Boulder, Golden, Evergreen, Ken Caryl, Roxborough or SE Aurora? (Denver: home, safe area)

[brwynn]

Hi - our family is relocating from Austin to the Denver area and have narrowed the search down to the areas of Boulder, Golden, Evergreen/Gennessee, Ken Caryl, Roxborough or SE Aurora. Work location is not a concern since I work from home and my husband will be working all over the Denver area and even in Colorado Springs once in awhile.

We want a safe area with good parks, trails, community activities (especially for kids), great schools, and a sprouts/whole foods/other organic style market within 15 minutes (one of our kids has severe food allergies so we need to shop somewhere with less processed/more organic foods). From having seen these areas once, it's hard to determine if we'd like living there and if these things are available close by.

Our ideal place to live would be like the Westlake area of Austin or The Woodlands in the Houston area - we love the quirkiness of Austin, the people and the unique restaurants and boutiques to be found there. Both areas have very nice neighborhoods with great services, they're safe, schools are the best, nice shopping is very close by (can't get nicer than the Woodlands Mall and Market Street), restaurants are awesome (Tommy Bahamas, Jasper's, etc), free concerts and movies at the park, trails to walk/bike on, etc. When we lived in The Woodlands, we pretty much lived on Market Street, hanging out at Borders, playing at the park in the center with the water coming up from the ground, listening to jazz music concerts on Thursdays, etc. - we always felt very safe and enjoyed meeting people from all different nationalities there (not uncommon to hear German, French or Spanish being spoken). Now that we're in Austin, we love hanging out at the lake, eating at original restaurants, biking on the trails, going shopping at the Galleria, etc.

Can you please provide pros and cons of each area I listed above (Boulder/Evergreen/etc) and let me know if any one of these areas would be like the ones we've loved in the past? Thanks in advance!

[davidv]

Of the group, I think that Boulder is closest to your Austin lifestyle. Both are home to large universities, and are the centers of various types of activities. Boulder is definitely the center of the organic food universe here in Colorado. It is close to the mountains, and is very beautiful. The Boulder Valley School District is excellent. Drawbacks: Housing is expensive and traffic is horrible.

Ken Caryl (where I live), Roxborough, and SE Aurora are the very definition of suburban living. These areas are very nice with great schools and lots of outdoor activities, but there is no urban center, shopping and dining are chain-oriented. You can get your organic foods here.

Evergreen/Genessee are nice communities in the mountains. Even if your husband works all over Denver, it is a 30 min drive to Denver to begin. A trip to Colo Spgs would be at least 90 min - 2 hrs.

[2bindenver]

I would add Lone Tree to your list.

[brwynn]

Hmmm sounds like Evergreen might be nice to visit but too far out to live - I also forgot to mention Castle Rock was on the list too.

I loved the Ken Caryl / Roxborough landscape with all of the big rocks but the fact that dining would be limited to chain restaurants is depressing.

[LisaBoulder]

Boulder sounds like what you're looking for but it's on the fringe of the Denver metro and may not be a good fit with you're husband's work/driving range especially if he's going to be in Colorado Springs some of the time. Denver proper offers a lot of what you're looking for and I would recommend checking out some of it's neighborhoods too. Livecontent listed a bunch of areas with a traditional downtowns in another thread and some of those areas may work for you too. Good luck with your search.

[LisaBoulder]

For some reason it doesn't look like edit is working with my mobile client. I just realized that you are the op of that other thread. So maybe you and I are thinking along the same lines.

[SandyPo]

You would not like Evergreen. I'll give you my experience living in Evergreen for the past three years. It's filled with hyper conservative, small minded, white bread, snobby people. I moved here to find a good neighborhood and school for my children and I found instead a conformist enclave of people who are generally so boring, so status seeking, so self-absorbed, it boggles the mind. It's not just if you think differently, you are alone - you are excluded and viciously mocked. My children are mixed race and the teasing and prejudice they have encountered from their school mates is amazing! I admit prejudice can and does happen anywhere but usually where you have affluent people, you also have some education, some sophistication, some enlightenment. Not here... You have the worst of both worlds. And don't believe anybody who tells you it's an easy commute to Denver. The traffic is horrible [FONT=Verdana][SIZE=2]especially in the winter which can be hard no matter that people tell you they are "mild".
[/SIZE][/FONT]

[brwynn]

Wow Sandy I'm sorry Evergreen was such an awful place for your family - hopefully you've found a place where you can be happy. I really appreciate the input!

[snowie]

I live in Ken Caryl and although I love it, there are no mini-urban social centers as you describe in Austin. We do have some interesting restaurants (Thai Basil, Bacco Trattoria, Big Papa's).

Boulder would meet all your requirements.

[karae]

Looks like i am 2yrs late to this party but still want to jump in. We are in austin and considering a move to evergreen, co too. Brywnn, Did you make the move and if so, where did you settle? Evergreen sounds ideal for what we are looking for : small town feel, quality life with family, get out of the rat race, get out of the heat, close enough for arts, sports, major shopping. But one comment regarding the small minded, self absorbed, snobby, white bread demographic was alarming. It is exactly what we are looking to get away from. I have never heard one negative about living in Evergreen, especially this. Please, if any of you can offer your thoughts on raising a well rounded family in Evergreen, I need to hear from you.