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Typical Denverite, always feeling the need to portray Denver as some urban utopia. A quick Google search of the Cherry Creek area reveals that there are only 8 coffee shops in the area, 3 of which are Starbucks. As for the 350 upscale shops you mentioned, you forgot to include that they're located inside the suburban style Cherry Creek Mall.
True, Denver does get some mild 70 degree weather in the middle of winter, however, it's just as common for you to get a massive snowstorm in the middle of June. Perhaps you can get to and from the mountains with relative ease on a weekday, but as far as weekends are concerned, you're facing severe traffic jams of at least 2 hours.
The Cherry Creek North district, just North of the mall has over 180 shops,galleries,restaurants all in an open air neighborhood street setting ..As far as hitting the mountains 1-70 isn't the only game in town. I have never had to travel more than an hour up 285 to hit remote mountain seclusion..Never ever,weekends ect...Maybe you Hate Denver, and had horrible experiences living there, and I understand Denver is not for every one.. however not everyone's idea of paradise is a gritty urban setting.
Denver's surrounding geography coupled with year round outdoor recreation/ endurance athletic climate probably has something to do with someone like myself at 42 physically out performing most 20 year olds in most other metro regions. Is Denver an urban utopia? Not really, but it's a mecca for the fit, attractive, and educated. You want the best urban settings,,head to places like LA, Chicago, NYC..but it's laughable to compare them to Denver when discussing their closest proximity to getting away from it all options..FYI..I live in Boulder now not Denverite, and can get away from it all within less than 15 minutes from my door step. To deny the Denver metro area isn't among the top larger cities in the US that you can escape to get away from it all within reason is just ignorant.
Last edited by Scott5280; 12-17-2009 at 01:02 AM..
The bay area is very rural. From most directions you can get into the boonies very easily. North SF is Marin, very rural. South of San Jose is a vast swath of aggland, same goes for the east bay and the north. If you travel at night, from most points in the bay you can be in open country in less than 45 mintues.
I don't understand why people underestimate LA when it comes to 'getting away from it all'. The Santa Monica mountains, the Santa Susana mountains, the Verdugo Hills, and the San Gabriel mountains were all literally a 10-15 minute drive from me in the San Fernando Valley. I used to bike from my house in North Hollywood to the hills overlooking Burbank within 30 minutes. Once on top of those hills, there really wasn't anyone there.
The Angeles National Forest has many campsites and trails that have no people on them for miles. Millions and millions of people aren't there either.
However, I will admit that nature isn't on most people's mind when they visit LA. However, I think its an underrated aspect of the city. After all, how many cities have a mountain range bisecting it? (The Santa Monica Mountains)
Although, I gotta admit that after living in the Bay Area, the extreme between urbanity and nature is more stark here, and more accessible to most people living within the Bay Area (as opposed to living in San Pedro trying to go mountain hiking in the Angeles National Forest).
I can't disagree that LA is surrounded by nature and lots of it. There are 10,000+ foot high mountains within an hours drive. Even Orange County has a 5,600+ foot high peak.
Then there are all the forests, creeks and lakes. There is a lot of wilderness in the LA/OC area. My point was that there are always other people there.
I think Boston's very easy to get away from. It has tons of beaches and woodlands within a few miles of downtown. In fact, within the city limits you have a good number of beaches. Just outside you have even more. Blue Hills State reservation (pictured below) has a ski area and tons of hiking trails just outside the city limits. Boston is also within an hour of other ski areas and state forests and parks. Just a little bit further you have the White Mountains of New Hampshire as well as the Berkshires, Maine's coast and mountains and Rhode Island's coast (as well as Cape Cod and the Islands).
Boston's public transit network makes it super easy for those without vehicles to get away too. There is a train to Maine (the Downeaster), a Ski Train, ferries to Cape Cod, and currently in the works is a Train to New Bedford which will give Bostonians car free access to the Islands. There's also rail and bus service to the Berkshires. The local commuter rail network goes to all sorts of seaside hamlets like Newburyport, Manchester, Salem, Plymouth, Hingham, etc.
View from Blue Hills:
Boston has to be among the better cities in terms of being able to get away from it all.
Within 90 minutes you can be in pure wilderness, the coast, and Mount Hood, and in 30 minutes you can be at a vineyard or out towards the Coast Range or at Multnomah Falls or in small towns or farmland. Thank you Urban Growth Boundary!
Within 90 minutes you can be in pure wilderness, the coast, and Mount Hood, and in 30 minutes you can be at a vineyard or out towards the Coast Range or at Multnomah Falls or in small towns or farmland. Thank you Urban Growth Boundary!
I agree Portland has it all in terms of natural beauty, and a variety of choices to get away from it all. Very nice part of the country indeed.
From Boston you can be in the mountains of Vemont or New Hampshirein two hours, the beaches of Maine and Cape Cod in 90 minutes... There is alot of natural beauty in New England within a few hours from Boston.
Most California cities would fall in that category as well, also Seattle, Portland. The Northwest is my second favorite region,a great partof the country for outdoors activities.
What I hated most about Chicago when I moved there from Boston was there was basically nowhere to go if I wanted to get out of the city. I felt totally trapped.
What I hated most about Chicago when I moved there from Boston was there was basically nowhere to go if I wanted to get out of the city. I felt totally trapped.
Sorry, but I don't buy this. If you wanted to get away from Chicago, then why didn't you just drive up to Wisconsin or Michigan like every other resident of Chicagoland? You can be surrounded by nothing but dense hardwood forests and glacial lakes within a 2 hour drive from Chicago. There's even a ferry that takes you from Milwaukee across the Lake to Western Michigan's orchard country.
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