Do you have a desire to personally map your city? (Denver: new home, neighborhoods)

[murof]

What I mean by that is, do you have a desire to travel every road and street, explore every neighborhood?I want to figure out for myself in micro detail how environments change as I head East or West,North or South along a particular boulevard, explore the boundaries of neighborhoods, and so on and so on. My girlfriend doesn't share my passion for this, and thinks I am crazy.I guess I have a need to make sense of where I live, organize it in my mind. Is this odd?I cruise on my motorcycle and do this, it gives me a sense of doing something constructiveinstead of just cruising for the sake of cruising. Please, no GREENIE comments in regard to cruising.

[vegaspilgrim]

Yes, I am a total map/geography geek. Exploring runs in my blood. If I told you some of the places I've been exploring "just for fun" it would make you flip. I have also been guilty of drawing maps from memory for fun (or bored). Doesn't matter where-- Denver, Phoenix, LA, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, anywhere I go, I'm an exploring machine, snapping a picture of a strip mall near you!

Maybe I should be a truck driver...

[mczabe]

LOVE it! There is a reason both my kids nap best in the car. They sleep for a couple hours while I grab a cup of to-go coffee, turn up the radio and drive every which way "getting a feel" for my new home. And my husband knows the way to my heart is to suggest we go for a drive to explore some new area on the weekend.

[murof]

right on! thanks.

[zenkonami]

I often find myself taking alternate routes to get to or from somewhere if I'm not pressed for time, just to find out what's around that corner / over that hill / across that street. It's amazing how many details you can uncover about a place just by experiencing it first hand.

Doesn't stop me from experiencing it on Google Maps in the meantime, though <g>

[DenverAztec]

I stare at maps for hours when I am traveling to a new city. I have been down most every road in Denver and love all the new development. We are one of the few places in the country still approving highrise consctruction projects in their downtown, Bell Tower was the last. It is almost like a "need to know" what is around me and what is changing. When I get my new motorcycle this Spring, I will be doing much of what you are doing, cruising!

[katysalsa]

YES! My husband and I do this all the time. We always tend to gravitate towards the shady areas for some reason. You find so many interesting places. For instance, there's a UPS store in like N. Park Hill in a very industrial area, we found this place called Charlotte's web, a dive bar. Would have never found it if we had not explored. Also, we were driving through a rough part of town then all the sudden we found this glass blowing factory with classes! Now we're obsessed with taking glass blowing classes. Who knew?

[livecontent]

I always want to see what is down every street and I want to see every neighborhood.

When I was new in Denver, I had a job selling to restaurants. Lunch was not the time to call on a restaurant because they were busy. So, I decided that I would take my lunch hour and explore all the parks in the city. I would make my lunch or buy something at a store instead of going to a restaurant, I would eat in a park. I got pretty tired of seeing restaurants and needed to get away. So with a map of the city, I had a great time of exploring all the parks.

Also, I used to work in Inverness Park and I lived in Arvada. That was a big trip diagonally across the metro area. I also hated driving on highway so I would plan to take different routes through Denver and the Suburbs to get to see different neighborhoods. I did that with all the different jobs that I had and I saw many great places.

At one time I was a big bicyclist and took different tours of all the trails in the area. Now, I am retired now and I have much more time, but unfortunately have a severe mobility disorder so I cannot move as well, but the online maps are a great help for a virtual tour of the area. Also, I have some trouble driving at times. However, I get to use all the buses and trains for free and when I feel better, I take different buses and trains, just to see the sites and know the city.

These experiences have given me a good understanding of Metropolitan Denver. I think I know it better than many "natives" that I met who never leave the highway. Having lived and worked in bad areas of eastern cities, I am not hesitant to go to less prosperous neighborhoods and I have been able to enjoy the different diverse groups and culture of Denver. This area has many great areas to explore. Many people are missing much, when they allow their narrow impressions of differences in people and neighborhoods to get in the way of living content.

Livecontent

[WolfBoy914]

That's funny. I too have an obsession of researching everything about a city I am moving to. I can spend hours on Google Maps and Wikimapia.org just looking at everything. It usually gives me a really good feel for an area for I go and do some boots on the ground research.