From California To Colorado. Why??? (Denver, Colorado Springs: to rent, daycare, student loan)

[Katiana]

I also left off Michigan at 10 mil. So that makes the midwest ~ 63 mil, about 1 3/4 the pop. of California. I think our weather is more appealing to the midwesterners than to the Californians.

[nann123]

I know alot about this topic I've done it. I know Ca and have lived it for over 35 years and moved to Co about 3 years ago. I am adjusting to it. I lived in Redondo Bch all my life and worked in Palos Verdes to Beverly Hills to San Pedro everything in Between. Also lived in Northern Ca. I moved to a small town outside of Franktown Co its a small town. Dont get me wrong I liked CA going to the beach and I was used to it. Sunny but wind with boring as usual 76 degrees all the time unless its summer and then it gets into the 90s alot but the temp over all mild there. It gets cold here and I mean COLD in CO ... Yes when the sun comes out it feels warm in the sun even if theres 3 ft of snow on the ground if you could walk thru it!. It is amazingly beautiful here but the beach in Redondo was and is nice and I visit every year and I do miss the beach. I agree with the housing thing houses are huge here for alot less in taxes!! CA gas bills are small . Gas bills in winter a killer over 400 in Co!! for this big house! 4000 sq ft!!! the towns of Castlerock, Lone Tree and Parker are great communities and beautiful. I dont know much about northern Co I know south and west of Denver including the ski communities. I love it here and the air quality its not good that is the truth. I have noticed it. Ca is bad but I notice it more here. I think the lack of going outside during blizzards also causes vit D def because you can only want to be out for 5 minutes or so in the cold regardless of the sun the wind is the killer the wind chill can be too much regardless of the sun!. I love the open space here though and schools, stores are the same just as nice and as good and have as much if not more as Ca and the malls shops ect are the same! people are people no snottier here or more there. A four wheel drive is important and driving here is dangerous in winter sliding off the road is common thats what I think is the worst thing!. On the other hand my car hasnt been stolen.. as I have witnessed at the age of 6 in a good neighborhood in Torrance at 3 in the morning in LA. I dont pay for water I have a well .Price for insurance is same... thats my take...but after living here for 3 years Im not ready to pack it in however I will visit Redondo every year and enjoy the beach for 2 weeks. lightning can be bad in summer with the storms cloud to ground bad with higher altitude. Tornados are a concern they do happen here and we get warnings on the weather radio and have went to the basement at times. nutshell love the openness and house beauty schools taxes shopping. Dont care for the ice/snow for 5 mos out of the year and the real real cold, dangerous driving cond or lightning or tornado warnings, altitude lack of sunshine as I was told I for the first time had a lack of vit D. Altitude ages you its a fact really winds you.. cant do all I used to do and getting adjusted still I think. Have to drink more water its dry here but I run my cooler that is adding humidity to the house it is good then. Cant plant outdoors the plants I like or have a garden out of pots because it doesnt work did that to be dissappointed nothing grew but weeds and wild flowers.... I eventually will have to go back to CA because of the dangerous driving as that is the worst issue I have slid off the road into the intersection at 5 miles an hour it is weird ice can be terrible brand new tires and all.. I do love Co its just diffrent thats all and you have to get used to it and if you can get used to it after living by the beach for 35 years then its a great place havent crossed that finish line yet. Watching it snow its just so beautiful if you dont get killed driving.. thats my only real worry. Its more of a worry than getting in an accident in LA because I have thought 10 miles per hour was slow enough to find out it was really really to fast and almost got nailed by a car going 45 on the highway off my street I slid right into the highway when I tryed to stop whay ahead of time!!!! slid into the hwy at 1 mile an hour couldnt stop it. Also turned the corner on my street slid out to almost slide into my neighbors tree in his yard missed it by a ft! Ive had close calls in LA not my fault but not like this and I have seen multible deaths due to road cond here and they werent a pretty sightt and in LA Ive seen some but this by far is much more deadly I wont go into details.
thanks for listening!

