anyone know about western slope areas? (Grand Junction, Montrose: crime, houses, school)

[ranger36]

Hi,

I'm from New York and I'm looking to get out of the city and into more peaceful and quiet surroundings. I'm very interested in Colorado, but am not sure where to start. I like the mountains and the snow, but think the front range area would be way too busy for me and want to avoid the more touristy areas. Any thoughts about Montrose? Grand Junction? (Although, I don't want to be too far out west.) I'm open to any other small mountain towns that you think may make a good fit.

Thanks in advance.

[KIM VANDERBERG]

Hi, I grew up on the Western Slope and now live on the Front Range and can't wait to get back "home". Grew up just outside of Montrose and went to school at Mesa State College in Grand Junction. Both towns are nice and both are growing at a fairly rapid pace. GJ has an ok mall and just about any store you are looking for, also has smaller towns nearby like Fruita if GJ is too big. There are tons of outdoor things to do, lots of Public lands for ATV and Dirt bike riding, especially in the mountains. Don't get me wrong...the front range in nice but there's no place quite like home. The Western Slope is just a more laid back and peaceful pace. Good luck too you on your move.

[Kaptain Karl]

OP - Have you studied the *bunches* of available data in the <www.city-data.com> Home Page? It will help narrow your search ... from the many Western Slope towns.

- KK

[lacesout]

I moved to Grand Junction from California 10 years ago. It was a major adjustment for my family. For the first 5 years my daughter - then 10 - and I really hated it here. GJ is pretty conservative. We really felt isolated and out of place. But gradually we've come to appreciate the benefits. We live on 5 acres within 5 minutes of downtown GJ. Be advised though, that will soon be a thing of the past as Grand Junction is starting to look more like Irvine, CA with all the matching earth-tone houses on their postage stamp sized lots. But GJ still offers a lower crime rate, reasonable housing costs when compared to CA, and an ok 4 year liberal arts college (Mesa State). Downside is few jobs unless you want to work for min wage. If I weren't self-employed, I couldn't make it here.

Feel free to ask me about any specifics. We are not very outdoorsy, so won't be able to give you any first hand info on that. Have heard its great here for climbers, skiers, bikers.

Lacesout in Grand Junction, CO

[winglady]

We moved from the Front Range to Montrose a bit over a year ago, and absolutely love it here. If you enjoy hiking, skiing, and other outdoor activities, this area has it all. From Montrose we can easily travel north to Colorado National Monument for hiking & rock climbing or Grand Mesa for hiking & XC skiing (we're not into water sports -- but it would be a great spot for that too). Closer in we have a number of beautiful canyons to explore. Twenty minutes east from our front door, and we're at Black Canyon of the Gunnison (XC skiing, rock climbing, hiking), or we can go play in the Cimarron mountains. To the south we can ice climb at Ouray, go 4-wheeling, hike, climb, ski, etc. To the west, it's really not very far to head to Moab, Canyonlands, Arches, and the other Utah National Parks. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.

In town, there are lots of clubs, presentations, festivals, performances, etc. People are warm & friendly and not stressed out about traffic jams and smog.

We love it here.