Moving to RURAL Colorado (Denver, Colorado Springs: sales, insurance, home)

[Tom Judy]

My wife and I are about to retire, both of us are Geologist, both very active in outdoor recreation, cycling, equestrian, fly fishing, lake and WW kayaking. We currently live on 20 acres in Rural El Dorado County California. Both of us are tired of the politics, Fire danger, (and insurance now at $7k/year) taxes, and mostly of the encroachment of urban (Sacramento) into our country lifestyle.

I am a Sales Manager for an equipment company and service Ca, Nv, UT, CO, and WY, so, I know from business trips how nice some of those areas are. We plan to,have a Winter Home down in Baja, so, the winters in the Rockies won’t be a problem.

I am hoping to relocate, out of California, into Rural somewhere. I am looking for a small, (under 30k) population, and over 50miles from any major city, but, want a place with reasonable access to jet airport, hospital, and lively outdoor recreation access, and lively music scene,, I am a singer song writer

I have visited Durango area, like that a lot, want to avoid the Front Range (Colorado Springs, Denver, Boulder) As that is just another California.

Looking for suggestions

[Mike from back east]

Western Slope area: Grand Junction, Fruita, Palisade. Tons of outdoor, an airport, no tourist throngs like Durango.

[COcheesehead]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Western Slope area: Grand Junction, Fruita, Palisade. Tons of outdoor, an airport, no tourist throngs like Durango.

Agreed, also check out Montrose/Ridgeway

Paonia/Hotchkiss/Cedaredge

The owner of Starr's Guitars in Cedaredge, David Starr is an award winning musician and mildly famous.

https://www.starrsguitars.com/ https://www.davidstarrmusic.com/

Joe Cocker, may he rest in peace, had his English style mansion just outside Crawford. Its still there in a beautiful setting. https://www.zillow.com/blog/joe-****...-ranch-150856/ Crawford is a hop away from Paonia and Hotchkiss.

Many of the wineries in Palisade now book music acts throughout the season. Here is Restoration Vineyards band schedule. https://restorationvineyards.com/

Downtown GJ has two pretty decent music venues that catch acts on their way east. The Avalon and the Mesa Theatre.

There is also an outdoor amphitheater by the river for larger crowds and Mack hosts one of the largest music events in the US, Country Jam. https://countryjam.com/

There is also a nice backway over McClure Pass into Snowmass for all the Jazz fests. Telluride is 2 hours south of Grand Junction and their Bluegrass Festival sells out every year.

[Miss Hepburn]

Ah, yes Montrose.

And outside of Salida?

[hikernut]

Buena Vista comes to mind. It's about a 1 1/2 hour drive to the airport in Colorado Springs. You'd have easy access to lots of outdoor activities, especially kayaking/rafting on the Arkansas River.

There is significant fire danger anywhere in the trees, but in Buena Vista (or Salida for that matter) you can live close to the mountains but not right in them.

Not sure about the music scene.

[NW Crow]

Lively music scene and rural generally do not go together beyond small amounts. GJ would have most outside of front range. Resort towns have some. Montrose has a bit as a semi-resort town. Type of music scene desired will guide town selection to some degree. Pagosa Springs has bluegrass and folk festivals and Cortez has the Sunflower Theatre. (Cortez 8.5k, Montezuma County 26-27k. Whitewater in early summer.) Durango has several festivals, a dozen plus live / local music spots and a community concert hall for a couple touring acts per month in good weather.

Could live west of Woodland Park (whitewater available)and go to Manitou Springs / Colorado Springs for music and other stuff.


Jet airport? For private jets? They are pretty common in most places. Commercial airports less common but some small ones.

[otowi]

Since you didn't say you need to be in the mountains, a few places in the Eastern part of the state I would suggest considering are Sterling in NE Colorado, La Junta in SE Colorado.

[Therblig]

Originally Posted by NW Crow

Lively music scene and rural generally do not go together beyond small amounts.

I can't see what the OP is looking for as co-existing in any amount. It's a matter of what you want to give up.

It's an old, old story — someone leaving California because they just can't stand the place any more, and basically looking for a place like it was (for them) 30 years before.

There aren't any. And it's just that migrant population that's given Californians such a bad name in so many other states...

(California native here... but I neither expected Denver to be just-like nor have any intention of trying to change it...)

[COcheesehead]

There are parts of Colorado where rural doesn't mean without culture and music. Some are already mentioned in this thread.
If you are front range centric this may come as surprise to some.

[hikernut]

"Jet airport" could use some clarification. To me this means Denver, Colorado Springs, or Grand Junction. Others might interpret this a bit differently.