Have You Already/ Or Do You Want To Move Out Of Colorado...Why? (homes, private schools)

[Ziasforever]

I moved away from northern CO in 2001. The best decision I ever made. Traffic on the Front Range is horrible. Most of the Californians I ran into were ok enough but those from the North East were not very friendly and seemed self-important to me. But let me counter-balance that by saying not all New Yorkers are rude. Most of those from the city seemed ok to me as well. And let's not forget about that ugly sprawl and lines to get into everything like resturants and shops.

I live in NM now. Unfortunately all the areas close to services and mountains are now crowded. The same Bostonians are moving here too bringing their bad driving habits and chest-beating as well. But hey, if I can move here, so can they even though parts my family have been in NM for 150+years.

I am going to visit Vermont to see what that's like. Judging from the number of Uhauls I see with car transports with cars with Vermont plates here it must be emptying out. Deals must be good on real estate and you get four seasons.

[Ziasforever]

Originally Posted by I_LUVNM

It is sad but true that America is becoming overpopulated everywhere. Millions are coming into America legally and illegally every year and those people have to live somewhere so each year we gain more and more people. People are also living longer to add to it. We are now the third most populated country in the world next to China and India. It is going to be crowded everywhere you go.

This off the "move out of Colorado" topic. But to put it in the context of Colorado it is crowded there as well. Like I've posted before I wonder what Sunday afternoon traffic is like on 285 between Bailey and C470? Most Sunday afternoons were a three hour drive.
Denver isn't that great. Just a big ugly city with a brown fog surrounding it during the winter.

[zenkonami]

Originally Posted by Todd TCE

I read the CO boards here a lot as well as the AZ ones. And I'm still surprised that folks can't be happy wherever they live. Everyone wants to be somewhere else!

I know what you mean, and in fairness I haven't been in Colorado that long, but short of a couple places I would love to live out of country, I just can't think of another place I'd rather be in the United States. A few place certainly have appeal, but CO has just a little bit of everything I want...and in a way that makes it more enticing than ever.

[72Sh3llB3ll]

I am wanting to move out BIG TIME. Why? Well, I have always like Lush and Green, and this area ( Grand Junction) is not so much that. I don't like the desert, I don't like the dryness. One of my children has horrible eczema due to this horribly dry environment. Most of us have allergies to the pollen all around ( meaning my family). I hate the high cost of living and low wages. I want to live where we can afford to live and have horses again. There ARE pretty areas, and I like the Denver area, but I really want to move to Missouri. JMHO

['M']

The only reason I want to move out of Colorado is that I'd like to live some place where I could wear shorts the entire year Am tired of having to prepare for cold weather, wear my ice grippers instead of sandals, shovel a very long driveway, and have a commute to work that is treacherous at times. I know this may sound very crabby and ungrateful, but it's the truth...and Colorado is a wonderful place to live!

[docwatson]

I think my reasons for wanting to leave will be very sepcific to my preferences.

When I moved hear, I didn't know if I would like the dry high plains environment - it was honestly a stopover for grad school before heading to "the coast." That said, I stayed 10 years (marriage, wife's schol, job). Landed in Fort Collins after school in Boulder. After getting used to it, I really liked to community. However, I fear I've never really gotten used to the dry weather, to having tom "drive to the mountains" to see nice scenery. I enjoy city living, to an extent, but need to have nature closeby - as you find in Portland or Seattle - rather than a 1-hour drive through the urban sprawl away. I find the highways and urban sprawl more offensive when you don't have trees to hide it, but that's just me! For these reasons, along with quality of schools, I feel Denver wouldn't be the city for me, despite having fun when I stay there with friends. Fort Collins was nice, but I did feel I wanted a more diverse, urban environment. Boulder, well I've covered that elsewhere and felt the wrath of critiquing Boulder! : ) I also really miss the water on occasion - give me a large (natural) lake or the ocean to swim, surf, sail, sea kayak!

