What is the absolutely best/worst place in CO? (Colorado Springs: mortgage, theatre)

[McGowdog]

Originally Posted by faa

I actually really like this thinking but since I live in Boulder if I were to do this I'd have no money to raise my kidshttp://pics3.city-data.com/forum/images/smilies/redface.gif

Well if your kids are anything like we were, I can see why. We'd wait till McGowdog Sr. would get boofey blitzd and pester him for money until he'd give us a Sawbuck or an Andrew and he'd say, "Go play on the freeway!"

[giggler]

Best: Pagosa Springs and Durango. Pagosa is absolutely gorgeous and undiscovered...
Not sure about worst...

[MountainMama924]

I have lived in Denver, Avon, Vail, Longmont, and Ft. Lupton, CO. The towns could'nt be more different.

I lived in a great neighborhood two blocks south of the University Hospital in Denver--and it was great!!! I always rode the bus everywhere and only once felt threatened(not bad for a city). Great cultural activities, children's museum, zoo, decent music scene, parks are abundant. Denver has everything you need. I could'nt live there long since the traffic, air pollution, and congestion was too much for me (I grew up in a small town of less than a thousand ppl).

Boulder is probably my favorite larger city in CO. I love how it is nestled right against the mountains, has the Flatirons for hiking and climbling, great music and arts, beautiful college campus, overall a beautiful city. Very expensive/not reasonable if you're looking to buy a house. I love all of the liberals!!!!!!!!!!

Longmont has potential. Some neighborhoods are great (Prospect--GREAT, Mill Village--Cute!!) Reasonable prices for housing!

Estes Park---Beautiful!!! Gateway to the RMNP. Pricey for housing, very touristy.

Now...on to the Vail Valley. I lived in Avon for four years. It is WONDERFUL for the avid adventurer, horrible for buying a home. I catered to the tourists in all of my career there, and it burned me to know that most of the houses in Vail and Beaver Creek are second and third homes to the wealthy. Avon/Vail have all that the adventurer could ask for, except affordable housing. There is a real lack of a sense of "community" with so many tourists, and the towns are soo new that there is little "character" that makes a town interesting. Great skiing, climbing, rafting, low crime rate. I have a love/hate relationship with the Vail Valley.

[RangerDuke08]

Originally Posted by skigirl

I've always heard of Craig referred to as the "armpit" of Colorado lol. I lived there for a few months and I'd have to agree. I wouldn't recommend it unless you're looking to live in a place with some of the coldest temperatures in the country, a terrible job market, and a major drug problem!

Since I'm not sure exactly what you are/aren't looking for, here's my take on a few places:

Places I'd never live:
Craig (for reasons listed above)
Greeley (stinky and bad crime rates)
Cortez (just not an attractive town to me, but it may have changed since I was there last)
Delta (seems very run-down to me)
Gunnison (Freaking cold and not a great job market, close to one of my favorite ski resorts Crested Butte though)

Places I'd live in (depending on certain factors):
Front Range (If you need to work, pretty much from Colorado Springs north to Fort Collins is for the most part nice, including much of Denver)
Grand Junction
Durango area (including Bayfield)
Pagosa Springs (gorgeous but not a great place if you need a job)
Glenwood Springs area
Resort towns like Steamboat, Aspen, Vail (If you need only a so-so job market, are an avid skiier, and can afford it)

I agree, CO is pretty balanced, some beautiful places to retire but no job markets everywhere else is pretty balanced suburbia of Denver. I'd just avoid the methhead places like walden, craig and the touristy resort places to live.

[SheridanL]

I agree Too. EXPENSIVE.l
Compared to "what" though?
NYC,..LA...where??

I know that Golden..Evergreen......Anywhere along I70 is pricey but,...there HAS to be a happy "medium". Floyd Hill for example.

Kitteridge (I worked there,..cut hair there and, it was ridicoulsly expensive..45 $$ in 1994) ...So, WHERE??
Is it "better"? Does one have to be a gazzlionaire??

[nathan yudnich]

Originally Posted by McGowdog

Anyplace north of New Mexico but south of Wyoming, east of Utah, but west of Kansas is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any place in America is pretty cool. If you want an armpit, go to bordertown Mexico.

Kanorado, KS, USA


YOU LOOSE!

[McGowdog]

Now wait just a minute! Kanarado is nice. It's like Burlington, Colorado without all the glitter.

I have family from Colby and Healy! That's like the land of Stuckeys! Are Stuckeys still around? There was a saying, "You couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a Stuckeys."

[jadybug]

NUCLA!! Not sure if I spelled that right, but my husband and I ran across an ad online for a house for sale there a number of years ago.

We had family in the state (Louisville and Colorado Springs) and always felt drawn to the Rockies/mountains. Our income level was/is quite humble and would not/could not support the well-known, highly desired areas of the state (Ex: Aspen-not even in our wildest dreams!!) So, we decided on a holiday visit out to check out Nucla...

Wow! We were shocked to find a tiny town that looked like it was in a Third World country!! Depressing, doesn't even begin to describe it!! And, that house that looked so good, and was so cheap on the internet? Just horrible in real life!! The people? It was almost like a ghost town. The few people we did encounter there looked dazed.

BTW, is that close to any nuclear areas? That crossed my mind, and felt so bad for the folks in Nucla.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by jadybug

NUCLA!! Not sure if I spelled that right, but my husband and I ran across an ad online for a house for sale there a number of years ago.

We had family in the state (Louisville and Colorado Springs) and always felt drawn to the Rockies/mountains. Our income level was/is quite humble and would not/could not support the well-known, highly desired areas of the state (Ex: Aspen-not even in our wildest dreams!!) So, we decided on a holiday visit out to check out Nucla...

Wow! We were shocked to find a tiny town that looked like it was in a Third World country!! Depressing, doesn't even begin to describe it!! And, that house that looked so good, and was so cheap on the internet? Just horrible in real life!! The people? It was almost like a ghost town. The few people we did encounter there looked dazed.

BTW, is that close to any nuclear areas? That crossed my mind, and felt so bad for the folks in Nucla.

Nucla originally was settled as a "communal" agricultural community. The town was to be the "nucleus" of the commune--thus the name Nucla. For years, the town was the one of the centers of Colorado's uranium mining. industry. For years, the main café in town was the "Yellow Rock Café," named for the color of uranium ore. Up on the hill outside of town was the "Uranium Drive-In" theater. Uravan with its huge uranium mill ("Uravan" is a contraction of uranium and vanadium) was down the road. Oh yeah, that area is where the uranium for the A-bombs used on Japan came from.

Yes, you could say Nucla was a "nuclear" area. In many places, a Geiger counter will go nuts just from the natural background radiation. There is still probably a lot of uranium to be found there. Maybe with the current resurgence of interest in nuclear power, Nucla will boom again. I know several really good people from Nucla. It was a typical "old Colorado" kind of town--yuppies not needed.

[alison_g]

I'd have to say the arm pit is Aurora. High crime rate, A LOT of theft, murder, shootings, robbery, more than a lot of the other surrounding area.

I think the Erie/Lafayette area is really nice and one of the best places to raise a family, but hands down the mountains in particular Dillon or Estes Park would be the dream place.