Tips, Tricks, & Tidbits? (Denver, Pueblo: amusement parks, school, wages)

[amazingxmanda]

Hi! First off, if you look at my previous posts, my fiance and I are indecisive on where we're going to move to haha! We're debating on Colorado now, so here's a little information about us!

I'm 22, he's 26 and we've got two dogs. We started looking into moving to Colorado, which is WAY different than where we've been discussing (Georgia, South Carolina, Florida), but we think we might find a little bit of happiness here. We both enjoy being active outdoors, and from what I've been able to find Colorado has a city life, but you get outside city limits and it's pretty natural. That appeals to me, I like a slower/old school way of life.

My fiance doesn't particularly like winter (winters in Illinois are miserable), but he said the beautiful country and mountains (he LOVES mountains) would make up for it. Also, we read somewhere that CO is less humid, therefore the weather doesn't stick to you so bad? If this is true, that's awesome!

We're both possibly going to go back to school, finish up some education, but that's not the main concern right now. We're looking for someplace fun & active to be. Our idea of fun isn't so much going to bars/nightclubs and such but just doing things.

We like zoos, aquariums, amusement parks, etc. But we also LOVE hiking with our dogs, fishing, swimming, and just exploring!

How are the basics there? Jobs? Costs of living? The people? From what I've told you about us and what we like to do, think we could find our niche here? When I'm considering jobs and costs of living by the way I'm not talking about Denver. Breed Specific Legislation won't allow our pit bulls there anyway, and we don't care for big cities. It'd be a small city or large town we probably ended up in.

Bottom line is that we need to be able to support a life wherever we go, but we just want to enjoy where we live. Thanks y'all!

[lurtsman]

COL to Wages in the Springs and Pueblo is quite reasonable imo. I spent several years in Iowa, which has winters that are very much like Illinois (shocking!). The difference is absolutely massive. If you had a Colorado Winter in Illinois, you would say that fall had just transitioned into a slow spring and skipped winter. In Iowa the highs were usually mid 20s with high humidity and ice everywhere. Here the highs are mid forties with a strong dose of sunshine and the snow melts off the day it falls, or within a few days if there was a cold snap.

There is tons of hiking, good fishing (may need to drive a bit), and the front range is very dog friendly. I imagine the rest of Colorado is probably dog friendly as well. You'll find in summer the heat isn't near as bad. The low humidity and summer breeze work wonders. When it is 85 I can go out in pants and be comfortable if it is shady. In full sun, it's got to be shorts, but the difference between the states is that 85 in Colorado will feel like 80, and 85 in illinois will feel like 90. On top of that, we cool down in the afternoon with thunderstorms over the summer.

For me, moving to Colorado (from Iowa) was a dream come true.