Problem is, even without thinking I would like the high plains climate here, I've gotten used to it. Could I now take the hot, humid summer of the south or the midwest, I dealt with as a child? Could I take the harsh winters of the snowbelt? Could I take the 8 months of clouds in the Pac NW? I guess that's what happens when you live in Colorado - I'll just have to buck up and get used to it.

Culturally I want to be somewhere reasonable progressive and supportive of active living, but don't need the 1960s baggage some smaller towns have. For these reasons I'm looking at a few places: Portland, OR; Victoria, BC; Pittsburgh, PA; Santa Rosa, CA; Quito, Ecuador ... OK just kidding about the last one, but they say they have springtime year-round! : ) If anyone knows a nice college town that's more like a small city than a town, where the weather isn't too extreme, where the economy is good, and where I can sail or row, let me know!

[80skeys]

I'll contribute to this thread.

Yes, I do want to leave Colorado. I want :

- a little more humidity and greenery
- more cultured and diverse city environment

I'm bored with the desert and with the blandness of Denver.

[docwatson]

It is sad but true that America is becoming overpopulated everywhere. Millions are coming into America legally and illegally every year and those people have to live somewhere so each year we gain more and more people. People are also living longer to add to it. We are now the third most populated country in the world next to China and India. It is going to be crowded everywhere you go.

I'm not saying America is not becoming overcrowded, and I certainly have no plans to move to NYC, LA, or Phoenix, but ... I repectfully ask us to consider, is it partly the way we live? So many Americans visit Europe and go on about the neat cities, the quaint small towns, the pretty farmland and countryside ... in an area that is more densely populated than anywhere in the U.S. save the Northeast. Perhaps with this population growth we are experiencing, we need to reconsider the idea of living on 1/4 acre, driving everywhere and consequently paving over 25% of our cities with roads and parking lots! I've noticed people will often describe a city as "crowded" when it has lots of highways and shopping malls, while gushing about how beautiful a much denser city that has neither (like San Francisco) is.

[Mike from back east]

To stay on topic, no, I haven't left CO nor do I want to. There are places we all would go if the money presented itself.

There are really great cities, and really great open spaces, all over the USA and the world. The wine region of France, the marvelous rail service in Germany, the Alps in Switzerland, Puget Sound, San Francisco, a brownstone facing Central Park in NYC, the endless summer of the south pacific. I'd love them all, just as I would having a nice waterfront place with a big boat on a river on the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay back in MD.

I will not worry about which is better or why; it's a case of what matters to each of us. No need to prove a point or convince others of the rightness of my/our choices. Discussing it is interesting, but it all boils down to a case of 'to each his own,' or in today's vernacular, YMMV.

[snowshine]

I moved from Colorado in 94 to the Southeastern US because of personal circumstances, not because I wanted to leave. I miss Colorado terribly. I've made some good friends here, and my life is fine, but I still miss Colorado. It's the attitude thing.

Although people are very friendly, they are extremely superficial. They care more about decorating their Mcmansions, their new cars, and their jewelry, than maintaining real friendships and having interesting, sometimes intellectual, discussions. Everyone talks loud in restaurants, thinking that everyone in the place must be impressed by their wit. Not. Trying to have a quiet conversation while out to dinner is a joke.

The weather and pollution is horrible, the bugs are disgusting, and the urban/suburban sprawl is atrocious. The smaller towns are all so similar that they have absolutely no character/nothing unique going for them. The scenery, even in the mountain areas, is bland and repetitive, and the rural towns hate anyone who wasn't born and raised in their county.

If you aren't into high school and college football in the Southeast, then you are looked upon with suspicion. If you weren't born here, you are called a Yankee, (not a term of endearment) even if you never set foot in the northeast in your life.

So yes, I've moved out of Colorado and on one level, I regret it. If you want to leave, do yourself a favor and at least remain in the West somewhere, or possibly go to New England or the Midwest.