[Ticky909]

I've been here my whole life so i'll give you my overview of Colorado.
At first I didn't think it was anything special, but as time went on and my values developed i realized Colorado and developed a pride in it.
If you look at a map, probably 80% or more of the population is situated along the 'nuclear highway' or I-25. which runs from south to north to the east of the mountains. The rest of the state is sparse, with a few exceptions. You have the mountains, which influence everything else in the state, in terms of weather and appeal, as well as alot of the country(the colorado river, other river systems, climate, etc).
It

[Charles]

Originally Posted by nann123

I know alot about this topic I've done it. I know Ca and have lived it for over 35 years and moved to Co about 3 years ago. I am adjusting to it. I lived in Redondo Bch all my life and worked in Palos Verdes to Beverly Hills to San Pedro everything in Between. Also lived in Northern Ca. I moved to a small town outside of Franktown Co its a small town. Dont get me wrong I liked CA going to the beach and I was used to it. Sunny but wind with boring as usual 76 degrees all the time unless its summer and then it gets into the 90s alot but the temp over all mild there. It gets cold here and I mean COLD in CO ... Yes when the sun comes out it feels warm in the sun even if theres 3 ft of snow on the ground if you could walk thru it!. It is amazingly beautiful here but the beach in Redondo was and is nice and I visit every year and I do miss the beach. I agree with the housing thing houses are huge here for alot less in taxes!! CA gas bills are small . Gas bills in winter a killer over 400 in Co!! for this big house! 4000 sq ft!!! the towns of Castlerock, Lone Tree and Parker are great communities and beautiful. I dont know much about northern Co I know south and west of Denver including the ski communities. I love it here and the air quality its not good that is the truth. I have noticed it. Ca is bad but I notice it more here. I think the lack of going outside during blizzards also causes vit D def because you can only want to be out for 5 minutes or so in the cold regardless of the sun the wind is the killer the wind chill can be too much regardless of the sun!. I love the open space here though and schools, stores are the same just as nice and as good and have as much if not more as Ca and the malls shops ect are the same! people are people no snottier here or more there. A four wheel drive is important and driving here is dangerous in winter sliding off the road is common thats what I think is the worst thing!. On the other hand my car hasnt been stolen.. as I have witnessed at the age of 6 in a good neighborhood in Torrance at 3 in the morning in LA. I dont pay for water I have a well .Price for insurance is same... thats my take...but after living here for 3 years Im not ready to pack it in however I will visit Redondo every year and enjoy the beach for 2 weeks. lightning can be bad in summer with the storms cloud to ground bad with higher altitude. Tornados are a concern they do happen here and we get warnings on the weather radio and have went to the basement at times. nutshell love the openness and house beauty schools taxes shopping. Dont care for the ice/snow for 5 mos out of the year and the real real cold, dangerous driving cond or lightning or tornado warnings, altitude lack of sunshine as I was told I for the first time had a lack of vit D. Altitude ages you its a fact really winds you.. cant do all I used to do and getting adjusted still I think. Have to drink more water its dry here but I run my cooler that is adding humidity to the house it is good then. Cant plant outdoors the plants I like or have a garden out of pots because it doesnt work did that to be dissappointed nothing grew but weeds and wild flowers.... I eventually will have to go back to CA because of the dangerous driving as that is the worst issue I have slid off the road into the intersection at 5 miles an hour it is weird ice can be terrible brand new tires and all.. I do love Co its just diffrent thats all and you have to get used to it and if you can get used to it after living by the beach for 35 years then its a great place havent crossed that finish line yet. Watching it snow its just so beautiful if you dont get killed driving.. thats my only real worry. Its more of a worry than getting in an accident in LA because I have thought 10 miles per hour was slow enough to find out it was really really to fast and almost got nailed by a car going 45 on the highway off my street I slid right into the highway when I tryed to stop whay ahead of time!!!! slid into the hwy at 1 mile an hour couldnt stop it. Also turned the corner on my street slid out to almost slide into my neighbors tree in his yard missed it by a ft! Ive had close calls in LA not my fault but not like this and I have seen multible deaths due to road cond here and they werent a pretty sightt and in LA Ive seen some but this by far is much more deadly I wont go into details.
thanks for listening!

My eyeballs are still throbbing after reading this....

But most of what was written here sounds about right. The scenery is for the most part beautiful winter and summer, but for a Californian, the icy roads are something to get used to.

If you don't have little kids, the weather isn't that limiting most of the time. It's amazing how many times you can be in shorts outside doing active things in winter. Even if it is 45 degrees, as long as it is sunny and not windy, a person can enjoy outdoor activities. I've been doing it for two years. This past spring seems to be worse for wind than the last spring.

[Mike78613]

Originally Posted by Charles

. The scenery is for the most part beautiful winter and summer, but for a Californian, the icy roads are something to get used to..

No kidding. This was the last California get-2-gether in CO

Yahoo! Video Detail for Snow in Colorado

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Mike78613

No kidding. This was the last California get-2-gether in CO

Yahoo! Video Detail for Snow in Colorado

Something about pictures and 1000 words.....

[SheridanL]

It makes life interesting, doesn't it?????

