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I lived in Iowa for 8 years, and there is just no comparison... I was south of Des Moines. I mean first of all, kiss those brutal winters goodbye. You'll see maybe a weekly snow event but we're talking a dusting to a few inches, once in a while a bit more than that, but what's awesome is that unlike in Iowa, it'll warm up in between. To like 50 degrees and sunny. The snow melts away within a day or so. That alone, makes me happy to be here.
I will be honest, little kid stuff is not fully on my radar because mine are now teens, but I know there's cool activities for kids here. I think that what I would do is, I'd start picking up the local free papers, and also checking Facebook events and other sources for what's going on, and plan activities that way with the kiddos.
Areas with strollable sidewalks are going to be more the norm than not, especially in family-friendly neighborhoods. And the little ones should be just fine playing in the backyard. We don't really have a ton of dangerous wildlife all over the place. The odd bear, usually in areas near more wild places, like I had a friend in the Skyway neighborhood, which is the southwest side of town not so far from the mountains and several big parks (wilderness w/trails or open space type parks) and they had a bear get into their trash. Which is mostly what the bears do here. They don't want your kids, they want your trash. It's more nourishing and less loud! (Look for the story and video of the Edelweiss Restaurant dumpster thief. Pretty funny stuff!)
I don't hear anything about mountain lions really, and I only hear about rattlesnakes from people who hike in places like Austin Bluffs and Pulpit Rock. But like we are talking rocky outcroppings and whatnot, you have to look at that and think, "prime snake housing." Pretty sure your kids are not rock climbers yet!
Anyhow there's not much to worry about in your typical suburb, along these lines. You'll be fine. And you'll love it here.
One thing I recommend that you do, if you do move here, is next year in late May/early June, make the drive down to the Great Sand Dunes when the creek is flowing. It is child friendly sand and water fun, unlike anything you've ever seen, I guarantee it. I went this year and I plan to go EVERY year now.
I live on the North side of town, myself, these days and I think that there's a playground within reasonable proximity to most neighborhoods. I mean, as I say, they're not of great interest to me but I can still think of half a dozen that I drive by up here now and then. If you go to Google maps, and search for Palmer Park, and then move your map so you can look at the areas to the north of that a ways, all the way up to Briargate and so on, just look at all the little bits of green all over the map. Lots of parks.
"I was really surprised by how spread out CO Springs was. It felt like it was a bunch of different cities all under one title. "
This is absolutely on the money and really impacts the feel of community within all the variety or neighborhoods. As a city, we are not wholly cohesive, yet some neighborhoods are much more so. Some neighborhoods have their own sets of festivals, most do not. Briarfest, since your looking up north, is one that may interest you. Further south, places like Old North End, Patty Jewett, Old Colo City, Manitou also have some local events the rest of the city could care less about but they are important to those living there.
Exposure to wildlife really depends on where you live and how close you are to major drainage systems. All of the creeks through the city are a network of paths for wildlife to enter the city. Onc eyou know wher eyou are at, you can more closely monitor what you should be aware of. For example, D20 areas by Chapel Hills mall will only have an occasional deer or fox, while D20 in Peregrin may have deer, lions, and snakes. Wolf Ranch area may have an occasional deer or snake. it really varies quite a bit. Odds of a lion absconding with your kids in the city are highly unlikely though.
Thanks for your reply, and for the suggestions of websites to check out. I think now that I am getting over my initial assumptions that CO Springs was going to be one urban city before visiting, I'm starting to see why neighborhood selection is pretty important. All of the different areas seem to have their own culture and activities. I never thought about the water when it comes to the wildlife, but that makes perfect sense and something we'll likely consider when house hunting.
The activities you listed are all available here in summer, mostly. There are some free/cheap year-round activities like through the libraries and nature centers, but farmers markets are definitely seasonal, as are concerts in the park, as are splash pads.
We have MANY paths, including a variety of paved ones.
Mountain Lions - most people never see one in their lives, but if you live near wild land, it is remotely possible. Rattle snakes - again, not too common to encounter, but could happen rarely. Bears are more common and you will have to be careful with your trash, etc. I am a single woman and I have no issues with wildlife in utilizing the outdoors. Generally speaking, your kids should have no issues playing in their backyard. It would help if it is fenced.
Some people here are very invested in their community and some aren't. Some neighborhoods seem to be more into community than others - one thing to find out about is how many households in your neighborhood actually have school age children - some of them have a relatively low percentage of that because of various things like most families being priced-out, etc. One good way to tell, imho, is how much the local parks are used. Where I live, the Widefield Community Park is almost always busy on a weekend or evening, particularly in good weather. But there are lots of parks in the city that seem to sit mostly empty - I think that tells you something. Your realtor may be able to help direct you to neighborhoods in your preferred area that have that community/family focus.
