ugh! today's commute SUCKED (Denver, Englewood: rent, buying, to live in)

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

as always.
I walked downstairs to the office.
And, my neighbor shoveled my sidewalk.

The early sunlight melted it off my driveway and sidewalk by Noon. The walk from my bedroom to the kitchen to the office was clear too.

[zenkonami]

Originally Posted by ca-ut-??

this is the second day of me driving my hubby to lincoln ave station and it SUCKED!

Part of the problem is that we have a car that sucks at being in snow, part of it was traffic. At 6 am!!! I didn't think that was possible. Everyone is an early raiser here in CO.

We are getting another car next week so that I won't have to drop/pick him up every morning.

Now we are looking for places to live near lincoln station instead of castle rock. I am not giving up on CR yet but if this happens often enough, it's not worth it.

Advice: If you haven't already, invest in some all weather or snow tires for the car that sucks at being in snow. I popped a set on my little manual transmission Hyundai and the difference is night and day. Now I'm the one watching people unable to control their vehicles on the road.

[BabyBoomers2]

A former Englewood and Parker resident here (5 1/2 yrs)......

We remember what happened one week in early April (or May?) of 2005. The weather had been absolutely beautiful/warm (some 30 degrees above norm) and the boat ramps were opened up on that weekend. Water was cold, but there were boaters on Chatfield and CC. Anyway, the following Tuesday night, a "wrap-around) snowstorm came in and dumped a little over a foot of white stuff on Wed and early Thursday. Snow ended and the temps took a major increase up to around 70 on Friday and even a little warmer on that weekend. 90% of the snow melted extremely quick and boats were out on Chatfield and CC! It was amazing......part of the week was like total winter and the last and weekend it was like total summer! The temp sways in Denver metro can be fairly big sometimes.

As far as driving goes, both of the vehicles we had there were 4-wheel drive.....Dodge Ram 1500 and a Dodge Durango. BUT, if the roads, streets were too slick, even 4-wheel drive didn't help much! I remember driving from both Englewood and Parker (lived both places) to downtown Denver, where I worked, and had to keep the windshield wiper going due to all the slush being thrown back at me from traffic. That wasn't fun either!

Bottom line is: These kinds of conditions a person must know before relocating to Denver metro and either move there or not! Even though we had lived in So Calif for numerous years, we were both raised in the "snowbelt" areas of Michigan and Indiana.

We absolutely LOVED living there, but sometimes it could get mighty brutal during winter months.

[ca-ut-??]

oh yeah, if i had no kids I totally live near downtown Denver. But Castle Rock is fine for now. Someone in my husband's work lives all the way down in Co Spings!

Today's commute was fine. Easy Peasy.

I am used to living in the COLD, but we've always had easy commute so that part is different. The snow doesn't bother me, just wish they could plow faster. but the forecast doesn't look so bad in the near future. I actually enjoy Denver weather a lot! It's perfect mix of CA and UT like I had posted before.

I didn't anticipate that it would be drier than UT though....

[CosmicWizard]

BarryK123 wrote:

Number one on the list, and very simple, is TURNING ON HEADLIGHTS IN POOR VISIBILITY. What's wrong with people here?

When I see someone driving without headlights on, I assume they simply forgot to turn them on. Just about everywhere else I've ever lived, If I saw an oncoming car without the headlights on when conditions warranted having them on, I'd flash my high beams on and off a couple of time in quick succession, and the oncoming driver would get the message and turn on the headlights. But not here in western Colorado. And I don't think it's forgetfulnees in some cases, but rather a misguided expression of rugged individualism.

In some states, there are laws mandating both turning on headlights whenever the wipers are on or visibility is poor, and requiring complete snow removal. I think we need that here.

What is needed is COMMON SENSE, not another law.

[zmarko]

I had a good time in the snow. The "big" snowfall we got Friday morning wasn't that bad either in my opinion. My commute that typically takes 20 mins at 5am, ended up taking about 40 mins, but I was expecting that and left early enough that it wasn't an issue. I travel the whole I-225 for my commute, and the only slow part Friday morning was between Parker Rd and the I-25. But that was because of the elevation change there, and dropping down from 4 to 2 lanes (going southbound). The rest of the drive wasn't too bad. Except I did notice one thing...that there seemed to be like 75% MORE people out at that time than there are during a normal commute. I figured some people would be staying home, but there seemed to be even more people out there (possibly due to leaving early to allow for travel time).

Anyway, had fun. Love the snow!

[Kibbiekat]

Originally Posted by ca-ut-??

oh yeah, if i had no kids I totally live near downtown Denver. But Castle Rock is fine for now. Someone in my husband's work lives all the way down in Co Spings!

Today's commute was fine. Easy Peasy.

I am used to living in the COLD, but we've always had easy commute so that part is different. The snow doesn't bother me, just wish they could plow faster. but the forecast doesn't look so bad in the near future. I actually enjoy Denver weather a lot! It's perfect mix of CA and UT like I had posted before.

I didn't anticipate that it would be drier than UT though....

there are places that are great for kids that are closer to downtown than CR.

[ca-ut-??]

Originally Posted by Kibbiekat

there are places that are great for kids that are closer to downtown than CR.

I'm sure, but we really like Castle Rock. BUT... we just moved here so we might discover other places we like. That's what's great about renting first right?

[BabyBoomers2]

When I started the job I had, that was 1 mile north of Coors Field, my Director/Supervisor was still living in the Springs (north). For a couple of months before I started, he was getting a motel room off of the I-225 from Sunday night til Friday morning......at his expense. Of course, that got a little costly, so after I started, he started making the commute from the Springs to downtown each day. He had to leave home around 5AM, which didn't bother him much. He was on salary and took Fridays off and I covered for him (was his assistant). Him and his wife decided to sell the house in the Springs and bought a nice house in CR. He drove an old Jeep Cherokee and was always at work before I was......even in the wintery/snow months! After the I-25 was widened (at the old tire factory), our commute was much easier. However, the Department did start work at 7AM.

Originally Posted by ca-ut-??

oh yeah, if i had no kids I totally live near downtown Denver. But Castle Rock is fine for now. Someone in my husband's work lives all the way down in Co Spings!

Today's commute was fine. Easy Peasy.

I am used to living in the COLD, but we've always had easy commute so that part is different. The snow doesn't bother me, just wish they could plow faster. but the forecast doesn't look so bad in the near future. I actually enjoy Denver weather a lot! It's perfect mix of CA and UT like I had posted before.

I didn't anticipate that it would be drier than UT though....

[BabyBoomers2]

CR is very nice and we use to go to the Douglas Country Fair there. But, at least when we lived there, Parker and Highlands Ranch were nice as well........but growing (population/traffic) extremely fast! We left in Oct '07.

Originally Posted by ca-ut-??

I'm sure, but we really like Castle Rock. BUT... we just moved here so we might discover other places we like. That's what's great about renting first right?