New chapter, need advice

[MsMetal]

IDK that I'd agree with making friends in Denver first by living there, if you want to live here. As someone who has most of her friends in Denver (since I live in the uber-religious part of town), I can tell you that the commute to Denver has become more & more difficult over the years due to a significant section that is only 2 lanes on each side & the increased population. There are now accidents almost daily & slow downs even at odd hours of the day & night. If you make a bunch of friends in Denver, it may be hard to maintain those friendships once you move down here.

There are a LOT of churches here. It's not so much on every corner, but on every attractive parcel of land seems to be more the case, including several nationally known evangelical conservative organizations. But if you stick to the west side of the central area, you can avoid the in-your-face, always trying to convert you folks. Most of that is on the north side.

Captain Hugg makes a good point about the plowing, as we found it very strange having moved from a snowy area, to have it snow & not have the roads plowed. But that is the norm here for neighborhood streets. Over time, we've learned that there is a huge issue with lack of funding for infrastructure & services due to something called TABOR (tax payer bill of rights). It's true the property taxes are VERY low, but you will probably notice a huge change in services. That seems to be slowly changing, as more & more some tax increases are being voted in, but it will likely be a big change from what you're used to. We got used to it, but it was a big change.

Also, I noticed your note said "in the mountains". Just to clarify, COS is not "in" the mountains. It's very close & on the west side there are neighborhoods that start moving up into the foothills, but most of the city is fairly flat & neighborhoods on the east side are at the beginning of the great plains. It really is a unique & beautiful area & the mountains are so close for recreation, but we're not situated actually in the mountains. It's a hiker's paradise here & it sounds like you may be a good fit for the area.

[TCHP]

Agree with others central or western neighborhoods will probably offer more of what you want. Sub $200k houses can still be found, but are getting tougher to find. The 80907 area around north Patty Jewett, Bonfort, and Kitty Hawk have about a dozen homes under $250k right now. They are close to a couple of major bike trails and the Bon shopping center with a Safeway, pet store, work out facility, pharmacy, and a couple of small local cafes, one which just opened. Roswell are may also be an option as there are some nice homes there, its close to another major bike trail and the Lincoln Center that just recent opened a brewery, cafe, baker, and a couple of smaller restaurants. Only drawback to Roswell is is mixed use and multi family and apartment areas. Also, none of these areas have particularly great mountain views because they are very well established and have large trees, however, many of these were built after WW2 so they tend to be smaller 1000-2000 sq ft 2/3 bedroom houses with nice yards.

Another option may be the 80904 Pleasant Valley area. Another post WW2 neighborhood with smaller homes, decent yards. Many of these are being revitalized into cute modern homes. Prices range from $215-275k. It adjoins OCC, Garden of the Gods, numerous bike and hiking trails and shopping in the Red Rocks Center.

If you want to rent first, Oasis and Camel Back point sit right on top of the western mesa hogback of Cos. They have views east of the cityscape and views west of Garden of the Gods and the mountains. They are near Sonderman Open Space with numerous trails and hills and not far from the paces listed above, which are right down the hill to the east or west. Also near downtown and OCC and not too far from Manitou either. Easy access to I-25 means Denver is easily accessible. University Village shopping is not far from any of these places with Trader Joes and Costco, electronics stores, funky clothing stores, and numerous national and regional chain restaurants

As a 40 year old single women, Cos can be a great place. Its a very active and outdoors oriented place to be, but we also have a broad range of indoor activities as well. Recently refurbished Ivywild and Lincoln School centers are bringing smaller, local establushments back to neighborhoods. We have indoor climbing, Colorado Photography School if you want to brush up on photographics techniques, the Women's Film Festival is showing this November at Colorado College, numerous craft business' in So Do and OCC offer numerous classes in eclectic and traditional crafts, Bemis Art off numerous art classes in painting, pottery, and other mediums. For the athletic side, spin classes, yoga studies, hiking groups, Friends of numerous park associations offer volunteer time for clean up and trail maintenance at any of numerous local parks. Palmer Park offers mountain biking and walking on various trails in an urban wildland setting right in the center of the city.

On a more practical side, the communications infrastructure brought to the city by the military means reliable, consistent telecommunications for work at home possibilities. Opportunities for remote working are solid as a result.

Look here for some recent similar questions with art and music requests; https://www.city-data.com/forum/color...e-me-move.html

[Belle99]

I am not religious and have never had an issue with people forcing their religion on me. Furthermore, in regards to neighborhoods not being plowed, it is rarely an issue. My husband and I need to leave the house each day and because of that we have adequate tires on our car. Seeing as you are from Connecticut, you will laugh at the 2 inches of snow that people complain they can't drive in.

Also, because you are from the land of high taxes, you will love the low taxes here. I am from Maine and know exactly what it is like to have more and more of my money taken from me.