Even though the activities I enjoy are seasonal rather than year round, I'm happy to hear those kind of activities are readily available. A lot of the hiking that pops up when you search CO Springs (Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak), while definitely some things we'd want to adventure, didn't seem like the day to day outdoor activities I'd probably be doing on my own with the kids. Some of the paved paths are hard to figure out via searching online, but it's a relief to know they are numerous. I think we would talk to a real estate agent to help us get into a neighborhood that has some walking and biking paths nearby.
Also a relief to hear your take on the wildlife. If you live in the midwest hearing things like mountain lions, bears, and rattlesnakes are kind of jolting! And then I was reading about how to be safe should you encounter wildlife and one of the suggestions was staying away from hikers with dogs and small children as they attract mountain lions... not exactly comforting since I would be the hiker with young children lol!
We've done one move across state lines (IL to IA), but we had just graduated college and no kids to worry about. Things are definitely different this time around, so I know finding a good realtor will be so important. I think I'm starting to get a good idea about things to communicate to the realtor that we are looking for. Thanks for your advice on the parks too.
I lived in Iowa for 8 years, and there is just no comparison... I was south of Des Moines. I mean first of all, kiss those brutal winters goodbye. You'll see maybe a weekly snow event but we're talking a dusting to a few inches, once in a while a bit more than that, but what's awesome is that unlike in Iowa, it'll warm up in between. To like 50 degrees and sunny. The snow melts away within a day or so. That alone, makes me happy to be here.
I will be honest, little kid stuff is not fully on my radar because mine are now teens, but I know there's cool activities for kids here. I think that what I would do is, I'd start picking up the local free papers, and also checking Facebook events and other sources for what's going on, and plan activities that way with the kiddos.
Areas with strollable sidewalks are going to be more the norm than not, especially in family-friendly neighborhoods. And the little ones should be just fine playing in the backyard. We don't really have a ton of dangerous wildlife all over the place. The odd bear, usually in areas near more wild places, like I had a friend in the Skyway neighborhood, which is the southwest side of town not so far from the mountains and several big parks (wilderness w/trails or open space type parks) and they had a bear get into their trash. Which is mostly what the bears do here. They don't want your kids, they want your trash. It's more nourishing and less loud! (Look for the story and video of the Edelweiss Restaurant dumpster thief. Pretty funny stuff!)
I don't hear anything about mountain lions really, and I only hear about rattlesnakes from people who hike in places like Austin Bluffs and Pulpit Rock. But like we are talking rocky outcroppings and whatnot, you have to look at that and think, "prime snake housing." Pretty sure your kids are not rock climbers yet!
Anyhow there's not much to worry about in your typical suburb, along these lines. You'll be fine. And you'll love it here.
One thing I recommend that you do, if you do move here, is next year in late May/early June, make the drive down to the Great Sand Dunes when the creek is flowing. It is child friendly sand and water fun, unlike anything you've ever seen, I guarantee it. I went this year and I plan to go EVERY year now.
I live on the North side of town, myself, these days and I think that there's a playground within reasonable proximity to most neighborhoods. I mean, as I say, they're not of great interest to me but I can still think of half a dozen that I drive by up here now and then. If you go to Google maps, and search for Palmer Park, and then move your map so you can look at the areas to the north of that a ways, all the way up to Briargate and so on, just look at all the little bits of green all over the map. Lots of parks.
Thanks for your reply. Weather is a huge motivating factor for us. Iowa weather is terrible. My husband is sick of getting up at 4 in the morning to snow blow our driveway basically at least 1x a week in Jan and Feb. And, we get a beautiful snow and the kids want to go play in the snow, but of course the snow is accompanied by a wind chill advisory. I don't mind our heat, but our summers generally tend to be very humid and muggy. We feel trapped inside the house all winter and then before we know it it is too hot to play outside for long stretches, all we want to do is be outside more!
Glad to hear that stroller friendly walking is pretty common in the area. We really want to be able to enjoy the outdoors now and not have to wait until the kids are older. Also, thanks for your response re: wildlife. It made me chuckle . You also had me googling Great Sand Dunes and it looks amazing, definitely exactly the type of place we'd like to visit with the kids.
Thanks for your reply. Weather is a huge motivating factor for us. Iowa weather is terrible. My husband is sick of getting up at 4 in the morning to snow blow our driveway basically at least 1x a week in Jan and Feb. And, we get a beautiful snow and the kids want to go play in the snow, but of course the snow is accompanied by a wind chill advisory. I don't mind our heat, but our summers generally tend to be very humid and muggy. We feel trapped inside the house all winter and then before we know it it is too hot to play outside for long stretches, all we want to do is be outside more!
Glad to hear that stroller friendly walking is pretty common in the area. We really want to be able to enjoy the outdoors now and not have to wait until the kids are older. Also, thanks for your response re: wildlife. It made me chuckle . You also had me googling Great Sand Dunes and it looks amazing, definitely exactly the type of place we'd like to visit with the kids.
