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Some may be "hills", but some are legitimate mountains as well.
Again, what about the other criteria such as cost of living, proximity to quaint towns, urban areas, etc.?
It’s almost like you’ve never spent time out here and don’t understand the difference.
This is 63 miles and a 1 hour and 15 minute drive from my house (which is located 10 minutes from the heart of Downtown Denver). I took this picture this April. That wall is skiable but needed to be avalanche blasted first. There is nothing even remotely close to this in the northeast.
Cost of living, there is no doubt upstate New York wins against the western cities. There’s good reason for that. The economy isn’t booming like it is in Denver, Sacramento, and Seattle. Jobs are much easier to come by here.
As for small towns, I already said Denver has access to the best mountain towns in the country. Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge, Telluride, Crested Butte, Salida, Buena Vista, Leadville, Ouray, to name a few. I’m not a mountain biker, but we also have world class mountain biking and Moab is an easy drive across I-70.
Here’s another picture of mine from Bailey Canyon. This is about 40 miles and ~1 hour from my house:
This one I took in November last year in Clear Creek Canyon. This is 20 miles and ~30 minutes from my house:
It’s almost like you’ve never spent time out here and don’t understand the difference.
This is 63 miles and a 1 hour and 15 minute drive from my house (which is located 10 minutes from the heart of Downtown Denver). I took this picture this April. That wall is skiable but needed to be avalanche blasted first. There is nothing even remotely close to this in the northeast.
Cost of living, there is no doubt upstate New York wins against the western cities. There’s good reason for that. The economy isn’t booming like it is in Denver, Sacramento, and Seattle. Jobs are much easier to come by here.
As for small towns, I already said Denver has access to the best mountain towns in the country. Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge, Telluride, Crested Butte, Salida, Buena Vista, Leadville, Ouray, to name a few.
Again, the Albany area still has access to mountains, no matter how big or small they may be and have multiple ranges to check out.
Albany actually has a solid economy and especially in the OP’s field(health care related, if I’m not mistaken).
Albany again might have the best location out of the list in terms of access to other cities(Bos-Wash and Montreal) and arguably the same in terms of quaint smaller towns/cities in New England(close proximity to VT, Western MA and NW CT) and Upstate NY(Hudson Valley, Catskills and Adirondacks).
Even in terms of urban neighborhood options, it does well for an area of its size between neighborhoods such as Center Square, Downtown Troy, the Stockade near an improving Downtown Schenectady, Saratoga Springs in terms of its Downtown and Beekman Street area and perhaps even a few others.
It also may also have the latest Last Call, along with Buffalo(4am, if that even matters).
It is close to wineries and has multiple colleges/universities in the area, another thing the OP has mentioned in the past.
Anyway, hopefully others will chime in about other areas, but I think Albany is being grossly underrated in regards to the total criteria.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 07-10-2018 at 06:45 PM..
Again, the Albany area still has access to mountains, no matter how big or small they may be and have multiple ranges to check out.
Albany actually has a solid economy and especially in the OP’s field(health care related, if I’m not mistaken).
Albany again might have the best location out of the list in terms of access to other cities(Bos-Wash and Montreal) and arguably the same in terms of quaint smaller towns/cities in New England(close proximity to VT, Western MA and NW CT) and Upstate NY(Hudson Valley, Catskills and Adirondacks).
Even in terms of urban neighborhood options, it does well for an area of its size between neighborhoods such as Center Square, Downtown Troy, the Stockade near an improving Downtown Schenectady, Saratoga Springs in terms of its Downtown and Beekman Street area and perhaps even a few others.
It also may also have the latest Last Call, along with Buffalo(4am, if that even matters).
Anyway, hopefully others will chime in about other areas, but I think Albany is being grossly underrated in regards to the total criteria.
Added a few more “close to home” pics to my post.
I don’t think your area is bad. That’s not the impression I hope you’re getting (although raving about downtown Schenectady is a bit of a stretch. I spent a bit of time there last year). It just that unless you’ve been west, I don’t think you realize that the outdoors opportunities are in a different league.
I drove from Portland to Bangor a couple years ago. The area is gorgeous. I really do like New England, but if the goal is to be the best place in the country for outdoors sports (skiing, backpacking, rock climbing, mountain biking), West is best.
Seriously? Having lived both in the midwest and CO (and some other places but we're not talking about them right now) my experience is entirely the opposite. Currently living in CO. Like many people here, my friend and I walk every morning (well, almost every) and there are always many people out and about in the 'hood, walking dogs, riding bikes, or just plain walking, like us. In fact, no matter what time of day we go out, there are lots of people outside. That was not the case when I lived in the midwest. Too hot and humid in summer, too cold and damp in winter, no spring, OK fall.
