Like Boulder, but Cheaper? (Denver, Colorado Springs: transplants, crime, new home)

[albinoazian]

I am in my late 20s and teach high school in Orange County, CA. I am planning on flying out to Colorado for a few days over Christmas break to check out areas to relocate and to get an idea of the winter weather. I need some suggestions for where to look.

My father has been to Boulder and says it is amazing, but with the low wages teachers get paid in Colorado it is too expensive. I am looking for something similar to Boulder with outdoor activities, a college nearby, and not an overwhelming number of religious right wing fanatics like I have heard are in places like Colorado Springs. My father retired recently to Texas and he doesn't like getting pestered every day about joining everybody's church.

Which cities/areas should I check?

[photomnt]

I would reccomend Ft. Collins/Loveland. Not far from Boulder, and Ft Collins has CSU. They are both more right-winged than Boulder, but there is enough diversity that you wouldn't feel outnumbered. They are both really great towns.

[Crackerjack]

You also might look into Durango. A progressive, mostly liberal city in southwest Colorado. It has tons of stuff to do: hiking, biking, kayaking with lots of rivers, creeks, mountains and lakes. It is an artsy city with theater, dance, music and art. It has a good size college, Ft. Lewis. The suburbs, or towns around Durango, will be cheaper to find housing, than within the city limits of Durango. A nice city. You can Google Durango, Colorado for more info and use the "search this forum" on this Colorado forum and type in Durango and find all the posts about Durango.

[corndog]

Durrango is not what you are looking for. I recently moved from Huntington Beach in May to Aurora and know that Boulder, although beautiful, is a wierd place to live especially coming from OC! Boulder is full of tree huggers, extreme environmentalists, alternative lifestyled folks! Not that these people are bad, but they certainly are the minority compared to the rest of the state. I worked in Los Angeles as a Sheriff Deputy and the first thing I wanted to do was crack some heads there! I guess I have some issues, but Boulder has problems as well to be considered. For one, they have a huge problem with homelessness, small, but growing population of gangs and rowdy college students! The town is also ridiculously over priced, not as bad as OC, but getting there.

Greeley/Loveland as someone else mentioned is a nice area. Fort Collins is gorgeous as well. One thing to consider is the fact that coming from OC isn't going to be easy to automatically adjust to a much slower pace of life as goes on up there. Denver/Aurora are areas to consider as it isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

If you want, just look me up and shoot me an email. I will give you my perspective from being a recent transplant from OC!!!

[Crackerjack]

Corndog, Albinoazian states quote "My father has been to Boulder and says it is amazing... I am looking for something similar to Boulder with outdoor activities, a college nearby, and not an overwhelming number of religious right wing fanatics like I have heard are in places like Colorado Springs." unquote. This person sounds like they would not want to live near religious conservatives. Durango is very similiar to Boulder. Albinoazian stated they want something similiar to Boulder. Now if they want more of a conservative type of area, then no, Durango would not be a good choice, but this person didn't state that. Although there are conservatives in the Durango area too, especially as you get out into the rural ranches and suburbs. But if someone is looking for another Boulder type of city, Durango fits.

[brian_2]

"I worked in Los Angeles as a Sheriff Deputy and the first thing I wanted to do was crack some heads there! I guess I have some issues.."

It's really too bad you are saying this here. I hope SoCal people aren't reading this thread, cause they'll just make a mountain out of a molehill. Law enforcement tries 24/7 to get past issues raised by the Mark Furman's and his ilk. In my experiences (in LA/Orange County) law enforcement were really decent people, but then I'm no gang banger, tagger, miscreant, car thief, wife beater, dope dealer, etc.
Truthfully I don't know how folks can work that profession in LA, but good thing some people can.

[albinoazian]

Originally Posted by corndog

Durrango is not what you are looking for. I recently moved from Huntington Beach in May to Aurora and know that Boulder, although beautiful, is a wierd place to live especially coming from OC!

One thing to consider is the fact that coming from OC isn't going to be easy to automatically adjust to a much slower pace of life as goes on up there. Denver/Aurora are areas to consider as it isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

I am actually in Huntington Beach right now, I teach at Edison. It is nice being a walk hop and a skip from the beach, but as you know a teacher can't afford anything here when the fixer upper is $600,000 if you can find it. Plus, the big reason I want to leave is that it is too fast paced. I try to avoid going east of the 405 and avoid going on the freeways like the 405 unless there is no other way.

The reason I was thinking Boulder is that looking at the population it is highly educated and there are are other groups like Buddhists. I visited my dad this year since he just retired to Texas in February and it is nice outside the Austin area, but besides the heat/humidity, the "bubba factor" hounding you to go to this church and that church and letting them come in and read you scripture is not what I want to deal with.

