Back from trip review (Boulder, Longmont: how much, new home, neighborhoods) - Colorado (CO) - City-Data Forum

qfrost · 12-01-2009, 03:39 PM

Well, we had a nice Thanksgiving week in Breck - with a trip down to Boulder and surrounding areas.

I promised to write here about my impressions, but I can't give as thorough
a review of our impressions because we ran out of time and daylight on the day I had planned to spend around the outlying Boulder cities.

That said, we spent time in Golden - liked the new home construction on the outskirts but felt the downtown was a bit dated.

One of the things this trip did help us see is our particular preferences. We like to be fairly close to a good, large bookstore, a Starbucks, and some newer shopping options. I've mentioned trees before here, but outside of the mountains, everything seemed more open than I remembered.

We did try Louisville as the sun was going down. The part we saw reminded me a lot of Indiana - a lot of homes in need of upkeep, junk stored on the side of houses - we did hit part of downtown, where there was a small ice-skating rink set up for kids. The area looked really dingy and uncared-for. I think we just must have missed the good part of Louisville - from Golden we drove past some small airport where there was nothing around, and then through some corporate parks.

Boulder was how I remembered it, but we were really only around Pearl Street shops, and not the residential areas, which is really what we need to see.

So now we're planning to come back for a month in the summer, to give us more time to see what we missed. Right now Golden seems possible, but only in the newer construction - I really like neighbors who take care of their lawns/houses, and this trip got me thinking about that - it wasn't even on my radar before. Anyway, that was our initial, short impression. I don't think it's a fair one, given the limited amount of time we had.

Katarina Witt · 12-01-2009, 03:53 PM

I am really curious as to what part of Louisville you saw. The usual criticism is that it is too sprawly, too cookie-cutterish, too yuppie, etc, not too junky. The ice rink is very popular. Sorry you didn't like it.

qfrost · 12-01-2009, 04:28 PM

The rink was a great idea. I liked that - but the building around it, on the other side of the street looked in need of some love.

Katarina Witt · 12-01-2009, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by qfrost

The rink was a great idea. I liked that - but the building around it, on the other side of the street looked in need of some love.

I'm not sure what you're referring to. The library is across the street to the west; it's quite new. The Old Louisville Inn to the south is a "historic" restaurant.

qfrost · 12-01-2009, 05:12 PM

Odd. I remember seeing what looked like a small blue house converted into some sort of business on the other side of the street. We went up and down the two streets that run perpendicular to the one with the outside rink, one slightly North of it, and the one slightly South of it. The signs said downtown.

Katarina Witt · 12-01-2009, 05:33 PM

There's a little "minimall" type of place on the street to the north of the rink, with boutiquey type stores (yarn, etc). To the south is Spruce St., I believe, and that's where you may have seen a little blue building converted to some sort of shop. The "real" downtown is Main St. a block west of the rink. Oh, well, if you're looking for Starbuck's and a large bookstore and shopping, Louisville is really not the place for you. The only Starbuck's is a drive-through on McCaslin Blvd.

qfrost · 12-01-2009, 05:53 PM

Hard to say. Considering how much is within a short distance from Louisville, and the balance in distance between urban shopping and the mountains, I think we just need to look around more, find the neighborhoods that give Louisville, Lafayette and Longmont such a good reputation. As I said up top, I just don't think we saw enough to form an opinion.

Katarina Witt · 12-01-2009, 05:54 PM

Good luck to you!

qfrost · 12-02-2009, 01:50 PM

Thanks. I was hoping people here would tell me that I should see such-and-such section of the city, that I hit the worst part of it, etc....

Katarina Witt · 12-02-2009, 07:28 PM

There are only a couple of us from Louisvile on this board. If you want manicured lawns, with newer construction, look in the SW part of town. That's where they are. That's where the Starbuck's is, too. Also the way NW side has somewhat older homes (80s/90s), but larger (not McMansions) and virtually everybody keeps up their yards. It's a little hard to evaluate lawn upkeep at this time of year.