Why do people leave Colorado? (Denver, Colorado Springs: ski resorts, income, living)

[Chloe333]

Originally Posted by nebloke

As someone else pointed out, I agree that a lot of people move to CO, specifically the front range of CO, thinking it's something that it isn't - life in the mountains. As I always tell people, the front range of CO is no different than Kansas - plains and prairie, except that it has the mountains as a backdrop and is covered up with people and development. About a 3rd of CO, including the front range, naturally looks exactly like Kansas - flat, brown, and for the most part treeless.

I went to college there from the Northeast in the mid 1980s and loved it, CO was and still is an awesome place to go to college and we now have a daughter there who loves it as much as I did. That being said, I never wanted to live there permanently. My wife and I serious considered moving there permanently when we first got married in the early 90's and even spent a considerable amount of time there looking at houses and neighborhoods but in the end decided it wasn't for us. We are thankful we never made the move because we would have been in the group of people that moved back.

For us it's too dry, too brown, and too flat on the front range, we are used to the lush greenery and rolling hills of the northeast. We also don't like the typical front range neighborhoods where the houses all look pretty much the same without much character, are 10 feet apart from each other, have a small fenced in backyard with 4 other houses looking directly into it, and a driveway that is about a car length and half long. People from the suburbs in the east do not expect this from the "wide open" west. Also don't like how land locked it is from the ocean and from other major cities. We are used to lots of major cities and lots of coastline within a few hours drive. In the end I think we just prefer what we grew up with and know which is probably true for a lot of people. Either way CO isn't/wasn't for us. Less now that it has become totally overrun. Shocking how many people have poured in there in the past 25-30 years and how much it has grown. It seems to be accelerating now too despite the fact that real estate prices are no longer a bargain. Makes me miss the CO of my college years.

You pretty much nailed how I felt about living in a far out Denver suburb with houses just as you described. I was actually fine living there for the most part (not ideal but okay with it for time being) but then my spouse pursued an opportunity in Dallas and we gave that a shot. I was initially excited about being back in a more deciduous place with neighborhoods more like I am used to as you describe. That job situation turned out to be short-term and so I'm okay with leaving Dallas. It's not bad but it's just so-so really. Kind of a bland, sprawling place and terribly hot in the summer obviously. His co-workers were a lot of these God, country, family type of people and so he is excited about the prospects of being around Denver people again if we end up back there. He didn't care for the company culture with these TX people being more conservative.

I didn't care either for the aspects of front range suburbia life that you outlined here. We may be headed back to Denver in a month or two, and if so, my rear end is heading straight into one of the city neighborhoods like Wash or Cheeseman Park. We are almost empty nesters and so we are leaning towards buying an apartment in a high rise this go 'round. I would like to be able to jog/walk in one of the city parks regularly and walk to bars and restaurants. I've got to link in with some Unitarians. In the current TX town I am in, I am surrounded by mega-churches. Living in Wash Park or the like will hopefully be a different experience from living in a far flung 'burb with strip malls and chain restaurants where youth sport and Bronco culture predominates. No offense to that but it just doesn't do it for me. It's a bad fit for me. I guess it is not just Denver suburbs but suburbs in general. Some like them, and some find those places to feel soulless, sterile, and dull. Many would love to live right in the city but of course affordability is understandably a factor.

If one lives in Ronkonkoma, NY it is not the same as living in Manhattan. One lives in Thornton, it is not the experience of the mountains or Washington Park. I am stating the obvious.

When I first moved to Denver five years ago, the pictures really did depict it as this alpine city looking place nestled right at the base of mountains. It looked like one would just drive up the street a bit with their skis and hop on a lift for a quick run after work. Clueless people like me from back east fall for this stuff! My equally clueless friends and associates back east ooh'd and ahh'd over those alpine city pics sending sentiments to 'get a warm jacket,' 'you'll need 4WD,' and ski comments.

I was somewhat taken aback when I got out there and realized those mountains are a bit farther out than what those tourist-real estate marketing pics show. It is a lot like how you describe. If you want that mountain experience living on the front range, you have to put in the effort, time, and even money depending on your activities to make it happen. It can be like going into NYC for the day. It can be fun or it can be a frustrating, expensive hassle. You have to figure out how to do it if you want to do it. It won't come knocking on your door down in Westminster.

