Where in COLO with our set of requirements? (Denver, Colorado Springs: to buy, subdivisions)

[CosmicWizard]

LTHC....I hope you had a chance to hang out at the Weisbaden hot springs when you were in Ouray.

[smdensbcs]

Originally Posted by lovethehighcountry

The OP is right here, and asked nicely for people to change his mind about CO Springs, and yet I just have people getting upset with it. Not exactly helping the Springs campaign...

Welllll ... people are probably getting upset because you're overgeneralizing with negative stereotypes of a region of 600K people. Imagine you instead called a particular racial group "stupid and lazy" and therefore you won't hire them for your business unless somebody changes your mind. Most people (at least most "right-thinking" people) would likely respond to your assertion by telling you that you're a racist not by trying to "change your mind." Ever try to persuade a racist he or she is wrong? Might as well try to convince a rock its really a bird or teach a french poodle to actually speak french. Pretty much a waste of time.

All that being said, I estimate 400K - 500K of the greater CO Springs population does NOT fit your stereotype, and at least 250K of those are either Democrats or Democratic-leaning registered Independents. So, yes, a solid block of 100-200K potentially fits somewhere into your stereotype, yet the rest of us here have to listen to you and others paint us with the same brush.

I live on the SW side of town. We just re-elected a Democrat as our State Rep, despite the state Repub party throwing 3x at the election than what the Democrat could raise. In other words, we ignored the noise and propaganda. I live in the highest-testing school district in the state, and greater CO Springs contains 2 of the other top 6-7. All of my neighbors and friends here (literally I can think of 15-20) with school age kids are some combination of outdoor guide/enthusiast and borderline world-class athlete. Its almost ridiculous. Many (not most) attend church, but none of them (not one single person) fits the "right-wing religious wacko" stereotype to which you're referring. Granted, none of us live on 35 acre lots, but that's because we live on the western outskirts of the city, in non identical mid-century houses (which are AFFORDABLE compared to snooty-*** stupidly overpriced Boulder - there, I can play the fun stereotype game too!! ). You'd probably want to head west, up past Woodland Park to maybe Florrisant to find that type of land/space. I personally prefer living in a "city" with neighbors and driving as little as possible to get to "stuff." Yes, we have to drive to ski, camp, fish, climb, etc., etc. but the folks who live in the Nathrops of Colorado routinely drive 2 hours to our symphony, doctors, lawyers, etc. so the traffic absolutely goes both ways.

If you do end up having kids, suddenly the quality of your school district becomes rather important - the educational and professional aspirations of the children of your neighbors (i.e. the "peers" of your own children) becomes a relevant factor in how you feel about where you live, possibly even more important than how far you have to drive to fish. Just a thought.

[brightdoglover]

Originally Posted by lovethehighcountry

Last weekend we took a trip for my wife's birthday and stayed in Ouray. On the way down we passed through Delta and we spent the afternoon in Montrose. On the way back we looked at places in Salida and hung out at the Eddyline in BV. It was great getting to talk to locals all over!

So, what did you think?

[Wardendresden]

OP, I suppose you're pretty set on leaving the Denver-Boulder area, but you won't find the tons of board gamers anywhere else. Next weekend (I think) at the Red Lion at Parker/225 will be a huge convention of gamers, maybe as many as 1000 attendees. My adult son, a board gamer like his old man, moved recently from north Denver to Parker--primarily for the better school system for our grandchild, but he said it didn't hurt to have the Ghengis Khan Convention just a few miles up Parker Road from Parker.

Parker is fairly conservative politically--except for my son and his wife!

Any kind of climbing or hiking would require a short drive, but biking is his thing and since he's a little off the beaten path, it doesn't appear to be a problem for him--and they do family bike rides. And the view from his back porch is from Pike's Peak to the south to downtown Denver to the north (on a clear day).

He usually meets up with some other gamers about once a month except for the two convention months of February (around Valentines Day) and September (Labor Day weekend). But you will find no gamers in Delta or Montrose!!!!

So if you want to keep your options open to be inclusive of all your enjoyable activities, while being forward thinking about good schools for your future children, maybe Parker could be a choice.

[CAVA1990]

Did I miss it somewhere or has this thread gone four pages without anyone asking or the OP saying how much he wants to spend for his 3br house on 3 acres?

[smdensbcs]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Did I miss it somewhere or has this thread gone four pages without anyone asking or the OP saying how much he wants to spend for his 3br house on 3 acres?