Drive careful... and gear down and, do NOT slam on your brakes!!PULEASE!! Leave for your destination 5 minutes early and, you'll be fine ( if you know how to drive c.a.r.e.f.u.l.l.y).

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by SheridanL

It makes life interesting, doesn't it?????

Drive careful... and gear down and, do NOT slam on your brakes!!PULEASE!! Leave for your destination 5 minutes early and, you'll be fine ( if you know how to drive c.a.r.e.f.u.l.l.y).

As a native Californian, the biggest thing I learned when driving in Denver last February is to THINK, then, BRAKE, then TURN.

[Ticky909]

i actually love winter. Both driving in it , and living in it in general. Only basic tips i could give are. Imagine a string tied to your steering wheel, brake, and gas, the more you use one, the less you can use the others, this is amplified in winter, if you can, only do one at a time. use your throttle to aid your steering as well. 4wd only helps in acceleration, it has no effect on steering or breaking, so one big problem is people getting overconfident because of it. THe only times i've ever used 4wd was to avoid having to dig myself out and getting all muddy. One great story i have was during the last big blizzard we had, when there was roughly 3 feet or more on the ground, it was garbage day, the truck was wheeling out and slid into a ditch, not even a ditch, just the sidewalk drainage lane, and couldn't get out, 2 other city trucks came and a crew had to dig the thing out. just be smooth overall, and pay attention to other people

[To stay or leave CA]

A little background--I am married with two children, my husband works full-time, myself part-time. Up until 9 months ago, I was a SAHM, but with the changing of times and the hard to live in economy, we were put in a position where we realized an extra paycheck would help out greatly. We currently live in the Inland Empire of California (not by choice). We owned (past tense) a home that we bought at the height of the housing market, which meant we paid way to much for it. Let's just say we no longer own a home at this time. We rented in the area for what we thought was affordable until a series of events happened. 1) My husband's income rapidly decreased and 2) Our landlord raised the rent. So we moved into another rental about 4 months ago and guess what, our landlord has decided to sell so we are once again faced with moving.

Up to speed-- It has been fresh in our minds that in our situation, moving out of state might be beneficial to our peace of mind. We did move to WA state about 6 years ago and came back so we have tried this moving thing in the past. What brought us back to CA was who knows. We thought we missed certain things, but now that we have been back about 4 years, we are wondering why the heck we did. We thought about states we would love to move to and since we already tried WA, Utah and Colorado seemed like great places. We realized we are not Pacific Northwest people with the rain and gloom, we don't mind winter but definitely need sunshine. Moving to the east is not an option because I do not want to be that far away from family. If I can't drive it in a day or so, I don't want to do it. So after much online research we narrowed in on CO being a great choice. Hubby and I took 4 days without the kids and headed to Denver a few months back. We literally spent 4 days driving, hitting every city on the map we wanted to see first hand to get a feel for if this is what we would want. We went to Fort Collins, we hit Boulder, Estes Park, Colorado Springs, Manatu Springs, Canon City and everything in between. What we fell in love with was Castle Rock. Being from California, I loved the somewhat small town feel but easy access to all the things I love about being near a big city. We hiked and explored. Wow, is all I can say. We really pictured ourselves living there with our kids and becoming one with nature. So that has been a few months now and when we came back we were gung ho on moving but...I just don't know now. There are so many irritating things about California, really irritating things. Especially where I live. It is too hot in the summer, dry hot. We have horrible winds that sweep our way. I work all over and spend so much time on the freeway it's ridicoulous. I don't enjoy living where we live but feel stuck because out of all of So Cal it is where we can afford to rent. Now that we are faced with moving again, I am looking for rentals and realized we are essentially screwed to move out of this area. Nothing else is affordable and when I think of owning a home again one day, I can't do it where I would want to, so once again we will be stuck again in the armpit of So Cal. I want to raise my kids where life is a little less in the fast lane and nature surrounds them everywhere they turn. Here you have to drive those nasty freeways to get to any of those places. I know there is no perfect place to live, but Colorado seems as close to it as I can get. There are so many pros and cons to staying or going, but more and more I feel like getting out of Cali may be the only choice. There is no ocean pulling me here and I grew up near it. I just want my family to be less stressed and eventually build up to have the American dream. We want to own a home and surround ourselves with beauty and richness in life. I want my children to have the best education possible and equal opportunity as well. When I see happiness, I picture a house with green grass and my kids running around while my husband and I sit on the porch, but I can't envision this living in CA. My kids are 8 and 5 and I really feel this is make or break time. If we do it, we need to do it now before they get to much older. I don't want them to keep moving around while we try to satisfy what our needs are. Is Colorado the place for me?