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Thank you for your responses. However, I am appalled at what I have read. I must have come to the wrong place and for that I apologize. I was looking for some insight from someone who might have made the same type of decision that I am looking to make, or would simply like to share why they live where they do. Instead it has turned into a form of mockery and detest towards me. I am sorry for the delayed response. It has been rather warm here in the Midwest lately and my family and I have been outside enjoying the spring like conditions. Sorry but I do not park myself in front of a computer screen for hours on end. It has been 12 whole days since my original post so please let me try to respond to everyone.
Livecontent – I would thank you, but your impatience has already settled that up. I do however appreciate the time that anyone would take to respond, otherwise I would not have posted anything in the first place. I do not expect a reply from anyone. Your response did not help me in anyway. I could argue the point that there are drugs and alcohol in every city/town in this country. I currently live in the near suburbs of Indianapolis, the 12th largest city in the country. Believe it or not, we are not alcoholics or drug addicts, even in a city much larger than yours.
Point in fact, I am thinking of the children that you seem so concerned about. My children enjoy many different outdoor activities, especially winter sports. I would like to give them the opportunity that living in the mountains has over the largely flat Midwest. I am also trying to avoid making it weekend trips up the I-70 parking lot that I hear so much about.
When I said the "lowest people..." I was trying to be nice and not call out the $6.00/hour housekeeper. It was simply a blanket monetary statement. I was wondering how someone who unfortunately lives with a limited income, could manage to live in such a scenic and beautiful place. How does one make ends meet? Apparently it is possible. I was looking for someone with that experience to share their story.
Instead I got your reply, a reply that doesn't help me or point me in the right direction. Instead it is one that assumes that I do not know how to parent, or how to keep my children from making a decision that might not be the wisest one. It is a reply that assumes that this decision has not been talked about as a family, or is about the family. Thank you for judging me in less than 260 words.
2bindenver - That is why I am asking for advice. What is there to do in a mountain/ski town in the off season?
Lalahartma – Did I miss something, or is there an impatient bandwagon that I forgot to jump on?
CosmicWizard – Thank you for all of the research you have done for me. I am sure that if you were looking for information on the living in Indiana, I would be just as helpful as you were. I have been looking at this for 16 months now, and every website and book and magazine I have read are nothing but advertising ploys. How would you suggest I get firsthand information that hasn’t been manipulated?
Treedonkey – I am sorry that you did not have the time to scoll back to the top of the page to learn my name. How ignorant can you be to judge and mock someone when you can’t even spell? Thank you for putting me in my place, I sure needed it.
Americana1st – Yet again someone who simply assumes that I am in this for myself. Could it be that two people who got married enjoy the same things and take pleasure in doing the same things together? Could it possibly be that my wife of 10 years enjoys the camping trips and snowboarding that we do together? Surely that kind of relationship does not exist. The difference is you said your “friend” was the “type”. You never said his family was. Sounds like your “friend” made a mistake. Why is it two opposing lives? Still no one can even remotely answer my first question.
SheridanL – Thank you for the positive words. I would like to know more about Summit County and what it is really like to live there. What is Breck like in the summer? Thank you.
I stand by my assessment because I am one who has been there during the seasons, up in those "faux" mountain towns. How do people who have minimum skilled and jobs survive on the low wages?? Well, they live packed together in condos or houses to minimize costs. They also live in corporate sponsored migrant housing--called euphemistically dormitories; set up by the businesses, so can get low wage help. They are usually young at the beginning of their work life or they are of the "I Won't Grow Up" mentality, living in a "pipe dream."
Non of this housing are places are for families or children--though some self-serving hedonistic poor individuals drag their children and justify the existence by the great experience for their child, as if they cared.
Yea, Give me free skiing instead of wages--oh, boy, what a deal--a slave mentality
These fake little towns in the likes of Vail, are very much egocentric mountain playground with illegal drugs and excessive alcohol consumption. The argument that these activities exist in other communities does not defend the environment. Because in other real communities there is abilities, outlets and space to get away from the influences. These enclaves are too compact, small with stratified, expensive exclusive, amenities. It is very difficult to avoid problems unless you are wealthy or have a well paying job and can afford the housing and environment for your children.
If you have no skills that are not in demand, and cannot earn a livable wage for maintaining a family--which is much higher in the mountains, "fairy dust" of "play" cannot help, then you must "fly" away from "never land" because your time has past and gone; you are now grown up.
Livecontent
Last edited by livecontent; 03-13-2009 at 11:19 PM..
Thank you for your responses. However, I am appalled at what I have read. I must have come to the wrong place and for that I apologize. I was looking for some insight from someone who might have made the same type of decision that I am looking to make, or would simply like to share why they live where they do. Instead it has turned into a form of mockery and detest towards me. I am sorry for the delayed response. It has been rather warm here in the Midwest lately and my family and I have been outside enjoying the spring like conditions. Sorry but I do not park myself in front of a computer screen for hours on end. It has been 12 whole days since my original post so please let me try to respond to everyone.
So...would you ask someone a question face-to-face, and then turn around and walk out of the room? And then come back two hours later and get indignant with the guy who answered for calling you on your bad manners?