From my experience, there's much more running, walking the dog, and biking in CO than further east, but there's more yardwork, birdwatching, gardening, fishing in the east... I think people out west spend more time outside, but the time that people spend outside in the east is more dedicated toward actually observing nature rather than burning calories while happening to be outside. The big variable is urbanity, where the more urban / developed a place is, generally the less people are outdoors.
The fundamental divide east vs west is that one provides terrain variety while the other provides biological variety. A persons hobbies will dictate whether which one is preferable.
Seattle might offer the most variety. I could be on a glacier (year-round), scuba dive, sail in salt or freshwater, visit a rainforest, visit a desert, run a rapid...all on the same day by car, in theory.
I don’t think your area is bad. That’s not the impression I hope you’re getting (although raving about downtown Schenectady is a bit of a stretch. I spent a bit of time there last year). It just that unless you’ve been west, I don’t think you realize that the outdoors opportunities are in a different league.
I drove from Portland to Bangor a couple years ago. The area is gorgeous. I really do like New England, but if the goal is to be the best place in the country for outdoors sports (skiing, backpacking, rock climbing, mountain biking), West is best.
I’m not from Albany actually, but I’m just strictly looking at the total criteria and considering how it matches up in comparison.
BTW-I did say that Downtown Schenectady was improving.
Saratoga Springs, Center Square/Lark Street in Albany and Downtown Troy would be the bigger draws. You also have Hudson south of Albany, which attracts a lot of NYC folks due to its artsy vibe. Same for other Hudson Valley communities nearby(Kingston, Saugerties, Catskill, etc.). Ballston Spa is a quaint community literally 10-15 minutes from Saratoga Springs. There’s Lake George about an hour away in the Adirondacks. You have places like Bennington and Brattleboro in VT that are an hour and 2 hours away. Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox and West Stockbridge in MA are quaint small towns less than an hour away. So, those were some of the smaller communities that came to mind in terms of being within close proximity.
Denver is the most overrated place I’ve ever visited (about 20 times, lots of family there). Its parks are lifeless dirt patches (a ravine behind a random Birmingham Publix is more stimulating than Denver’s most celebrated park). Walking in them I’d equate with mall walking. Hikes in the foothills are nice but the lack of tree cover ensures that you’ll never be out of sight of highways, landfills and water treatment facilities. The mountains are fantastic but at the minimum they are an hour’s drive. Downtown is very nice but suburban Denver is about as ugly as any place I’ve seen.
Fort Collins is a pretty great town, if CO interests you.
Seattle is probably the best option out west. It has the diversity of the east but with the recreational infrastructure of the west.
I personally find the east more evocative. You just don’t get insect noise out West. The cities and towns are litterally carved out of the forests. It’s so much easier to get fully immersed in the thick underbrush and tall trees and there’s water everywhere. There’s a strong mountain culture (and I’m not talking about REI). Music, folklore, literature, moonshine...
Denver is the most overrated place I’ve ever visited (about 20 times, lots of family there). Its parks are lifeless dirt patches (a ravine behind a random Birmingham Publix is more stimulating than Denver’s most celebrated park). Walking in them I’d equate with mall walking. Hikes in the foothills are nice but the lack of tree cover ensures that you’ll never be out of sight of highways, landfills and water treatment facilities. The mountains are fantastic but at the minimum they are an hour’s drive. Downtown is very nice but suburban Denver is about as ugly as any place I’ve seen.
Fort Collins is a pretty great town, if CO interests you.
Seattle is probably the best option out west. It has the diversity of the east but with the recreational infrastructure of the west.
I personally find the east more evocative. You just don’t get insect noise out West. The cities and towns are litterally carved out of the forests. It’s so much easier to get fully immersed in the thick underbrush and tall trees and there’s water everywhere. There’s a strong mountain culture (and I’m not talking about REI). Music, folklore, literature, moonshine...
It’s almost like you’ve never spent time out here and don’t understand the difference.
This is 63 miles and a 1 hour and 15 minute drive from my house (which is located 10 minutes from the heart of Downtown Denver). I took this picture this April. That wall is skiable but needed to be avalanche blasted first. There is nothing even remotely close to this in the northeast.
Cost of living, there is no doubt upstate New York wins against the western cities. There’s good reason for that. The economy isn’t booming like it is in Denver, Sacramento, and Seattle. Jobs are much easier to come by here.
As for small towns, I already said Denver has access to the best mountain towns in the country. Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge, Telluride, Crested Butte, Salida, Buena Vista, Leadville, Ouray, to name a few. I’m not a mountain biker, but we also have world class mountain biking and Moab is an easy drive across I-70.
Here’s another picture of mine from Bailey Canyon. This is about 40 miles and ~1 hour from my house:
This one I took in November last year in Clear Creek Canyon. This is 20 miles and ~30 minutes from my house:
People have no idea how great Denver is.
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