We still have all of our ski stuff, and while I don't love skiing because I am afraid of getting hurt, I am looking forward to hanging out in the ski towns while my spouse and kid skis if we end up back there. It's just nice being in those places. I am just sitting around in TX at this point waiting to find out if I am heading back to Denver soon. Thanks for your post. You did a good job outlining some of the things that can be an adjustment moving from the east to Denver.

[otowi]

Originally Posted by Chloe333

I was somewhat taken aback when I got out there and realized those mountains are a bit farther out than what those tourist-real estate marketing pics show. It is a lot like how you describe.

You get a much closer mountain view in Colorado Springs than the other big Front Range cities. But from any of them, it is going to take a bit i.e. hour or more usually of driving to get "in" the mountains for a day or weekend of recreation.

[pikabike]

Good grief, has nobody learned how long telephoto lenses make distant objects look much closer?

[Chloe333]

Originally Posted by otowi

You get a much closer mountain view in Colorado Springs than the other big Front Range cities. But from any of them, it is going to take a bit i.e. hour or more usually of driving to get "in" the mountains for a day or weekend of recreation.

It was never too bad for driving time when we hit the road around 5 am on the weekends to ski. If I recall, it took about 1.5 hours or so to get to Winter Park. If we left by 2 pm, it was fine getting home as well.

[Thoreau424]

I've summed up some reasons for leaving:

//www.city-data.com/blogs/blog4...-colorado.html

[Screenwriter70]

If I lived in Colorado, I'd never leave. The east coast is horrid and the south triply so!

[Jame22]

We knew deep down this place wasn't for us but decided to move here over California(his family) or Michigan (my family) because we thought it would allow for a better quality of life and act as kind of a middle ground. That may be true, but it just isn't for us. Moving to California as soon as we can find jobs. We met in Austin and agreed that pretty much everything is better there (housing, food (King Soopers is a joke compared to HEB), diversity, weather, greenery, entertainment ect). The mountains are Colorado's only obvious advantage- and don't get me wrong, we absolutely love them, but they're not worth staying for -not to mention, they're still in California, although not as accessible.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by pikabike

Good grief, has nobody learned how long telephoto lenses make distant objects look much closer?

Need 'Smog filters' when viewing from Denver.
CoS, not so bad.

Kinda nice to sit at the dining doom table and enjoy a view (without a spotting scope).

Ours was great as a kid (Next to Devil's Backbone)

but.. my mom sent me a vintage Colorado pic yesterday (Taken in March according to the photo.)

Brown and really desolate! (But can see 'nothingness' for 20+ miles!, and NO smog)
Now I know why I spend 10 yrs of my youth watering trees. (50% of which died)

[MountainEarth]

Originally Posted by pikabike

Good grief, has nobody learned how long telephoto lenses make distant objects look much closer?

No they haven't. It's called perspective distortion, and most people have no idea how it works. Down in the Springs, developers far out on the plains love to use that trick to make Pikes Peak look like it's right next door to their developments. Meridian Ranch is a case in point.

[WoundedSpirit]

I can only speak for me and my husband, and my daughter and her family, as we all left Denver four years ago:

Me and my husband- We live on a fixed income, and the apartment we live in was going to raise the rent far above what we could afford. Even so, it was still less than what it would have cost to rent a different apartment. Our car had two dashboard lights on- the check engine (which only meant there was a glitch in the sensor, and the airbag light. In Colorado, your car will not pass inspection if any lights are on and we couldn't afford the hundreds of dollars it would have taken to have them turned off. Also, my daughter and her family moved to another state (see below), so there was really no reason to try to stay there except for our oldest granddaughter (my son's child), who we rarely saw since she hit her teens.

My daughter- Also on a fixed income and lived in the same apartment complex, so their rent was increasing as well. Their daughter was about to start school, and the schools she would have gone to were overrun with gangs and illegals. They wanted their child to be able to concentrate on learning in a safe environment. They moved to the small town where her father (my ex) lives, and they are all thriving there. Granddaughter is now in fourth grade, gets straight A's and is involved in Girl Scouts and team sports. My daughter is very involved in her community, and they were able to buy a nice house for less than their rent was in Denver.

We all loved Colorado. I had lived there for over 40 years, and my daughter was born there. Although we miss living there, we can live a better quality of life on our income here. We do not miss the crowds, traffic, urban sprawl and high cost of living. Colorado is a much different place than it was even 10 years ago, and it just wasn't right for us anymore.