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We're planning a move from Raleigh (Cary) to Denver next summer. We want to be closer to the better ski slopes, and we both HATE the heat/humidity of the SE. We both grew up in FL and are ready for a change.
Well, we've been here for a year. It's just as hot, although we're 15-20 degrees above average right now.
Do you like living there? Are you missing NC? Please, do share.
We moved from Cary (Raleigh) in NC and LOVED it there. But, we wanted to be close to world class ski resorts, a lot more snow, and milder temps compared to NC. We were driving at least 4 hours each way going to the ski resorts in NC. Mountain biking would be pretty similar too. CO is great in that respect because there's so much to do outside.
But there are some things we don't like here. It is crowded here, TONS of people. Everything seems older, dirtier here in many spots. Lots of industry. It's a HUGE city though, so that should be expected. Seems like people have no pride in ownership here with their houses and vehicles. Even brand new houses less than a year old have weeds growing up through their driveways. It seems like no one parks in their driveways or in their garages here, all cars are parked in the street which makes things look yet more crowded and dumpy/trashy for lack of a better word. Back in NC and FL there were city ordinances only allowing parking cars in the driveway or garage, not in the street. Driveways have one function: to park cars in them. I just don't get it. I started another thread about this and it seems to be a cultural norm here to park in the street instead of the driveway or garage. Cars in the street are a huge obstruction and makes seeing if cars are coming difficult.
People all drive like selfish maniacs here. Stop signs and red lights mean nothing , I've almost been broadsided several times now from people running red lights or stop signs. One thing that irritates the crap out of me is that people will ALWAYS cut you off. You can count on it. For example, if there's two left turning lanes, you'd get into the turning lane you need to be in for the new road. Common sense, right? Not here. People get into the leftmost turning lane and then cut off the cars in the right lane once they're on the road they just turned onto. The attitude here seems to be me me me at the expense of others. It's no wonder there are accidents all the time here. Just yesterday I saw an SUV cross 2 lanes of highway, cutting off two cars, just to make it to the exit and he was still going 65mph when he did it. If people would just get into the lane they needed to be in ahead of time it would curb a lot of accidents and headache. And it would take maybe 5 seconds more too. Such risks for saving only a few seconds off of a commute just seems silly.
There are some nice areas here though, but they're all out of our price range so we have to suffer until we can move there. Looking for houses to buy here wasn't much fun either. Maybe 1 out of 30 houses we've looked at doesn't have a fireplace in it. Fireplaces seem nice in theory, but in practice they're very inefficient. They're also always placed in the center of a room, so it makes a home theater nearly impossible. Kitchens are mostly tiny here too. A lot of the newer houses have much better, usable floor plans, but you'll pay an arm and a leg for it. If we could find a decent 3/2 with a basement and 2car garage near the foothills we'd be happy campers. Back in NC that would cost under 175k for a new house, but here it would be 250k+ for a 10-15+ year old house that probably needs work since the previous owners didn't fix anything or take care of it.
Wow, didn't expect this to be this long. So if we had to judge a place based purely on its outdoor activities, Denver would be a 10. But actually living here is another story.
Came out of long-time lurkdom to reply to this thread as we also moved here from North Carolina - specifically the Western part of the state, but we have lived down east as well.
Colorado is a gorgeous state, but after a few years we have decided that we aren't to keen on the Front Range living. Air quality is terrible for most of the year. While the dry climate seems to be great in theory, it has actually been pretty hard to adjust to it coming from the south. Other than that, I really can't complain about the weather. Yes, it snows and gets cold in the winter. Yes, it is gets hot in the summer. People may refer to 'rain' here, but its purely in an academic sense. What rain we get it laughable compared to the deluges you get in the South. Hail is the real bad-boy out here on the plains and we live in fear of having severe car damage again. Never seem hail like this anywhere in the south. Mostly, I miss green things. We jokingly refer to NC as the 'jungle' now.
The skiing is amazing when compared to the resorts back east, but the traffic on I-70 is so horrid that you normally spend just as much time as you would have driving from the Triangle to the WNC High Country. We spend most of our time in the winter down at Monarch just to avoid the interstate.
Cost of living is really, really high. We both have good jobs and could buy a house in the metro area, but won't do it because we can't justify the cost. I seems like the local real estate value is still under somewhat of a bubble. Lot sizes are teeny tiny and the houses a bit shoddy for what you get.
Bottom line: We are grateful for our time in Colorado, but are saving our money for a home back in NC in a couple of years.
^^ I agree with most of this too coming from NC. My wife has pretty bad asthma and has only been bothered by the smoke recently.
I think we've only gotten stuck in traffic once or twice on I70. The key is to know the side roads to avoid the gridlock on 70. I've been to Monarch and Cooper and really liked cooper. The small ski resorts are nice, and they're still a lot larger than the NC ski hills. If we could afford it we'd move to Jackson, WY in a heartbeat. Maybe Park City too.
We moved from Cary (Raleigh) in NC and LOVED it there. But, we wanted to be close to world class ski resorts, a lot more snow, and milder temps compared to NC. We were driving at least 4 hours each way going to the ski resorts in NC. Mountain biking would be pretty similar too. CO is great in that respect because there's so much to do outside.
But there are some things we don't like here. It is crowded here, TONS of people. Everything seems older, dirtier here in many spots. Lots of industry. It's a HUGE city though, so that should be expected. Seems like people have no pride in ownership here with their houses and vehicles. Even brand new houses less than a year old have weeds growing up through their driveways. It seems like no one parks in their driveways or in their garages here, all cars are parked in the street which makes things look yet more crowded and dumpy/trashy for lack of a better word. Back in NC and FL there were city ordinances only allowing parking cars in the driveway or garage, not in the street. Driveways have one function: to park cars in them. I just don't get it. I started another thread about this and it seems to be a cultural norm here to park in the street instead of the driveway or garage. Cars in the street are a huge obstruction and makes seeing if cars are coming difficult.