I know a couple folks here are getting tired of spending their time answering the same questions over and over, with no response from the OP. After a week, it's not unreasonable to think it happened again.
If you do some reading of the other threads here (try the "search" tool, it really works) you'll see that the general inquiry that goes something like: "I love to ski and want to move to Colorado. Please somebody tell me everything I need to know about jobs, snow, astronomy, nosebleeds at altitude, housing, the economy, etc etc" is asked about once a week in one form or another here.
If you have a specific question...one that hasn't been asked and answered 100 times already here, there'll usually be someone to answer it. But try helping yourself first by reading through what people have already written. Then ask some specific questions.
Oh, BTW, some of the folks here have seen lots of would-be resident skiers come and go...when people tell you the jobs are low-paying, few and far between, and seasonal, it isn't to mock you. Remember that if you move here and then find yourself broke in Summit county...unemployment and food stamps won't cover lift tickets. No, we don't know you, but the story is just so unbelievably common. It's not unfair to warn you sternly that it's really tough to do what you describe as a single guy...and 10x harder with a family.
CosmicWizard – Thank you for all of the research you have done for me. I am sure that if you were looking for information on the living in Indiana, I would be just as helpful as you were. I have been looking at this for 16 months now, and every website and book and magazine I have read are nothing but advertising ploys. How would you suggest I get firsthand information that hasn’t been manipulated?
I made a cross country move 3 years ago, and I managed to do it without the benefit of this forum. Wish I'd have know about it back then. It could be helpful for coming up with places to personally visit, but NOT for making a decision on where to live.. Keep in mind that any information you find online is likely to be somewhat biased either in support of a certain location or against a certain location. That is especially the case with information on this forum. It's all just someones opinion, colored by our own biases and perceptions. Take it all with a grain of salt. The most helpful aspect in my decision of where to live, came thru personal visits to the locations on my list. That made it real. Up until the actual visit, it was all in my imagination, which does keep the dream alive, but that's all it does. The BEST way to get firsthand information that is not manipulated is to make a personal visit. There is no other way that comes to mind. If you have specific questions in regard to Grand Junction I might be able to help you out. Best wishes for a happy and successful relocation.
Last edited by CosmicWizard; 03-14-2009 at 08:55 AM..
I have not answered your post up until now because--if you read everything else I post--I strongly suspect you wouldn't like the answer. Point is--don't ask the question, then get angry at a person who posts an answer you don't like. I frequently disagree with livecontent on many issues, but his answer is spot on point to your question. I'm sure that it is not wanted you wanted to hear. Too bad.
Truth is, you have same little fantasy about living in the Rockies that about a zillion people a year have. If they all made good on it, there would be no room to stand between Denver and Glenwood Springs. The fact is, only about one or two in that zillion actually makes it to Colorado and manage to make a living here. Yes, some people do, but some people win the lottery each week, too. Get my point?
The people who live here--especially anyplace away from the metro areas of Colorado--are generally able to because they a) brought a lot of money with them; b) possess some job skill that is in high demand and/or with few potential other people in the job pool (that's how I've been able to live here); or c) they work in a job that does not rely in any way on the local economy. They are also usually expected and willing to make some significant monetary and lifestyle sacrifices to live here. In short, making a living in rural Colorado, especially the resort areas, is exceedingly difficult--and is going to get much more difficult in the coming economic era. A point made by others more indirectly, I will make quite bluntly: WHAT YOU PERCEIVE WHEN YOU VACATION HERE IS MUCH DIFFERENT THAN WHAT THE PLACE REALLY IS LIKE WHEN YOU LIVE HERE. Far too many people make that mistake. Enough of them that we long-time residents have a name for it: "The Paradise Syndrome." People move here to "live the dream"--then find out that the reality is something much different. After a few years (and after they usually go broke trying to live the dream), they move on--and a "greater fool" moves in to take their place. It's an ongoing cycle, and I've watched it this state for over four decades now.
Many of the posters on this forum who tell you to "go for it" are people who haven't lived in Colorado very long themselves, and are in some stage of living the Paradise Syndrome themselves. I would take their advice with a great big grain of salt. Many others live in the metro areas where there actually is some economic diversity and jobs--but they aren't in the mountains, either. Others who are either natives (like me) and/or long-time Coloradans (like livecontent, for example) long ago figured out how to exist in the Colorado economic environment. In that group, very few of us live in the resort towns--we know that they are fake cartoons of Colorado life, and that they are unaffordable to nearly all of us if one expects to have anything approaching a normal lifestyle.
Sorry if that messes up your little dream, but reality does that sometimes.
I'm one of the relative newbies that jazzlover refers to above. I've lived in many different places during my 60 years on the planet. None of them have been perfect, yet each of them have been perfect in their own way. It's all a matter of perspective and what's going on in my inner world. Some days I've absolutely loved the place where I'm living, and on other days, I've asked myself, what the hell am I doing here. Obviously, it's not the just the place. It's my perception of the place, and even perceptions change from day to to day. Remember this saying, Whever you go...there you are!
