plan a bit more. Any updated input on this adventure search of ours?

I hope everyone is happy and well!!!