People all drive like selfish maniacs here. Stop signs and red lights mean nothing , I've almost been broadsided several times now from people running red lights or stop signs. One thing that irritates the crap out of me is that people will ALWAYS cut you off. You can count on it. For example, if there's two left turning lanes, you'd get into the turning lane you need to be in for the new road. Common sense, right? Not here. People get into the leftmost turning lane and then cut off the cars in the right lane once they're on the road they just turned onto. The attitude here seems to be me me me at the expense of others. It's no wonder there are accidents all the time here. Just yesterday I saw an SUV cross 2 lanes of highway, cutting off two cars, just to make it to the exit and he was still going 65mph when he did it. If people would just get into the lane they needed to be in ahead of time it would curb a lot of accidents and headache. And it would take maybe 5 seconds more too. Such risks for saving only a few seconds off of a commute just seems silly.
There are some nice areas here though, but they're all out of our price range so we have to suffer until we can move there. Looking for houses to buy here wasn't much fun either. Maybe 1 out of 30 houses we've looked at doesn't have a fireplace in it. Fireplaces seem nice in theory, but in practice they're very inefficient. They're also always placed in the center of a room, so it makes a home theater nearly impossible. Kitchens are mostly tiny here too. A lot of the newer houses have much better, usable floor plans, but you'll pay an arm and a leg for it. If we could find a decent 3/2 with a basement and 2car garage near the foothills we'd be happy campers. Back in NC that would cost under 175k for a new house, but here it would be 250k+ for a 10-15+ year old house that probably needs work since the previous owners didn't fix anything or take care of it.
Wow, didn't expect this to be this long. So if we had to judge a place based purely on its outdoor activities, Denver would be a 10. But actually living here is another story.
Are you planning on staying there? I realize you are still adjusting to life in the West, but in your "gut" do you feel it's the place for you? I'm in Arizona and a lot of what you described takes place here as well. I guess I got used to it over the years and don't think twice about it now. Is the pace of life there faster or slower, in your opinion, than in NC?
Are you planning on staying there? I realize you are still adjusting to life in the West, but in your "gut" do you feel it's the place for you? I'm in Arizona and a lot of what you described takes place here as well. I guess I got used to it over the years and don't think twice about it now. Is the pace of life there faster or slower, in your opinion, than in NC?
NC seemed less stressful, like we could relax more. My wife and I are obsessed with snowboarding though so we'll suffer through the downsides to be so close to so many world class ski resorts. We're not religious at all, so SLC is out of the question and that's really the only other semi-big city close to good ski resorts for us.
Bottom line: We are grateful for our time in Colorado, but are saving our money for a home back in NC in a couple of years.
This describes my experience. As an NC native, I moved for my ex-husband's job and we knew it would be temporary. I stayed for a little more than two years, but was never truly happy there. I knew it would never be home for me. I have been back home in NC for several years now and I have never been happier.
I did love the mountains and my job was absolutely wonderful. I took lots of trips to neat places like Rocky Mountain National Park, Ouray, Yellowstone, and Salt Lake. I tried to enjoy everything I could, like it was a vacation. But I missed the green trees, southern food, NC housing prices, and southern hospitality. The drivers were pretty scary there and in general, I didn't find people to be as friendly as I was used to.
I think it was my fault because I wasn't happy to leave the south, so I was seeking "southern-ness" in a place where it doesn't exist. I think anyone leaving the south because they want to escape it would have a much better experience than I did.
I would like to go visit Colorado again on a vacation sometime, especially because I miss Tokyo Joe's!
It is a great place for many people and I respect that, but it just didn't work for me as a place to call home.
I have posted on other threads in anticipation of our upcoming move from NC to CO. Housing costs are a bit of a shock but we were looking forward to our "New Community", and were hoping to get a solid idea of areas to consider before we arrived. Now, after reading all of the negative comments from former NC residents, my heart is beginning to fill with dread.
Please indulge me as I look for reasons to still consider this move a wonderful addition to my life story.
Did you move to Denver as a choice or was your arm twisted? Are you one of those people who often say, "We did it this way or where I come from...?" When you lived in NC did you complain about the same things? Have all of your experiences while you have been in CO been so negative as to make you bitter? If I meet you and want to be your friend will you try to make me miserable also?
We plan on enjoying our life in Colorado, change is tough but enlightening. I am a NC Native and proud to be Southern and plan on making positive contributions to my new home, Colorado.
First I would like to say I live in Raleigh, NC now. I just got back from Denver yesterday and all I can say is holly $hit WOW!!!!!! Denver is amazing!!!!! I stayed in the Westin hotel downtown and couldn't leave the pool deck because of the view. The city is SOOOO clean and everything is SOOOOO organized. I like how everything is so centralized and walkable. Me and my fiance want to move there so bad that's how much we liked it. The only reason we are still here is because of family. With that being said if I do move I will NOT miss North Carolina. I hate the people that live here because they all seem they want to keep North Carolina that small town they grew up in. If it is something about downtown then they all seem to complain about it. If its in the suburbs then they are all for it. Raleigh area is expensive with the downtown apartments being 1500 dollars a month for a one bedroom. I was just wondering what rent was for downtown Denver and I found one bedroom apartments for like 900 dollars a month. That wanted me to move even more. I was there with my dad as well and he has been in just about even city in the USA and he even said its one of the best downtowns in the USA. He said only San Francisco has Denver beat. The only thing i would miss if I did the move is the ocean.
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Will move to CO from NC in a few months