Living out your dream, IF you are able to materialize it, is actually little more than a trade off in disguise! Most of the discontents and unhappiness that you have in Indianapolis will follow you wherever you go. Living somewhere else will change none of that. I'm not attempting to rain on your parade. I sincerely wish you well in your endeavor, and I encourage you to follow your dream. Just be aware that while relocation might resolve some specific issues in your life, it will simultaneously bring forth a whole new set of unanticipated issues. ( There's just no way to antipicate every possibility, no matter how much research you do or how prepared you are! )
Persoanlly I'm glad I made the move from Virginia to Colorado, even though it reguired financial sacrifices to do so. However, my daily life here consists of the same old routines that I followed in Virginia Beach, except there is less traffic to deal with, the natural surrounding are much nicer, and the climate more closely matches my preferences. The big advantage comes on the weekends because there are so many natural playgrounds close by. To me, that's an aspect of my life that provides a high level of satisfaction, so it is worth the sacrifices. Also keep in mind, that I carried out my relocation in 2006 when the economy was still flying high. The same move would probably be alot more difficult in the current economy. Do whatever feels right to you, but go slowly. Don't let the dreambusters get you down, but don't ignore what they are telling you because alot of it is just the way things are.
BTW, my wife and I are both working class heros, totally dependent on the local economy, so we couldn't afford the mountain towns. Yeah, reality sucks sometimes, but it is what it is. But, hey it ain't too bad. If I wanted to play in the snow, I could be there in 45 minutes. Unless you are independently wealthy, have an internet businees or something like that, or willing to live a hand to mouth existence, the mountain towns are not going to work out for you. But you can be in the mountains in an hour or two from most places in Colorado. You can't do that in Indianapolis, eh?
Last edited by CosmicWizard; 03-14-2009 at 11:33 AM..
Thank you for the advice.
To answer your question, no I would not walk away and come back later only to get indignant. But then again I thought I was online and not face to face. Where it is a lot less personal.
Sorry if you have to answer the same questions, everyone has to go through it. I have to deal with everyone wanting to know about the 500 race. Which I personally do not care for. I feel your pain.
I tried to do a search, but maybe wasn't specific enough. I really do not like to ask people for advice and tried several different searches before I posted the original. I will continue to try. Thanks again.
Persoanlly I'm glad I made the move from Virginia to Colorado, even though it reguired financial sacrifices to do so. However, my daily life here consists of the same old routines that I followed in Virginia Beach, except there is less traffic to deal with, the natural surrounding are much nicer, and the climate more closely matches my preferences. The big advantage comes on the weekends because there are so many natural playgrounds close by. To me, that's an aspect of my life that provides a high level of satisfaction, so it is worth the sacrifices. Also keep in mind, that I carried out my relocation in 2006 when the economy was still flying high. The same move would probably be alot more difficult in the current economy. Do whatever feels right to you, but go slowly. Don't let the dreambusters get you down, but don't ignore what they are telling you because alot of it is just the way things are.
Once when I was a little homesick, I told my DH the same thing. I asked "What are we doing differently here than we did in Illiniois?" Of course, there was the camping, skiing, etc. After we had our family, it became more of an "eat, work, sleep, do things for/with the kids" life that we could have done anywhere. After they got into gymnastics, we gave up a lot of our weekend time to gymnastics meets. When they did high school gymnastics, we gave up our falls completely to the sport. But hey, we were doing it here. The only time it was really difficult was when my parents were aging in Pennsylvania. We finally brought my mother out here after my father died.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Schmuhls
Thank you for the advice.
To answer your question, no I would not walk away and come back later only to get indignant. But then again I thought I was online and not face to face. Where it is a lot less personal.
Sorry if you have to answer the same questions, everyone has to go through it. I have to deal with everyone wanting to know about the 500 race. Which I personally do not care for. I feel your pain.
I tried to do a search, but maybe wasn't specific enough. I really do not like to ask people for advice and tried several different searches before I posted the original. I will continue to try. Thanks again.
Well, OP, you left for 10 days. There is an expectation that you will come back, read the information, and at least say "Thanks, I'll think about that", even if you don't agree with the response.
Thank you for all of your opinions and for taking the time to respond.
I understand what is being said. I have spent many weeks over the last year in downtown Denver on business, I know the downtown pretty well. I have spent weekends driving around all of the suburbs looking at everything from Boulder to Highlands Ranch. I would like to live in the mountains, but was not sure if it was a reachable possibility. I am now seeing that it is a very difficult one. Maybe the better option is to stick with the metro area and pile onto the ski train on weekends. I have grown to really like the atmosphere in Colorado compared to the Midwest. It is very much the bible belt conservative stereotype here that it has been made out to be. Not really my cup of tea. I would like to hear more stories if anyone would like to share. I will do my best to update my responses as soon as I can. But please keep in mind that I average 65 hour work weeks and my children are very social. Which means I am normally busy and not always online. Thanks again.
It is very much the bible belt conservative stereotype here that it has been made out to be.
Greeeatt..... So your solution is to bring hethonism to Colorado?
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