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More Western, though geographically closer to the Midwest. The Front Range of the Rockies literally slams down onto the plains immediately west of Denver, and between Denver and the Kansas border, quite a shift occurs. On one cross-country drive, I overnighted in Goodland, KS, right over the border in Kansas. Wow. Another world.
More Western, though geographically closer to the Midwest. The Front Range of the Rockies literally slams down onto the plains immediately west of Denver, and between Denver and the Kansas border, quite a shift occurs. On one cross-country drive, I overnighted in Goodland, KS, right over the border in Kansas. Wow. Another world.
The only real difference between Goodland, Colby, et al Kansas, and Burlington, Limon, et al Colorado, is the amount of "Jesus is going to GET YOU if _______" signs (more on the KS side -- otherwise the same people/landscape MOL).
It used to be more midwest but as of the last 20 years there has been an increasingly pervasive california influence in colorado, as many who have moved out of state have set up new digs there.
It really is its own culture for the most part though, its got a distinct western vibe
The same trend is happening in Kansas City, particularly Johnson County (suburban area) is becoming much more culturally alligned with California than the Midwest. This trend is also fairly recent, within the past 15-20 years. I think it definitely has to do with the high percentage of transplants from the Southwest and California. They've even brought their builders that have littered the landscape with shoddy stuccoed houses as well. Truly "out of place" in humid eastern Kansas.
More Western, though geographically closer to the Midwest. The Front Range of the Rockies literally slams down onto the plains immediately west of Denver, and between Denver and the Kansas border, quite a shift occurs. On one cross-country drive, I overnighted in Goodland, KS, right over the border in Kansas. Wow. Another world.
I once got off a transcontinental Amtrak train in Dodge City, KS,and stayed for a night.
I really shouldn't have; talk about being 20 years behind the times...
The same trend is happening in Kansas City, particularly Johnson County (suburban area) is becoming much more culturally alligned with California than the Midwest.
They've even brought their builders that have littered the landscape with shoddy stuccoed houses as well. Truly "out of place" in humid eastern Kansas.
Stucco houses look cool, because they look more "monolithic," but less cool than brick or stone. However, I agree, if they don't stand up well in the PNW, then the rigors of the Midwestern plains might be even worse.
Correction, they don't bring their builders. Local builders simply learn how to detail those homes with that kind of exterior cladding, just as they did in the PNW.
The Front Range of the Rockies literally slams down onto the plains immediately west of Denver
Right - in a strictly geological sense, Denver is part of the Great Plains, which many categorize as being "the Midwest." The plains themselves don't actually come to a geologic end until the elevation rises in the form of the Rocky Mountains.
Since Denver sits on the plain rather than in the Rockies, it can be seen as both the final frontier of the Midwest and the gateway to the intermountain west. Denver is "the mile-high city" not because it is located in the hills, but because the Great Plains tilt gently downward as you travel east, slowly losing over 4,000 feet by the time you reach Omaha.
In terms of road distance, Denver is almost the same distance from Omaha as it is to Salt Lake City (535 miles). But it is closer to a wider range of Midwestern cities (Kansas City, Wichita, Des Moines, even St. Louis and Chicago) than it is to western cities like Portland or Los Angeles or San Francisco.
Stucco houses look cool, because they look more "monolithic," but less cool than brick or stone. However, I agree, if they don't stand up well in the PNW, then the rigors of the Midwestern plains might be even worse.
Correction, they don't bring their builders. Local builders simply learn how to detail those homes with that kind of exterior cladding, just as they did in the PNW.
The deal with the stuccoed exteriors is that they don't hold up at all in a moist climate with large temperature variations (lots of freeze/thaw cycles). When I lived in the Kansas City metro area I saw these stucco houses develop significant cracks after only 10-15 years. Not a good choice at all for the local climate, but I'm sure the Sunbelt transplants preferred those houses over the older housing stock that was more alligned toward Midwest building materials and architectural styles. You even find houses with red tiled roofs, definitely a southwest influence, and Country Club Plaza has this as well.
"Local builders simply learn how to detail those homes with that kind of exterior cladding, just as they did in the PNW"
I heard from some source that Kansas City does not build much in the way of brick housing anymore due to the fact that it doesn't have the foundry or industrial capacity to produce locally sourced materials. It seems like regional differences still exist in terms of preferences for certain building materials.
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