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Thread summary:

Young family seeking relocation advice, close to large city, considering Pueblo area, nearby lakes, safe and stimulating family environment, professional sports teams

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Old 07-17-2008, 05:07 PM
 
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Schools can be good or not-so-good in Pueblo, depending on the area or neighborhood. You should also know that Pueblo doesn't have the type of climate most outsiders consider "typical" of Colorado. It gets hotter than hell there in the summer (over 100° is not uncommon) and winters--while not cold by Colorado standards--are dry and see relatively little snow.

Weatherbase: Historical Weather for Pueblo, Colorado, United States of America

I much prefer Pueblo to the sprawled overgrown megalopolises of Denver/Fort Collins/Colorado Springs, but Pueblo is culturally quite different than those cities, and some people don't like that. I always get nervous when someone who has probably never seen Colorado or lived anywhere remotely like it starts talking about moving here cold. You'd better spend some time here before you make a decision to relocate. As an aside, I would add that is doubly true for New Mexico. I love it there, too, but is VERY different from the rest of the US, and is very much an acquired taste. Most newcomers there either love it or hate it--there are not many in between.
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Old 07-17-2008, 05:23 PM
 
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Wink New Mexico

You definitely could vacation in New Mexico, and this possibly a good compromise. Or you may wish to reverse the equation.

Certainly more lakes in Colorado, but New Mexico has some nice ones as well, so this just a factor of what and why and how you see it.

Generally speaking New Mexico is a poor state, at least economically. Certain pockets of Santa Fe, NM, Taos, NM and elsewhere are anything but. Part of the contrast which makes the region so interesting, particularly if you happen to reside in the upper part of that equation. In traditional jobs Albuquerque surely offers the best market in variety and pay scale. But certain others, some artists for instance, do very well for themselves out in the nether regions. At the lower end of things, Santa Fe is one of the more progressive places in having adopted a fairly generous minimum wage law. Some people griped about it, mostly business men, but those actually trying to live at that level surely quite thankful. And its passage doesn't seem to have deterred Santa Fe from being a beautiful and very desirable place to live.

As far as crime goes, well, you could probably start by staying out of a good deal of Española. Some nice restaurants there as well as other attractions, but '60 Minutes' chose it to discuss drugs and violence in New Mexico for a reason.

But something like this is highly local. Albuquerque is the same way, in that certain areas to avoid and many others where you'll probably be fine. New Mexico is such a large and largely unpopulated state that you have a plethora of spots to choose from where your biggest risk is possibly a coyote eating your cat. I lived there for years unscathed, but can also assure you that if you look for it or otherwise fall into the wrong place or crowd that it can quickly become beyond weird. More like bad psychedelic and no place you want to be.

Another place on the 'are you sure?' list would be Mora, NM. This because it remains one of the last vestiges of old New Mexico some of the displaced have left. So in general a good place for gringos to stay out of. But I know a fellow, as Caucasian as can be, who was perfectly happy there. But his sensibilities were, uh, much the same as theirs.

This not to alarm you, only serve as fair warning. Chances are if at all interested you will LOVE New Mexico, and if with a modicum of common sense you may wonder what all the fuss was about safety. The strong interplay of lightness and darkness is in part what makes so much of it so enchanting.
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Old 07-17-2008, 06:18 PM
 
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jazz lover, thanks for the advice! i used to live in CO a little over 10 years ago, for about 2 1/2 years. i lived in Bailey and stayed a couple months in Lakewood. Bailey was awesome, and while i know it's basically "the foothills".. i think i held my own pretty good! lol no, i looooved it there so much! but i was younger, and now i'm 28 with a (large) family. Denver was okay, quite a bit to do.. but i didn't like it anywhere as much as Bailey/Conifer. i really don't think i'd be able to afford it though!

Idunn, i like your description of NM.. except for the eaten kitties! hmmm... i really oughta figure out how to make it down there during our trip.
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