Can this be found in Colorado?

[Ticky909]

Henderson Island

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by livecontent

Jazzlover,

I really like the brown. It is hard to say why, considering I grew up near the lush green of the Great Lakes. There is something about the sparse landscape that thrills me. It was not always so; it took some years to accept.

I actually enjoy the Plains more than the mountains. Maybe it has to do with some of the ideas we banter about: the destruction of the wilderness by the selfish rich and those phony town, which I know we both hate. When I go farther out on the plains, beyond the suburban flow, I find towns that have not been despoiled and changed because they are not as attracted to those immigrants who want more green and trees. For me, the harsher landscape of the Plains and the harsh conditions speak of the real West in my mind.

So, I would say that it is good that many parts of the State and the West are not inviting and attractive to many. For it is these areas that will maintain more of the characteristics of the lost West.

I know I do not know Colorado as well as you and never will, but believe me I try to understand the soul and heart of the West. Be patient with me and others like me who do try and want to be part of the Great American West. Now, I am not going to give up our argument about Native vs. Non-native; but I am now going on 31 years in this state and I think I have learned much and appreciate more. Eh, that is coming from a New Yawker, yo, do ya have a problem with dat.

Livecontent

I love the plains, mountains (the ones without all the trophy homes and resort crap--which are getting hard to find), and the deserts. Each has its attraction. I accept that things are going to be brown--that is part of being a Westerner. A lot of people can't accept that and they don't last here. That said, I actually prefer snow cover in the winter, but that is much rarer in most of the lower elevation areas of Colorado than most outsiders think. Years ago, I loved living in Gunnison--gorgeous cool summers, with snow on the ground most all winter. Of course, that 40-below-zero stuff did get old in the winter, but it did keep the riff-raff out.

What I see a lot of these days are people that want to be "convenient Coloradans." They don't really want an arid environment, so they try to make their yard look like Kentucky with water expropriated from wetlands and agriculture. They don't really want to deal with winter, so they live down in the lower elevations and burn umpteen gallons of fuel every year to go to the mountains. They like to look at Colorado's rural landscapes, but their very lifestyle and resource demands are destroying it. They say they love Colorado and the West and then do everything they can to change it into what they left. Some of them don't even like the place enough to stay here year-round. Those are all choices and lifestyles that resource scarcity, economic difficulties, and transportation issues are likely to render impractical in the next few years. When that happens, these folks are going to have to learn to accept Colorado--and their particular spot in it--for what it really is, or get out if they don't like it. We'll find out then who the "real" Coloradans are--whether they be native Coloradans or not.

[Katarina Witt]

To explain the lack of green/blue a bit, see this thread:

//www.city-data.com/forum/denve...-you-miss.html

[5chevin5]

I do not usually reply on the "Where should I live, these are my needs" posts, because they tend to be too subjective. But this post has not turned into some argument and is actually quite informative as I too have been considering Colorado (from Tokyo!)

I think however Prescott, AZ would be the best choice for the OP, based on the needs/wants and housing budget. As usual though, this advise is worth 20 yen.

Good Luck iluvroadtrips, hope you find a place to call home
5

[McGowdog]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

...-if you want to see if you will like Colorado, show up in March. That is when the state is usually at its brownest; the weather alternating between winter cold and snow and something remotely resembling spring; there is wind and mud in a wet year, and wind and dust in a dry one; the snow is mostly gone and the trees yet to leaf out. If you can stand it then, then you might make it as a Coloradan...

This is all very true, except for one thing; Unless you go Bill Murray and get stuck on GroundHog Day, March will usually give way to ...

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

January

February...

Usually... at least in my experience.

Here's the way I experience it; I just enjoy Colorado for what it is. At least most of our mountains have trees. The most barren mountains I know of are from the suburbs west of the Denver Metro up to the Hogback or whatever you call it.

Go look at some of the mountains in Utah, Nevada, and California.

So... I enjoy the High Plains desert that is Colorado... as does Vegas. But when I fly out east, I enjoy seeing all those trees and greenery, but there are so many trees that it can be like being lost in a forrest. You can't see any depth along the roadways. You come to Colorado and you can see a hundred miles.

Now when I fly back to Colorado, I say, "Damn, where's the trees? And why's it so brown?" But after a while, I just get used to it. Then the season changes.

[CosmicWizard]

Jazzlover wrote:

What I see a lot of these days are people that want to be "convenient Coloradans." They don't really want an arid environment, so they try to make their yard look like Kentucky with water expropriated from wetlands and agriculture.

It's a good thing you weren't on this particular bike ride. You might have flown into a rage! A friend & I were riding mountain bikes on the gravel/dirt roads near Cave Creek - AZ. Suddenly we pedalled by a **cking log cabin in a Saguharo desert. Adding insult to injury, these idiots ( apparently from Kentucky ) had a white picket fence surrounding the property with the biggest bluegrass yard I've ever seen outside of Kentucky, and the sprinklers pumping out tremendous volumes of water. We almost fell off our bikes. To this day, more than 20 years later, it is still one of the most outrageously inconsiderate insults to nature that I've encountered.