Yeah, Iowa weather. You can't play in the snow, because it's too cold. The only outdoors thing that I can think of that I miss in Iowa, was that where we were at, there were lots of fireflies, and we'd catch them and put them in a jar, and then when we had a lot, we'd sit in a circle and uncover the jar and let them climb to the top and fly off. That is one nice memory I've got of Iowa. I've heard that somewhere in Colorado there are fireflies, but I've never seen one, and they sure don't live in my neck o' the woods.
Oh, that's another thing. Got any pets? I have not had to treat my cat for fleas or worry about that since living here. Apparently pet fleas don't really thrive here, whether it's the altitude or the dryness I'm not sure. That's pretty cool, though, huh?
Oh and get this. I work in an office, and if it snows, they will delay opening, or even close the office for the day. If they don't, and I don't feel safe driving due to the weather, they're always completely cool with me not coming in. While I know that not all fields of employment would have this luxury, when I worked in an office in downtown Des Moines, no way would you miss work for the snow...you would never go to work, if you tried! It's pretty nice. On the down side though, we have way more hills. Some of them are steep. So if there is snow or ice, driving around can be more challenging for that reason than it is in mostly flat Iowa.
Also, sun and shade make a MUCH bigger difference in the temperature here, because it's so dry. I recommend southern facing driveways whenever possible, so that you don't have to shovel snow or salt ice or anything because the sun will melt it. A north facing driveway can wind up having snow/ice that lingers, because of the shade of your house, even after it warms up.
Yeah, Iowa weather. You can't play in the snow, because it's too cold. The only outdoors thing that I can think of that I miss in Iowa, was that where we were at, there were lots of fireflies, and we'd catch them and put them in a jar, and then when we had a lot, we'd sit in a circle and uncover the jar and let them climb to the top and fly off. That is one nice memory I've got of Iowa. I've heard that somewhere in Colorado there are fireflies, but I've never seen one, and they sure don't live in my neck o' the woods.
Oh, that's another thing. Got any pets? I have not had to treat my cat for fleas or worry about that since living here. Apparently pet fleas don't really thrive here, whether it's the altitude or the dryness I'm not sure. That's pretty cool, though, huh?
Oh and get this. I work in an office, and if it snows, they will delay opening, or even close the office for the day. If they don't, and I don't feel safe driving due to the weather, they're always completely cool with me not coming in. While I know that not all fields of employment would have this luxury, when I worked in an office in downtown Des Moines, no way would you miss work for the snow...you would never go to work, if you tried! It's pretty nice. On the down side though, we have way more hills. Some of them are steep. So if there is snow or ice, driving around can be more challenging for that reason than it is in mostly flat Iowa.
Also, sun and shade make a MUCH bigger difference in the temperature here, because it's so dry. I recommend southern facing driveways whenever possible, so that you don't have to shovel snow or salt ice or anything because the sun will melt it. A north facing driveway can wind up having snow/ice that lingers, because of the shade of your house, even after it warms up.
My husband and I were just talking earlier in the summer about how we felt there weren't as many fireflies as we remembered. When I was a kid I remember all the neighborhood kids going out after dinner in their pajamas and catching fireflies in jars, although we were in Chicago suburbs, not Iowa. You definitely still see them where we are, but not like I remember. I think I might miss all the green and large tree lined neighborhood streets, although we only went to visit CO Springs once and as we look at more satellite views of neighborhoods on Zillow, there are some areas that seem to be more lush than others. I'm not a fan of the xeriscaped lawns, although maybe more practical in the dry climate?
We do have a dog. We currently have a 3/4acre yard that backs into woods. We treat him regularly for fleas and luckily haven't had any issues. I do have to check him for ticks during certain times of the year. When my husband interviewed in the Springs a lot of the other employees were talking about how there are a lot less bugs there than we have in Iowa. The gnats and mosquitos are just terrible here.
That's pretty nice that they delay opening on a snowy day. DEFINITELY not something we've encountered here. Now they will close or delay schools when road conditions are bad (I think schools were closed 11 days this past winter season, which is quite a bit even for here), but even in blizzards or when we had the polar vortex freezing temperatures they didn't close my husband's office.
You're comment about a south facing driveway is amazing. I hate shoveling, and when my husband would leave town for work I'd be in charge of snow blowing our driveway... I'm just over 5 feet tall... it took a long time and basically all of my strength to get it done. The more we can use the natural elements to aid in snow removal, the better as far as I'm concerned .
This relocation to the Springs is seeming more and more likely. My husband is planning on accepting the offer when he talks to them on Tuesday, contingent on us selling our house in Iowa. We've already had a real estate agent visit our current house, and it seems like we might still be good selling this late in the season. I hate to say it's official until Tuesday, but barring any big changes, I think we are Colorado Springs bound!
