Moving to CO in Yr what cities? (Denver, Grand Junction: ski resorts, real estate)

[TD Ryan]

I'm a 35y/o single man in the medical field. I'm looking for a few things in a future home.

An area that would interest me most is a city that offers a bunch of extracurricular activities both in doors and out, and a place where the residents are friendly and where it'd be easy to meet new folks. One of the big criteria for me is that the area not only experiences all the annual seasons but gets it's fair share of snow, you see I've never lived in it and rarely seen it.

Professionally I'd like a place that offers a lot of career opportunities ie medical and clinical facilities.

A Physician I work w/ now has told me that he lived in Grand Junction CO, if that's correct he said they get plenty of snow and have wonderful medical facilities, as well as a VA Hospital is that the case?

Please any help would be great so I can structure my Spring 2010 visit in the next few mths to the key areas. Thanks In Advance!

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by TD Ryan

I'm a 35y/o single man in the medical field. I'm looking for a few things in a future home.

An area that would interest me most is a city that offers a bunch of extracurricular activities both in doors and out, and a place where the residents are friendly and where it'd be easy to meet new folks. One of the big criteria for me is that the area not only experiences all the annual seasons but gets it's fair share of snow, you see I've never lived in it and rarely seen it.

Professionally I'd like a place that offers a lot of career opportunities ie medical and clinical facilities.

A Physician I work w/ now has told me that he lived in Grand Junction CO, if that's correct he said they get plenty of snow and have wonderful medical facilities, as well as a VA Hospital is that the case?

Please any help would be great so I can structure my Spring 2010 visit in the next few mths to the key areas. Thanks In Advance!

Grand Junction gets very little snow in a normal year (less than 20 inches for the whole winter). Surrounding mountains, yes, but Grand Junction itself is in the desert, as are most sizable towns in western Colorado. Grand Junction is THE major medical center for the whole western Colorado/eastern Utah region, but it still lacks many medical specialties. Otherwise, for any specialized medical services, you are pretty much looking at the Front Range metro areas.

Also, no place outside of the resort areas in rural Colorado offers abundant "indoor activities"--I assume you mean concerts, nightlife, etc. For that, you are also looking at the metro blobs of the Front Range.

If you want a place with extensive first-rate medical facilities, some culture, a lot of winter snow, and "out the back door" access to spectacular mountain country, Salt Lake City, Utah is your best bet in the Rocky Mountain region other than Denver. Just be aware that Salt Lake City can have some of the worst air quality in the United States in wintertime. This year has been especially brutal there for that, but the air inversions in Grand Junction this year has caused some pretty awful air quality there, too. Air quality issues notwithstanding, if I had to choose between Denver and Salt Lake, I would choose Salt Lake.

[CAVA1990]

Take a look at Durango. Reasonable amount of snow, near some of most beautiful mountains in North America. Live music just about every night. A new regional medical center (Mercy) opened there in 2006. It's not a big city though with 16,000 residents. Median age is 5 years younger than the entire state. It gets a lot of visitors.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Durango-Colorado.html

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Take a look at Durango. Reasonable amount of snow, near some of most beautiful mountains in North America. Live music just about every night. A new regional medical center (Mercy) opened there in 2006. It's not a big city though with 16,000 residents. Median age is 5 years younger than the entire state. It gets a lot of visitors.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Durango-Colorado.html

It sounds to me like the OP is looking for something bigger than a county medical center/hospital in which to work. And, unless he is a doctor, Durango can be a pretty expensive place to live--even for someone in the medical profession.

[TD Ryan]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Grand Junction gets very little snow in a normal year (less than 20 inches for the whole winter). Surrounding mountains, yes, but Grand Junction itself is in the desert, as are most sizable towns in western Colorado. Grand Junction is THE major medical center for the whole western Colorado/eastern Utah region, but it still lacks many medical specialties. Otherwise, for any specialized medical services, you are pretty much looking at the Front Range metro areas.

Also, no place outside of the resort areas in rural Colorado offers abundant "indoor activities"--I assume you mean concerts, nightlife, etc. For that, you are also looking at the metro blobs of the Front Range.

If you want a place with extensive first-rate medical facilities, some culture, a lot of winter snow, and "out the back door" access to spectacular mountain country, Salt Lake City, Utah is your best bet in the Rocky Mountain region other than Denver. Just be aware that Salt Lake City can have some of the worst air quality in the United States in wintertime. This year has been especially brutal there for that, but the air inversions in Grand Junction this year has caused some pretty awful air quality there, too. Air quality issues notwithstanding, if I had to choose between Denver and Salt Lake, I would choose Salt Lake.

