Moving from CA. Can't decide between Utah or Colorado! HELP!! (Denver: neighborhoods, place to live)

[micsgirly13]

I am moving from my crazy life in CA, but i can't decide to move to Utah or Colorado.I have never been to either state, nor do i know alot about them besides the stuff i get from google searching them. I need some personal opinions. I have no idea what cities are nice and what cities to stay clear from. I feel like i need a change in my life. i want to experience the seasons (specially the snow ) but also want the heat of summer. i want the beautiful views, the hiking, the biking, nice neighborhoods. i don't want the crazy population as CA but also want to be near things like malls and grocery stores. I kinda just want the relaxing environment where i can walk outside and just take a breath of fresh air. . . hahaha i guess i want it all. . .is there such a place? please help. any advice or comments would be wonderful!

[jazzlover]

Well, if you like sprawled metropolitan s***holes like those in California, worry not, we're building them as fast as we can in both Colorado and Utah, with the help of massive influxes of people saying they are trying to escape just that. Relaxing environment without crazy population? Traffic jams, gangs, etc.--don't think so. They're here. Air quality? Not as bad as California, but both Denver and Salt Lake regularly violate air quality standards--Denver more in the summer with ozone pollution, Salt Lake with just plain nasty smog in wintertime. You will get snow in both Denver or Salt Lake--some years too much, some years not near enough. Hot in the summer? Some years quite so, some years not. 70 degrees in winter--once in awhile. 30 degrees in summer--once in awhile. The climate is not predictable and the weather is not benign. Hail? Some years. Baseball-size big enough fer ya? Denver's gotten that every few years or so. Beautiful mountains? Yes. Pay through the nose to live in them, though. Sit in traffic jams to get there and back during summer weekends and ski season weekends. No, the Chamber of Commerce won't tell you this stuff. People on this forum will gloss over it. Oh, these days, a lot of dying trees in the mountains--especially in northern Colorado mountains. Lots. Like over a million acres of 'em. Yes, they'll eventually burn.

Can it be a nice place to live? Yes, maybe. But it is no utopia. A lot of people move here and find that out the hard way.

[sterlinggirl]

Unless you're moving with a LOT of money, your best bet is to find the job first and look at the location second.

There's great areas in both states, and terrible areas in both states. Colorado has more of a problem with left wing liberals taking away individuals rights, while Utah has more of a problem with right wing religious nepotism. Employers in both places tend to discriminate against outsiders to hire the locals, and this is especially true in the smaller towns.

Both places have generally nice climates and I can't blame you for wanting to escape California, but the grass isn't always greener on this side of the fence.

[80skeys]

My favorite place in Utah is Provo. It's an extremely safe, clean community located next to some huge, beautiful mountains. I think it's got like 200,000 people so it's a decent sized town. It's also an hour away from Salt Lake city, so if you need stuff from a bigger city you might be able to go there.

In Colorado, my favorite places are Denver and Colorado Springs. They both have got some great neighborhoods for walking around and some great parks for hanging out. And they're located right next to the Rocky mountains.

I'll think you'll be happy with any of those places.

[treedonkey]

I suggest Utah.