Escaping from California to Colorado Springs, any advice appreciated

[shanen]

Originally Posted by mtngigi

If you like trees and shade, you may find the NE side of town depressing (I do). And yes, that's an untrue blanket statement, just as statements about the SE are.

The trees? What about all of the soccer moms? LOL

[TheBaldBlur]

Originally Posted by shanen

The trees? What about all of the soccer moms? LOL

Some of them aren't half bad once you get 'em shaved, out from behind the wheel of their SUV, and pry the ever-present cellphone from their paws.

[scubatim84]

Originally Posted by mtngigi

Check out MeetUp - there are many hiking, biking, running groups in the area.

There's this: Colorado Mountain Club | Colorado's leading organization dedicated to adventure, recreation, conservation and education

You'll find plenty of opportunity for outdoor adventures and quite a few people in your age range that enjoy that lifestyle.

By the way, there's nothing all that wrong with the SE part of town, despite what others may say. There are areas in every part of this region that have good and bad features. If you like trees and shade, you may find the NE side of town depressing (I do). And yes, that's an untrue blanket statement, just as statements about the SE are.

Hmm, thanks for the tip. Good to know about SE...read a lot of bad stuff about it. I plan to get my CCW just so I don't have to worry about being defenseless anyway. So NE Springs is sparse on trees? Bummer, I'll have to commute to Denver periodically so would have been helpful to live on the northern side anyway.

[mtngigi]

Originally Posted by scubatim84

Hmm, thanks for the tip. Good to know about SE...read a lot of bad stuff about it. I plan to get my CCW just so I don't have to worry about being defenseless anyway. So NE Springs is sparse on trees? Bummer, I'll have to commute to Denver periodically so would have been helpful to live on the northern side anyway.

Well, it's how the Springs grew - out to the plains and up to the north. I personally don't like that kind of sprawl, others are completely happy with it. To me sprawl doesn't offer a sense of place, if you know what I mean. It seems separate from the heart of the city and older historic neighborhoods, which is more my cup of tea. Of course sprawl has happened on the west side of town too; where there used to be nothing but pine-forested foothills, they're now filled with housing developments up and down the slopes.

Now, all that said ... it's still easy to get around, and you won't ever be that far from the things you might enjoy if you like outdoor activities. I will admit that the farther east you are, the more amazing Pikes Peak looks.

I would suggest that if commuting to Denver is only a periodic thing, you open up the areas you're looking at. If you have to commute every day, that's a different story. But if it's only a few times a week or less, then why base where you'll live on that? Unless of course you'll want to use Denver more for it's "big city" offerings.

[mtngigi]

Well, I just read that you found a rental, so that's good. It will give you an opportunity to explore and decide where you want to plant yourself. Good luck.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

I am 31, moving to COS next month, into the outdoors and will also be commuting to Denver once or twice per week. I am married, though, so our situations aren't exactly the same. My wife and I picked Old Colorado City. There were some other great areas we checked out, but OCC has a lot of younger-ish people and great access to nature and downtown. It's not a big head start toward Denver, but if you're not making that drive every day, don't live somewhere you don't want to live so you can save fifteen minutes once a week. I realize you said you already found a rental, but I'm just giving you perspective on one neighborhood you might want to keep in mind for the future. We also really liked certain areas near downtown.

IMO, if you're young and about to be single, don't get locked into suburbia. I think COS has a really underrated downtown, and there are some really cool parts of town with some neat hangout spots. There are hangout spots out in the burbs as well, but they are different. They might be your cup of tea, and that's cool. Just realize that, based on our admittedly limited experiences, the vibe at a place like Jack Quinn's downtown is going to be very different than the vibe at the Texas Roadhouse bar in NE Springs (we actually did both of those). Both cool in their own way, but different. Out in the burbs you're more likely to have a more conservative military presence, at least in my experience. Most importantly, the mountains are the big attraction in COS! Yes, I agree that the view of Pikes Peak itself is better when you're 20 minutes east or NE of downtown. But, also my opinion, the mountains in general aren't nearly as pretty as they are when you're closer. When you're closer, you sometimes can't see Pikes Peak because the foothills are blocking it, but the mountains have much more detail and become more vibrant. The view walking out of the grocery store by our new house (the King Soopers on Uintah) is really unbelievable. The mountains are right there. And, if you're wanting to get into outdoor stuff, living 25 minutes (no exaggeration) from the foothills is a bummer. There are lots of areas in COS where you can get to Garden of the Gods, Red Rock Canyon Open Space and Cheyenne Canon within 10 or 15 minutes (or less). A lot of them, and many of them are in your price range. Just file that away for the future. I don't know anyone in COS, so I probably shouldn't make generalizations here, but my guess is that the growth in the NE part of town is from people who live there either due to school quality or proximity to their job or because they like new construction housing for cheap. I can't fathom living that far away if you're into actually doing things in the mountains on a regular basis.