He wants 35 acres not 3, with a pond, adjacent to public land, and near enough to a population center to have a diverse set of neighbors/friends that might share his and his wife's interest in board gaming. And no, I don't believe a price range was discussed. I know 35 acres is sort of the standard "large parcel" (state subdivision rules) but I have no idea where and how much such a spread would be. I just know I really, really like living in my SW Colorado Springs neighborhood with my large number of interesting, tolerant, highly-educated, outdoor-enthusiast neighbors, none of whom fit the stereotype the OP applies to El Paso County. Just guessing, but I suspect 35 acre parcels in this county within 30-40 minute drive of town with a decent residence would be in the 500K+ range. 600K+? I really don't know.

[lovethehighcountry]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Did I miss it somewhere or has this thread gone four pages without anyone asking or the OP saying how much he wants to spend for his 3br house on 3 acres?

That would be our "dream home" and we know we're going to have to compromise. It isn't really in our price range to "have it all" and we understand that. 35 acres is pulled from that generally being a parcel size with some sort of water rights ... a lot of the properties we have been looking at are more like 5-20 acres, but goods lots could be smaller as long as I'm not staring at my neighbors house.

I don't really expect all that to be achievable, I've was raised to list out what we want and see if we can make it happen. Never get anywhere if you can't focus on something. We can consider properties up to about 400k.

[lovethehighcountry]

I am sorry I offended the people of Colorado Springs. I have spent time there and I was uncomfortable and that is all I was trying to illustrate.

I don't preach my lifestyle to anyone, but I sure as heck wouldn't live, for instance, in the ghettos of Detroit. Come to think of it, I did live on the south side of Chicago for 6 years (4 years only half by choice ) ... was ok but I'm not a city person.

[lovethehighcountry]

Originally Posted by Wardendresden

OP, I suppose you're pretty set on leaving the Denver-Boulder area, but you won't find the tons of board gamers anywhere else. Next weekend (I think) at the Red Lion at Parker/225 will be a huge convention of gamers, maybe as many as 1000 attendees.

My wife attended Ghengis Con last year. It was an interesting experience! While she did have fun, I think what she learned from that event is that we really prefer gaming with a few close friends, but we may well also be spoiled from being hosts at one of the most active game groups on the front range.

On our recent trip, we did not meet anyone who games, but we did meet several people who were curious about the idea. We're not afraid to try starting something, but we're also prepared for the fact that it isn't going to be like the front range where there are hundreds of thousands of young people.

[lovethehighcountry]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

So, what did you think?

What if I offend someone?

Seriously though, I hope nobody takes offense to anything I write here. The following was merely my observations and thoughts from a few hours in each town.

The trip wasn't specifically for information gathering, but since we were travelling through anyway ...

Delta: The view of the San Juans as we came to town was breathtaking. It was in stark contrast to the drive through the area, which appeared to be subdivisions amongst crumbling mobile homes. We did not talk to anyone here.

Montrose: Seemed alright. A few places on the west side of town that we really liked. It was interesting to see so little vegetation on many of the hillsides. We talked to a couple guys in one of the fly shops for an hour and then spent some more time reading the local papers and talking to locals in one of the bakeries. I realize it is ski season, but I found it interesting that nearly everyone we talked to in the bakery mentioned Telluride. (This would persist in Ridgway and Ouray) This definitely seemed like some place we could live happily, especially if we had a more reasons. Something like, a job in the area, family, etc ... but neither of us felt like it would be a place we would specifically seek out. Does that make sense?

Ouray/Ridgway: Going to lump these together since they weren't really places we were looking into. If I was single, I could live here. Its too small and cold for my wife. We really liked the locals we talked to here. Everyone was very positive about the area, and of course its gorgeous, if you can handle the snow!

Salida: Not that I would spend a lot of time there, but I was surprised at just how large the "old-town downtown" is here. Its more than one street! One person I tried to talk to was a real jerk. Must have been having a bad day I guess. It was Monday mid-day, after all, so there weren't a whole lot of people about. Some of the real estate here still has me shaking my head. We went and looked at a house on the south side of town. I really liked being in all the pinon and juniper, but the road ... gee I don't know if it would be drivable if it rained! We looked at a couple places in subdivisions ... not our top choice but if it felt right we would still be interested. Was weird to see half or more of the subdivision for sale.

Buena Vista: The most interesting observations here is that I knew it was a tourist town (but not a ski town), but I did not realize just how big the rafting business is here. The numbers I was given indicated the population of the town more than doubles during the summer. For dinner, we went to the Asian Palate as the few times we do go out to eat, its usually Thai or Mexican. Great food! I was surprised, but she said she liked this town more than Salida. We checked out several houses, including one I had high hopes for. As we pulled up, it looked great. I went and stood on the porch, and looked out over the penitentiary. Scratch that one. I loved all the deer around! No chance of a garden here, it would just be food for the true locals. I'd be okay with that.