27F looking for country life in CO, possible? (Denver, Colorado Springs: ski resorts, to rent)

[MossyOak515]

Hello! So I have gone snowboarding a couple times in CO and loved everything I saw in CO. I love the country life (horses, simple life) plus outdoors like camping, hiking, snowboarding etc. I lived in Ohio for 2 yrs and loved the mid-west mentality. I'm not big on city-life/typical bar scene. I'm thinking about quitting my job here (in Florida) and just heading over there and try to start a new chapter in my life. Could anyone recommend any areas that would be condusive to this lifestyle? I am single w/ no children so living simple is no problem for the beginning.

Thanks for your help!

[livecontent]

Colorado living is not easily conducive to a simpler lifestyle and is not cheap. A simpler life with less expense is found in Ohio and many of the modest States with simpler values, cheaper land and less phony fluff of mountain living. Do not believe all that deceptive advertising that feed into this group mentality that Colorado is some sort of oasis away from problems.

It is difficult to find a job and it is best to have money or extraordinary exceptional skills and applicable good education (a college degree does not always mean a good education or any education, for that matter) or have a job waiting.

Many people come here with the idea that they are going to "tip toe through tulips" on the horse of happiness, but what is really found in these ideas are dreams in "la la land".

Livecontent

[redjan1225]

Read up on Woodland Park. I just visited there for a wedding and it is really beautiful. It is somewhat touristy and has a Wal-Mart, etc. But surrounding towns may fit the bill for you.

[Safecracker]

This is just my opinion, but I truly think you can find exactly what your looking for on the western slope of colorado, there are many towns between say grand jct & Durango that would be a great place to start over in a country setting, look on mapquest at the road between those 2 places...some beautiful country and great places to live. From there it is still a fairly easy commut to ski resorts.

[Snikt]

Having moved from Florida, I would say moving anywhere in this state and you'll be 10000 times better off

[LemonYellow]

Since you are posting in the "Denver" subforum I assume you are looking at being close to Denver and not on the other far corners of the state?


What exactly are you looking for? How "country" do you want to be? How rural? What size place?

How close to Denver? What kind of prices can you handle?

[MossyOak515]

Thanks for the advice so far! I definitely want to try and have a good job before coming out, since I have heard it is very pricey to live. I'm definitely not expecting it to be perfect, and will have whole new set of challenges, but I just miss the seasons and having people around that are into the same things for starters. Florida is full of people who are just metro, into money, beach, drinking, and just lost what really matters in life (in my opinion.) Plus... its HOT!! So CO seemed like a better option

[MossyOak515]

I posted in Denver just because I figured with it being such a big city, it may be an ok place to start and move to until maybe I would have a better idea as to where everything is. Ideally if I could figure that out before I move then that'd be preferrable. It doesn't have to be out in the middle of no where, but I'd like easy access to go riding on a regular basis (2-3x aweek) but be not too far from a mountain (like an hour) in the winter season. I am a single person, so it'd be nice to have a decent area to meet people, but I dont mind if I need to drive a little to get there thats why I was thinking maybe outside Denver or one of the major cities. Price range, I'd be renting and sharing a house I'm sure, so 500/month. Looking back on this now I feel like I may be asking a lot, but I figure I'll throw it out there and see what there is

[LemonYellow]

It will be harder if you can't buy a place and do not have a job already lined up.

Work on the job first and then figure out the commute radius around your job that you are willing to drive. Outside the "metro" is rather "rural" and you could find a room to rent.

The outskirts of Colorado Springs (especially the farther south you go) can snag you some rural places and still be by a mountain. Colorado Springs will also have more jobs than many of the other "rural" places mentioned.

Also try the Fort Collins/Loveland area. Boulder is pretty but pretty pricey.

Also be aware that CO is NOT all mountain ranges... it's actually quite dry in many places and "alpine desert". There are PLENTY of rural areas... alas many of them are very tiny with no jobs or are very "New Mexico" in scenery and wind.

When most people think of CO what they are really picturing in their head is the area along I-70 from Denver heading west. And it can be pricey (the famous Aspen is that way and all the ski resorts). Or extremely isolated.

Good luck!!!!!



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[Mike from back east]

Mossy, the whole Front Range is one big horse lover's playground. Search on keywords like HORSES or EQUESTRIAN to find any one of several existing threads on horses. Just about every county has a fairgrounds where horses are a large and regular event. English riders can find a lot in Parker at the big horse center there, etc. Out near Golden a local girls group called the Westernaires meet and practice at JeffCo fairgrounds, etc. LOTS to do here.