I researched Durango a bit, sounds nice, but a bit removed from somethings I might be used to. My girlfriend is vietnamese and there doesn't seem to be any asians, but then again nowhere outside of Denver/Boulder seems to have any.

If I fly into Denver how long is the drive into Durango? I did notice that Fort Collins has CSU.

How crowded/expensive are the Denver suburbs like Aurora? I am trying to get out of the hustle and bustle, but still be a drive from mid/large size city amenities so that maybe there are some asian markets/food.

[albinoazian]

And I am not an ultra-liberal by any stretch. I used to hang my tent in the Republican party when it was friendly to non neo-cons. I am what most call a Libertarian.

[corndog]

Alright folks, I was kidding a bit about cracking heads, at least in Boulder. Berkeley area of Northern California maybe, hehehe!

Seriously, none of us know you personally and from what we read it sort of makes sense what you are asking. But, out of all of these folks, I feel that I can at least relate a little more to you being that I grew up in Huntington Beach with my wife and that I attended Fountain Valley High School, which as you know is part of the Huntington Beach unified high school district.

I moved here precisely because of the high prices, conjestion and crime that California propigates. Prices in Aurora for us was a wonderful site. We just purchased a new home for an even $300,000! That gets us a 2350 sq. foot home with a 1200 sq. foot basement on top of that. 4 bedrooms and 3 baths. To seal the deal, well two of our new neighbors are also OC transplants that left for the same reason. You can certainly find nice newer homes for even cheaper. Vietnamese aren't overly common here, but I see them more and more. I lived just two miles away from Little Saigon in OC so I am familiar a little bit with their culture.

Now Boulder isn't a bad town, but I felt a little out of place. Denver metro area is large with lots of people, but trust me when you see it and feel it, it feels a lot less stressful than anywhere California!!!!

As far as gang bangers and drug dealers go, well they either go straight or get their heads bumped!!! These idiots are not only destroying their neighborhoods, but spreading into the communities the never felt the pinch before. Denver claims to have some real serious gangsters, being from law enforcement out of Los Angeles, well I still haven't seen one. Wanna be's sure

Linking me to the likes of Mark Furman is not only wrong, but this person is either ignorant or in denial. He is a separate issue, I speak out of frustration as a former and current law enforcement officer, not of a racist moron who got called out on live TV for his racist views! OC cops, yeah I know quite a few of them myself. Try talking to them and find one or more who think that gangs and drug dealers are worth trying to save!

If you want, again look at my bio and shoot me an email!

Sorry all for rambling, but I am vocal when it comes to law enforcement!

[Crackerjack]

Albinoazian, Durango has quite a lot of Buddhists. I had a friend who passed away a few years back, who was a Buddhist from Durango. I have another friend who lives in a suburb near Durango, who is a Buddhist. I always remember his prayer flags waving on his balcony! You can go to www.durangosangha.org (broken link) to find out more. Also Durango has plenty of Asians. Not in huge numbers, but there are Japanese sushi places, Chinese restaurants and all are authentic Asians who own or work at those places. My sister-in-law's best friend is a girl from Hong Kong. My brother just met a family from Indonesia. I know a couple from Japan there. I also know a lady from Korea. So they are there.
For example, you can see how in this Mandala Art Exhibitions, http://people.hws.edu/yignyen/vitae.html
among the big cities, you'll also see Durango in there with the big boys.

Durango also is a New Age Mecca. They have all sorts of stuff from acupuncture to wisdom of the ancients there. There are many metaphysical and holistic healing centers in Durango like:
Namaste Health Center
Windom Medical Center and Biofeedback
Kripalu Meditative Bodywork
DE MEDICI Holistic Practice
Healing Waters Hydrotrpy
Lifeworks
Many Homeopathy practices
Cornerstone Wellness
Ayurveda Health Retreat
Kinesiology Beyond Bodyworks

New Age like:
Chrysalis Foundation
Sol-Tara Academy
Healing and Magick Hands therapy and places like Essence of Healing, Flow Wolf and Pinon Phoenix.
New Age, astrology, tarot, etc. are all popular there.
Lots of Naturopaths, acupuncturists including 5 healing and oriental medicine with Masters of Traditional Chinese Medicine, board certified, like Trinity Acupuncture and so forth.
Great health food shops and natural health food grocery stores. Hot saunas, hot spas, natural healing baths and on and on.
And many many more. There are also quite a lot of Wiccans there.

You can catch a non-stop flight to Durango from Denver and be in Durango in about 1 hour to 1 and 1/2 hours, such as with United Airlines. A drive would be about 6 1/2 hours.