The Colorado Mountain Club suggestion is a good one. We're already planning to join, and it's something I've been looking forward to for a while. COS is a great cycling town, whether it be road, mountain or just cruising around for fun. There's a really cool rock climbing gym downtown called City Rock, and those sorts of places are often good ways of making friends. Meetup can also be useful, although there are certainly some weirdos on there. It's worth a shot, though, and I've seen some COS meetups that look like they'd be fun.

It's always funny to me when someone makes a post that says "Hey, I'm moving to X! What should I know?" and people respond with "You should live in Y" or "have you checked out the area 45 minutes outside of X?" Don't let that discourage you. We're extremely excited about Colorado Springs, and we deliberately chose it over Denver.

[TCHP]

Originally Posted by scubatim84

Hmm, thanks for the tip. Good to know about SE...read a lot of bad stuff about it. I plan to get my CCW just so I don't have to worry about being defenseless anyway. So NE Springs is sparse on trees? Bummer, I'll have to commute to Denver periodically so would have been helpful to live on the northern side anyway.

mtngigi was throwing out generalizations. Saying NE Cos is treeless is like saying SE Cos is murder central. They have aspects of both, but are not quite that extreme.

FWIW, a great deal of crime in SE Cos is not random. It typically involves parties who have some sort of thread linking them together by some means, so it is not, IMO, difficult to avoid.

[mtngigi]

Originally Posted by TCHP

mtngigi was throwing out generalizations. Saying NE Cos is treeless is like saying SE Cos is murder central. They have aspects of both, but are not quite that extreme.

FWIW, a great deal of crime in SE Cos is not random. It typically involves parties who have some sort of thread linking them together by some means, so it is not, IMO, difficult to avoid.

That's why also I wrote "that's an untrue blanket statement" concerning trees in the NE part of town. As I also pointed out that statements about SE are generalizations. I don't like blanket statements ... they never tell the whole story.

That said ... that side of town offers a different environ - you either like that lifestyle or you don't. I'm sure the OP will find an area he likes, as we are not lacking in diversified neighborhoods.

[mtngigi]

Originally Posted by Wittgenstein's Ghost

I am 31, moving to COS next month, into the outdoors and will also be commuting to Denver once or twice per week. I am married, though, so our situations aren't exactly the same. My wife and I picked Old Colorado City. There were some other great areas we checked out, but OCC has a lot of younger-ish people and great access to nature and downtown. It's not a big head start toward Denver, but if you're not making that drive every day, don't live somewhere you don't want to live so you can save fifteen minutes once a week. I realize you said you already found a rental, but I'm just giving you perspective on one neighborhood you might want to keep in mind for the future. We also really liked certain areas near downtown.

IMO, if you're young and about to be single, don't get locked into suburbia. I think COS has a really underrated downtown, and there are some really cool parts of town with some neat hangout spots. There are hangout spots out in the burbs as well, but they are different. They might be your cup of tea, and that's cool. Just realize that, based on our admittedly limited experiences, the vibe at a place like Jack Quinn's downtown is going to be very different than the vibe at the Texas Roadhouse bar in NE Springs (we actually did both of those). Both cool in their own way, but different. Out in the burbs you're more likely to have a more conservative military presence, at least in my experience. Most importantly, the mountains are the big attraction in COS! Yes, I agree that the view of Pikes Peak itself is better when you're 20 minutes east or NE of downtown. But, also my opinion, the mountains in general aren't nearly as pretty as they are when you're closer. When you're closer, you sometimes can't see Pikes Peak because the foothills are blocking it, but the mountains have much more detail and become more vibrant. The view walking out of the grocery store by our new house (the King Soopers on Uintah) is really unbelievable. The mountains are right there. And, if you're wanting to get into outdoor stuff, living 25 minutes (no exaggeration) from the foothills is a bummer. There are lots of areas in COS where you can get to Garden of the Gods, Red Rock Canyon Open Space and Cheyenne Canon within 10 or 15 minutes (or less). A lot of them, and many of them are in your price range. Just file that away for the future. I don't know anyone in COS, so I probably shouldn't make generalizations here, but my guess is that the growth in the NE part of town is from people who live there either due to school quality or proximity to their job or because they like new construction housing for cheap. I can't fathom living that far away if you're into actually doing things in the mountains on a regular basis.

The Colorado Mountain Club suggestion is a good one. We're already planning to join, and it's something I've been looking forward to for a while. COS is a great cycling town, whether it be road, mountain or just cruising around for fun. There's a really cool rock climbing gym downtown called City Rock, and those sorts of places are often good ways of making friends. Meetup can also be useful, although there are certainly some weirdos on there. It's worth a shot, though, and I've seen some COS meetups that look like they'd be fun.

It's always funny to me when someone makes a post that says "Hey, I'm moving to X! What should I know?" and people respond with "You should live in Y" or "have you checked out the area 45 minutes outside of X?" Don't let that discourage you. We're extremely excited about Colorado Springs, and we deliberately chose it over Denver.

Exactly ... that's why I suggested that if the OP doesn't have to do the Denver drive all that much, it shouldn't be the deciding factor. It is always fun to walk out of King Soopers and get hit in the face with that view ... even though I've been here a long time, I never get tired of it.

Welcome to the westside!