[Champ le monstre du lac]

Originally Posted by Finn_Kid

--Gardening! We are dirt lovers.

Northern VT and the Champlain Valley are the most agricultural parts of the state. Gardeners Supply in Williston has got you covered for anything garden related. It's my happy place during planting season for starter plants and seeds. Farmers markets and gardening are a big thing up here. I got some seeds started yesterday for the new moon.

Vermont has the best selection of ski resorts in the East and I'm always satisfied with skiing at Jay, Smuggs, Stowe, or Killington. But Colorado, and more specifically Telluride is far and away the best place I've ever skied. The views from the See Forever trail, bluebird sunny skies, and Rocky Mountain powder are all quite stellar. But that's a half a day's drive from Denver.

I definitely get your point of view on the Front Range sprawl and I-70 congestion. I lived in New Mexico in Santa Fe & Albuquerque for seven years. Even Albuquerque felt a bit too rat racey and sprawly. Lots of wide boulevards with miles and miles of strip malls and apartment communities. Shelburne Rd in South Burlington is as strip mally as Vermont gets and that fades out pretty fast. I like the small town centers and older housing stock up here. It has more soul. The one and only time I've ever been stuck in traffic in Vermont was leaving Costco in Colchester on a weekend. I like that I can set my cruise control here fairly frequently when out for a drive.

[Finn_Kid]

Originally Posted by Champ le monstre du lac

I definitely get your point of view on the Front Range sprawl and I-70 congestion. I lived in New Mexico in Santa Fe & Albuquerque for seven years. Even Albuquerque felt a bit too rat racey and sprawly.

Did you ever consider moving up to Taos?

[Ellwood]

Originally Posted by Buitenzorg

I would add Manchester to your list. There’s a real community there beyond the many second homeowners and retirees who are definitely there as well. The schools are excellent, topped by Burr and Burton Academy as the high school. You are at the foot of the Green Mountains with extremely easy access to the Appalachian trail, ski resorts, kayaking, mountain biking, etc. People knock the place sometimes for its stretch of high end outlet shops, but that is a declining aspect of the town and not an outlet mall per se. The surrounding towns are also very, very nice if you prefer smaller town living. An upscale place for sure, but with lots of families and outdoor activities and a pretty wide range of housing costs.

Manchester, Arlington, Shaftsbury, Dorset all in the same general area with good schools including Maple Street K-8. Agree with above poster.

[nebloke]

[quote=Finn_Kid;60576266]
Colorado is great, but, has become somewhat burdensome in cost, congestion and general difficulty accessing and living in nature. We are in Northern Colorado, close to Wyoming, and at this point, it's all 'discovered.' Driving down to access ski areas off of I-70 has become a maddening experience. Plus, we had a 90 day fire burning up above us last summer fall that was completely apocalyptic. Fire threat is a huge bummer. We had AQI between 250 and 400 for all the good CO months.
Finn[/QUOT

The front range of CO has become completely overrun. I went to college there 35 years ago and now have a daughter there and it blows me away how much it has grown in the last 30 years. It's almost unrecognizable and you are now hearing more and more about people wanting to leave, something you never heard 5 or 10 years ago, at least not to this extent. We are second home owners in VT and love the rural nature and lack of people, the thick forests, the 4 distinct seasons, and all the outdoor activities to do there. Given the choice between CO or VT, economic considerations aside, I would take VT hands down.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by nebloke

The front range of CO has become completely overrun. I went to college there 35 years ago and now have a daughter there and it blows me away how much it has grown in the last 30 years. It's almost unrecognizable and you are now hearing more and more about people wanting to leave, something you never heard 5 or 10 years ago, at least not to this extent. We are second home owners in VT and love the rural nature and lack of people, the thick forests, the 4 distinct seasons, and all the outdoor activities to do there. Given the choice between CO or VT, economic considerations aside, I would take VT hands down.

The flip side. It poured yesterday in Vermont and it’s 10F now. The skiing surface this morning will be sheet ice or groomer golf balls. The surface today at the I-70 resorts for anything north-facing above 9,000’ is packed powder with loose powder if you’re willing to work a bit for it.