IIRC, something like 11 or 12% of Colo Spgs is designated park land. This would include the traditional grass and concrete path with playgounds to more wildland interface and natural setting parks with gravel trails. Nearly any neighborhood is less than 5 minutes away from a park of some sort and within 15 of a wildland interface. The weather here also means that activities that may have been limited to the summer in other locales, may become an almost year round activity here. until you experience a February with temps in the 60s and abundant sunshine, its hard to really understand that winter can allow us to be nearly as active as summer.
Dig around in the springsgov site I linked earlier. It has some extensive info on walking,hiking, and biking access and trails and is much better at getting to the little things than a google search will provide.
Yeah, the thing about the xeriscaped lawns is that not only is it a water conservation thing from a sustainability standpoint, but also it saves you a lot of money because you must water grass to keep it alive here.
Personally I love the landscaping work in the nice neighborhood adjacent to the townhome community where I live. All along Rockhurst Blvd in the 80918 area code are good examples of what I'm talking about. There is grass, but there's a lot of rock used in places, too. Costly or not, people do love their grassy lawns, and they are not hard to find.
I thought of you this weekend because I was thinking about going out and finding somewhere to walk (I got lazy and I didn't end up doing so, but I should have, the weather was beautiful! ) and I was looking on Google maps for nice parks up in the north side of town. I saw one, that while not really what I was looking for, if I had smaller kids I would be ALL ABOUT IT.
Scroll down to where you see photos, click the first one, and then you can arrow through the slideshow and see what I mean. Splash pads, playgrounds, fields, paved walking paths, looks like this one has it all.
And TCHP is correct, we get really nice sunny days year round here. The one thing that is less than awesome is that our green season is kind of limited. The grass is only really green in the summer, for the most part, and if you get out east a bit, toward the plains, the dull brown of the fields of grass is kind of blegh. It's better in areas where there are a lot of evergreen trees, obviously. Still, I prefer even the brown to the never-ending snow and ice of Iowa winters. Also, tornados are way, way more rare here. Honestly I don't even worry about them. We do get hail sometimes, though.
And I wasn't exaggerating about the south facing driveway thing. It makes a huge difference. I also lived, at one point, in a house that had a big south facing window in the living room, and the amount of sun we got, also helped a lot with our heating bills. Actually come to think of it, everywhere I've lived in Colorado Springs, the temperature difference has been very noticeably cooler in rooms with north exposure compared to rooms that have walls/windows facing south. The challenge is just getting the air to circulate well to spread the desired warmth or coolness, depending on the season, from one area to another. (In other words, getting my teenage sons to leave their bedroom doors open and allow warm air to circulate from their rooms--not really happening!)
IIRC, something like 11 or 12% of Colo Spgs is designated park land. This would include the traditional grass and concrete path with playgounds to more wildland interface and natural setting parks with gravel trails. Nearly any neighborhood is less than 5 minutes away from a park of some sort and within 15 of a wildland interface. The weather here also means that activities that may have been limited to the summer in other locales, may become an almost year round activity here. until you experience a February with temps in the 60s and abundant sunshine, its hard to really understand that winter can allow us to be nearly as active as summer.
Dig around in the springsgov site I linked earlier. It has some extensive info on walking,hiking, and biking access and trails and is much better at getting to the little things than a google search will provide.
It's official, my husband starts working there right after Thanksgiving, so the move is happening!
That coloradosprings.gov is a really great website. There is a (humongous) list of just small neighborhood parks, in addition to community parks and bigger outdoor spaces, biking trails, etc. I even found some information on youth sports I can sign the kids up for in the summer. Another cool resource I discovered while searching online is kidsonbikes.net. I'm definitely interested in getting the kids out on their bikes as early as possible-- I've never heard of biking camps, let alone for my 2 year old! And 50 degrees in the winter, even if there are feet of snow, sounds AMAZING! When I think of winter I think bitter cold and gray skies for 4 months. Honestly, I'd take almost any temperature for sunny skies in the winter.
Winters here aren't awful. It does get dry. Very dry. Single digit humidity dry. What we lack in snow we will make up for with wind and sun. We do get some very sunny days in the winter and it is not uncommon for a week of sub-freezing temps followed by a week of upper 40 and lower 50s and then fall back to normal averages of 30s-40s. Even days when its very cold outside, the sun warmed interior of your car will have you wanting to take your coat off.
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(Look for the story and video of the Edelweiss Restaurant dumpster thief. Pretty funny stuff!)
. You also had me googling Great Sand Dunes and it looks amazing, definitely exactly the type of place we'd like to visit with the kids.
) and I was looking on Google maps for nice parks up in the north side of town. I saw one, that while not really what I was looking for, if I had smaller kids I would be ALL ABOUT IT. 