Why Salt Lake over Denver? If what ur sayin is true the air is so bad?

[TD Ryan]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

It sounds to me like the OP is looking for something bigger than a county medical center/hospital in which to work. And, unless he is a doctor, Durango can be a pretty expensive place to live--even for someone in the medical profession.

I currently live in a town in the NC Mtns Asheville it's beautiful here, but it gets little to no snow. Heck even ski resorts in the NC Mtns that are used to getting snow haven't been gettin snow for over 10yrs the locals say.

The area Im currently at while nice is still a little to small. Very little to do even w/ a College in town it doesn't have the typical indoor and outdoor type of boom I'd like.

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by TD Ryan

Why Salt Lake over Denver? If what ur sayin is true the air is so bad?

Both places can suffer from air inversion. Cold air sinks, warm air rises. Sometimes they can get a warm layer above and a cold air below which keeps the stagnant air down low.

There are many times over the years I was coming through Idaho Springs on I-70 in the winter, 42F and clear skies. Immediately climbing up Floyd Hill into the foothills you'd enter an icy fog and by the time you got down to Denver it would be hazy, foggy and 25F.

The inversion effect can also be felt in the Rockies in towns like Steamboat Springs or Eagle, CO. The coldest part of the day is dawn. The sun comes up behind the mountains, warms the air up above, driving the cold air downwards. I've seen the temp in Steamboat go from -5 at 6AM to -25 at 730AM. Only after the sun is up completely does the temps start to moderate as the two layers of air mix.

Those same cold and warm air layers and the mixing there of cause a lot of the harsh winds in Colorado as well.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

For that, you are also looking at the metro blobs of the Front Range.

If you want a place with extensive first-rate medical facilities, some culture, a lot of winter snow, and "out the back door" access to spectacular mountain country, Salt Lake City, Utah is your best bet in the Rocky Mountain region other than Denver. Just be aware that Salt Lake City can have some of the worst air quality in the United States in wintertime. This year has been especially brutal there for that, but the air inversions in Grand Junction this year has caused some pretty awful air quality there, too. Air quality issues notwithstanding, if I had to choose between Denver and Salt Lake, I would choose Salt Lake.

I'm just checking here, but isn't Salt Lake City a "metro blob" too?

If anything, SLC is waaay more guilty of the ills of increased blobbiness (on a per capita basis) than any of the Front Range cities.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

I'm just checking here, but isn't Salt Lake City a "metro blob" too?

If anything, SLC is waaay more guilty of the ills of increased blobbiness (on a per capita basis) than any of the Front Range cities.

I'm not a fan of big suburbanized metro areas anywhere, but SLC is not as large as Denver by quite a ways, is doing more to build a workable mass transit system, is physically closer to a lot of absolutely spectacular mountain country, is located in a state that is way more fiscally responsible with better managed government than Colorado, and has a far more balanced tax structure. Also, unlike most of metropolitan Colorado, the Wasatch Front actually does have some basic industry left--so the economy is less dependent on real estate speculation and construction than is the Front Range's economy. As far as the medical industry goes, Salt Lake City's is every bit as robust as the Front Range's--which, considering the lower population of the Wasatch Front compared to the Front Range, says a lot.

For several years, I had to travel fairly often to Salt Lake City on business, then for several years, I had to travel to Denver a lot on business. I did, and still do much prefer to go to Salt Lake as opposed to the Front Range.

Finally, partly because of its location and economic mix, and partly because of the still-dominant Mormon culture, I think the Wasatch Front may fare better than the Front Range in the coming economic/social/energy debacle that we are making for ourselves in this country. There is still a cultural cohesiveness in Utah that is absent in Colorado--though that Utah culture may become less than friendly to "gentiles"--especially transplanted ones--when things start getting really rough.

It's just too bad that the Wasatch Front has such crappy air quality, but is has had that problem for way over a century. Take a look at some SLC photos from a hundred years ago, when everybody heated with coal.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Finally, partly because of its location and economic mix, and partly because of the still-dominant Mormon culture, I think the Wasatch Front may fare better than the Front Range in the coming economic/social/energy debacle that we are making for ourselves in this country. There is still a cultural cohesiveness in Utah that is absent in Colorado--though that Utah culture may become less than friendly to "gentiles"--especially transplanted ones--when things start getting really rough..

Whatever you do, don't even think of moving to SLC. Being from NC you'd hate it. The foods bad and it's still heavily dominated by Mormon culture. One of the most depressing places I can think of ever moving to in the West. My sister lived in Provo and I used to visit often.