I know what I’d pick.

[brk330]

Originally Posted by Finn_Kid

So the cold and snow is great, but, what about sun and gray skies? Is it like the PNW or more like, dunno, montana?

I'm a NH native that returned from 10 years in Colorado and still had problems with the weather. We had come out of a 5 year drought, huge fires, and a grasshopper plague in Steamboat and moved to the southern edge of the NH White Mountains. I remember that first May hearing the weather man say we hadn't had a sunny day all month and 16 days of rain. It was wonderful...the first time it happened. The next year was the Mother's Day floods, yikes! Then November hit and holy crap is it dark, we almost up and left.
There really is a lot more wild swings with New England weather, Colorado is incredibly mild and predictable, almost to the point of boring. Some years in New England you might get bottomless snow, other might be rain all winter. That has been the toughest part for me. I prefer snow on the ground all winter which sometimes doesn't happen.
After 7 years we returned to Steamboat, partly because of the weather and partly because of the 'rad' factor. There is something about living where people have chosen to live because of a shared sentiment. Then the first year back and it was 90 degrees every single day in June. Yuck. And the city had grown massively, retiring baby boomers and location neutral workers were driving the real estate, it was no longer a fun, funky ski town. We returned to Massachusetts after a bit and now just live a normal life in a rural town on the edge of the BOS-WASH corridor and hopefully get rad on the weekend.

[Country Kathy]

I grew up in Vermont. I hated it, the weather the people the limited choices of jobs. I left in 2015 after my Dad passed and took mom with me to South west Virginia. Loved it,,, SO why did I come back... I am probably all kidding aside going to be homeless soon. Being on disability from auto accident years ago I should of known coming back was a huge mistake. Been harassed by police in my hometown as if I was a bad person. They hold grudges on small things. Currently staying at a friends I am 63 yr old and I may end up homeless on street. Miss S.W. Va where there is skiing and colder temperatures just not freezing. But I would of even suggest to try West Va on the South eastern side as they have great ski area's. Medical there is great also!!!But afraid of Hillbillies, go to Northern Virginia. Honestly stay out of New England if you can. Check property taxes in Vermont , that will definitely be a mind blower for sure!!

[VTsnowbird]

Don't forget VT is #1 for unaffordabilty of homes. Combo of high housing prices, low wages, and all those second homes owned by people from NY, MA, and CT.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by VTsnowbird

Don't forget VT is #1 for unaffordabilty of homes. Combo of high housing prices, low wages, and all those second homes owned by people from NY, MA, and CT.

Vermont taxes rentals at the Act 68 commercial rate. When you have a $25 mill rate, your tenants are paying it.

[nebloke]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

The flip side. It poured yesterday in Vermont and it’s 10F now. The skiing surface this morning will be sheet ice or groomer golf balls. The surface today at the I-70 resorts for anything north-facing above 9,000’ is packed powder with loose powder if you’re willing to work a bit for it.

I know what I’d pick.

I probably should have been clearer with my post but fixed it here:

The front range of CO has become completely overrun. I went to college there 35 years ago and now have a daughter there and it blows me away how much it has grown in the last 30 years. It's almost unrecognizable and you are now hearing more and more about people wanting to leave, something you never heard 5 or 10 years ago, at least not to this extent. We are second home owners in VT and love the rural nature and lack of people, the thick forests, the 4 distinct seasons, and all the outdoor activities to do there. Given the choice between the front range of CO or VT full time, economic and skiing quality considerations aside, I would take VT hands down.

That being said, in retirement we plan to spend time in both VT and somewhere in the south near a beach and boating. If I had to do Summit County in CO for part of the year instead of VT, I think I could get used to that too. Great skiing, much better weather, proximity to my alma mater, close to college friends on the front range, DIA in less than 2 hours, lots of other outdoor recreation, etc. Just wouldn't have the large piece of land we have in VT, proximity to our home state and the people there, and would have to deal with a lot more neighbors and people. Pros and cons and trade offs when comparing any two places.