A better place (Grand Junction, Durango, Montrose: camping, place to live, suburbs)

[st1]

Hello all,

I am currently in search of a better place to live/work than where I currently reside. I live near Dallas TX now, and have always wanted to live in CO. I have always loved the outdoors, hiking, camping, fishing, skiing, etc, etc, and would love to live within a few hours of that kind of year-round recreation.

I have been in TX for about 2 years and would like to leave in the next year. (I would actually like to leave today, but I can hold on for a little while...) As an engineer, I suppose I would have the best chance at finding work in the front range area. One of the main reasons that I want to leave TX is the population. I grew up in a rural area of OK and really like small towns and low population densities. I currently live about 20 miles from the edge of the suburbs. That is acceptable for my home, but to get away from the Dallas crowds seems to require a 2 hour drive. How do the front range cities compare to the Dallas area in population density and sprawl? Could I live ~20 miles outside of the city and not feel crowded?

I would really prefer to live west of the front range. I visited the Durango and Silverton/Ouray/Telluride areas last summer and loved it. I would take a considerable pay cut to live in that area, but would like to keep working as an engineer. Should I be able to find that sort of work in one of the western towns? Grand Junction, Montrose, Durango? How is the population/sprawl around Grand Junction?

Thanks in advance for any tips or advice.

[I_LUVNM]

Originally Posted by st1

Hello all,

I am currently in search of a better place to live/work than where I currently reside. I live near Dallas TX now, and have always wanted to live in CO. I have always loved the outdoors, hiking, camping, fishing, skiing, etc, etc, and would love to live within a few hours of that kind of year-round recreation.

I have been in TX for about 2 years and would like to leave in the next year. (I would actually like to leave today, but I can hold on for a little while...) As an engineer, I suppose I would have the best chance at finding work in the front range area. One of the main reasons that I want to leave TX is the population. I grew up in a rural area of OK and really like small towns and low population densities. I currently live about 20 miles from the edge of the suburbs. That is acceptable for my home, but to get away from the Dallas crowds seems to require a 2 hour drive. How do the front range cities compare to the Dallas area in population density and sprawl? Could I live ~20 miles outside of the city and not feel crowded?

I would really prefer to live west of the front range. I visited the Durango and Silverton/Ouray/Telluride areas last summer and loved it. I would take a considerable pay cut to live in that area, but would like to keep working as an engineer. Should I be able to find that sort of work in one of the western towns? Grand Junction, Montrose, Durango? How is the population/sprawl around Grand Junction?

Thanks in advance for any tips or advice.

Ouray and Silverton are very small and so I would pretty much rule those out for engineer jobs and the winters are harsh up in Silverton, Ouray gets lots of snow but not as much as Silverton. Durango has a four season climate with lots of sunny days. It is really growing and I have seen engineer jobs in the paper before so I think you could probably get on there and for sure Farmington, New Mexico needs and has engineers. Quite a few work in Farmington but live in Durango. It is an hour away. Farmington is the third largest city in New Mexico, second if you include the Navajo Nation. Grand Junction, I am not sure, dont know the area too well. It is somewhat deserty like Farmington.