Grand Junction area?

[80skeys]

If you think Austin is a traffic choked metropolis, you've never been on the New Jersey turnpike or the D.C. beltway.

Originally Posted by doctorjef

jazzlover, I would say that GJ was a completely charming small inter-mountain west city 27 years ago when I last lived there (1980-82). However, the city was also in an economic downturn during most of that time, which I think continued for some years afterward. For a small city there were a number of good restaurants, some of which unfortunately closed during my time there, due to the poor economy. The older residential areas in GJ were wonderful and all negotiable on bike or by foot. Even then, however, there was excessive construction of tacky condos and houses on the outskirts. Shopping for the most part was very limited back then, as well. You really come across as quite bitter about the way GJ has developed over the years. In one sense I can sympathise, in that I saw Austin, TX go from a charming medium-smallish Hill Country city with almost no development of the immediately surrounding Hill Country land to a traffic-choked "metropolis" whose surrounding hills were covered, California-style, with houses leaning off the hillsides, cluttering up all of what had been pristine rugged terrain. And perhaps like GJ the Austin city infrastructure just wasn't ever designed for the way the city and its traffic have developed. Much of the old charm and quirkiness have long since gone from Austin, although overall the city offers an excellent quality of life. I would hope that in truth the same thing could be said for Grand Junction today -- a good quality of life overall that is much better than so many other places.

[80skeys]

I disagree with the "quite a few amenities." GJ is still in the infancy stage as far as being a "city."
i agree with the mostly friendly people.
I agree with the crazy housing prices.
I disagree with the "skyrocketing crime." Let's get real people.
I somewhat disagree with the "long winters." I mean, it's not that bad.
I agree about the hassle of plane flights.

Originally Posted by jimmy914

I lived in Grand Junction before moving to Texas 3 years ago. Here's my take on the pro's and con's if you're considering moving there.

Pro's:
Beautiful scenery/tons of outdoor activities (hiking, biking, rafting, hunting, fishing, etc.)
Quite a few amenities given it's size, if you're used to living in a big city (like me), lots of the chain stores and restaurants you might be used to.
For the most part, great weather, tons of sunshine, virtually never rains.
Mostly very friendly people.
Far from everything (also a con).

Con's:
Housing has gotten insane, almost doubling after I moved.
Skyrocketing crime at the time I moved, with meth-heads taking over.
Poor quality healthcare that is so overpriced, if you don't have excellent insurance, it will bankrupt you.
Colorado schools are atrocious academically, if you're coming from almost anywhere else.
Winter can be longer and colder than what the locals will lead you to believe.
Flights in and out are limited and can be a hassle.

That's about all I can think of for now. There were some very frustrating things about that place, but I still loved living there.

[jimmy914]

Originally Posted by 80skeys

I disagree with the "quite a few amenities." GJ is still in the infancy stage as far as being a "city."
i agree with the mostly friendly people.
I agree with the crazy housing prices.
I disagree with the "skyrocketing crime." Let's get real people.
I somewhat disagree with the "long winters." I mean, it's not that bad.
I agree about the hassle of plane flights.

I don't really consider GJ a "city". I moved there from a city of 6 million, so to me, it was a small town, which was what I wanted. I was just happy that it had a mall etc., at least a small airport with commercial flights. Because of it's isolation, and kind of being a regional hub, GJ has more than a typical town of 50,000 would, I think.
What I meant about the crime is that, in the few years I lived there, I went from thinking the place was completely crime-free to absolutely being terrorized by crime. A friend of mine who was a Mesa County sheriff's department detective verified my perceptions on this. At first I thought it was just because of where I lived.... although I'm sure that was part of it.
As far as the winters- when I moved there in the summer, all the locals told me "it never snows", "it never gets cold", "it's always sunny during the winter". The first winter I was there it snowed before Thanksgiving and stayed white for 5 months. The lake behind my condo was frozen for 5 months. The entire month of January it didn't get up to 32 degrees, and the sun didn't come out for WEEKS on end. The other winters only got slightly better. I talked to numerous people who had retired there from other parts of CO, and felt duped by the locals as to the weather.

[jimmy914]

Let me expand on the winters by saying, if you're from the upper midwest, or even the northeast, winter in GJ is a non issue. But an ever-increasing percentage of the US population (myself included) resides in regions with little, or even no winter at all. To me, "no snow" meant "no snow". I was happy to find there WAS snow.... I was a little ticked off to move to Colorado only to be told it never snowed.
I didn't find the winters unbearable at all... just wanted to post that on here, in case people from warmer climates are being boondoggled about the winter in GJ.

[CosmicWizard]

During the 3 winters I've lived in GJ, there has consistently been about a month ( mid Dec to mid Jan ) of what seems like hard core winter to me. It's colder than I prefer, and it's been colder than what I expected based on looking at temperature records prior to moving here. Even though there is actully only a few inches of snow accumulation it stays on the ground ( especially in the shady spots ) for long periods of time during the cold spells. Beyond that, winter in GJ is really rather mild compared to most of Colorado. Wether it seems severe or mild to a newcomer to the area depends on where the newcomer has spent the previous winters. Coming from Hawaii, it'll seem pretty darn severe. Coming from Vermont, it'll seem like a piece of cake.

[jimmy914]

When I first moved to GJ, from Houston where it usually doesn't even freeze, a bicycle cop downtown told me "oh, I came here from Dallas, and winter is worse in Dallas than here". That's the type of absolutely stupid weather info I was fed.... all the way up until the first snow.

[CosmicWizard]

That's one reason I got my weather data from wunderground.com. But even so, long term averages are simply numbers that smooth out the variances above and below the average. Just so happens that the past three winters dipped below the long term average.

The mean temperature for Dec 2006 was .13 degrees BELOW the long term average
The mean temperature for Jan 2007 was 3.5 degrees BELOW the long term average

The mean temperature for Dec 2007 was 3.37 degrees BELOW the long term average
The mean temperature for Jan 2008 was 4.65 degrees BELOW the long term average

The mean temperature for Dec 2008 was 1.89 degrees BELOW the long term average
The mean temperature for Jan 2009 was 1.44 degrees BELOW the long term average

[jimmy914]

From what I understand, at the time I moved to GJ they had been in this period of about 15 years of warmer than average winters. Then, starting with my first winter there, they got much colder, with more snow, which was actually closer to the long term average. But, during the "mild" years, many retirees had moved to town thinking a mild sunny winter was the norm. The old, old, residents in GJ claim that winters were more brutal in the "good old days". Numerous people that were there in the 30's in 40's told me that 3 or 4 feet of snow on the ground was not unheard of then. And my auto mechanic told me that until the 60's he recommended all his customers have snow tires in GJ. Hard to believe.