Why I want to move back to Massachusetts (Denver: live, restaurant)

[JMM64]

Just move back to MA, I don't understand why this issue is made to be so complex by everyone? Live where you want to live!

Too many people from the east and west coasts have moved to CO and turned it into a miserable melting pot (while complaining every minute they're in CO), and they need to leave in order to save CO from becoming something it never should be. If you're happier in MA, move back!

Also tell everyone in New England that CO sucks, and is always cold, dry, and terrible in every way imaginable!

[gav6791]

Originally Posted by hamster21

sometimes you just have to go out and try something to realize what really matters most to you!

Hamster, I am glad for you if your time in CO has helped you gain perspective and appreciate what you had back East. Actually, I am in the same situation as you, and just took a trip to Denver to look around with the idea of moving there. I have lived in Philly my whole life and thought if I was ever going to live somewhere else now was the time to see. Having returned from Denver last month, I am still debating what I want to do, and realizing I could use to save up some more money if I do plan to move, but the people in Denver were as friendly as I could have hoped they would be, and I am seriously considering the move.

If it only takes you a month to realize what really matters to you then I wish you the best of luck. Everyone is unique and has to find their own path, so listen to yourself, not critics like me.

[hamster21]

Thanks. It's always very interesting to me to see how many people from PA move to Denver/CO! It seems like there's some kind of good compatibility there, like there is for Hawaii/Alaska. Lots of people from both places there also.

[eofelis]

I grew up on the North Shore of Massachusetts and moved out west nearly 20 years ago. I first moved to a small town in northern WY. Well, all towns in WY are small. I immediately loved the wide open wild spaces and dry high desert climate. I lived there for several years and then moved to western Colorado, I've been in Grand Junction for 10 years and I like it. I don't think I'd like Denver, too big. I'm not even really that interested in the mountains. Everyone goes there.

I love the remote canyon country, slickrock sandstone, sage, pinyon-juniper forests. I could never live back east again. Too many people there, to buggy and damp, can't see far horizons or the sky. I probably should go back to MA to visit my family more but I have a hard time tearing myself away from here even for a short time.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by hamster21

Thanks. It's always very interesting to me to see how many people from PA move to Denver/CO! It seems like there's some kind of good compatibility there, like there is for Hawaii/Alaska. Lots of people from both places there also.

Actually, I am from PA and I find relatively few of my fellow states-people here. Of course, there's Cosmic Wizard out in GJ, but not that many of us here in the metro. More from Jersey, NY and I've known a few from MA, including my daughter's fiance.

[davemess10]

Originally Posted by hamster21

Boston is hugely more roadbike-friendly than Denver. Denver has basically no bike lanes in the city compared to Boston, and I can see why.

12. Denver, CO | Bicycling Magazine

26. Boston, MA | Bicycling Magazine

Note the first line of the second link "Boston was one of the worst cities for cycling for years."

And that doesn't even factor in weather, which Denver would win hands down for cycling.

I think you might be judging an entire city off the the small radius where you live.

Note that CO has 3 cities in the top 15 (and I don't even think Fort Collins is big enough to qualify, if so it would surely be on the list).

[Sonnenwende]

Yeah, I agree with the previous posters who said you should have moved to Portland if you were going to move. I don't know why you wrote off either Portland or Seattle based on rain alone. Boston gets just slightly more rain than Portland a year and 7 inches more than Seattle! Otherwise, I'd say either city has what you are looking for. Except that neither are Boston.

[hamster21]

It's a different kind of rain. The northeast gets it in big batches and with less frequency whereas the Portland areas gets it in light/drizzle batches that are long and consistent over days of fog and cloud with little sun for a big chunk of the year. So measurement alone doesn't really do justice when you consider the gloomy, constant drizzle during the winter months that Seattle and Portland experience.

Yeah, I don't know about the bike friendliness thing. Those articles don't really offer much insight for me. Maybe some areas of Denver are more bike friendly, but I meant mostly for commuting. Boston seemed to have it down as far as bike lines go around Cambridge, Allston, Brookline, Jamaica Plain, Harvard Square, on Mass Ave, etc..and maybe it's the nature of these areas in Boston itself that add to the biking experience/make it more worthwhile and in the end contribute to a better feeling of bike friendliness/availability/practicality. Denver may have mountain bike or gravel trails here and there but the streets seem to lack bike lanes for the most part. And even if it does here and there it's almost like the nature of the city itself detracts from the biking experience compared to what I just explained about the Boston area. I don't really place importance on places to park bikes as far as the article goes - they're talking about bike hubs where you rent a bike when they say this, which both cities have. Which areas of Denver are most bike friendly for commuting around the city, out of curiosity?

[The Homogenizer]

Originally Posted by davemess10

I think you might be judging an entire city off the the small radius where you live.

Note that CO has 3 cities in the top 15 (and I don't even think Fort Collins is big enough to qualify, if so it would surely be on the list).

I don't know what criteria they're using, but I bike Denver, and though it has some really nice areas to bike, it's not yet a good bike city. The bike routes are great, but if one leaves them, as a commuter must, one must frequently use bad routes.

[Sonnenwende]

Originally Posted by hamster21

It's a different kind of rain. The northeast gets it in big batches and with less frequency whereas the Portland areas gets it in light/drizzle batches that are long and consistent over days of fog and cloud with little sun for a big chunk of the year. So measurement alone doesn't really do justice when you consider the gloomy, constant drizzle during the winter months that Seattle and Portland experience.

Whine if you want, but I live on Kitsap which gets a lot more rain than Seattle. I hike about 20-25 miles a week and I can count on one hand how many times rain has stopped me from being outdoors this past year and I hiked all winter. I think it is way overblown, the PNW rain thing. From about now until October is the dry season. Very sunny, dry air, not hot, and hardly any bugs. Paradise, for real.

I lived in Indiana before Washington and I really didn't notice any significant difference in winter gloominess. It does not rain constantly, non stop in the winter either. Most of the rain comes in Pacific systems that dump several inches at once. But once that is cleared up, the weather can be quite nice considering the rest of the nation at a similar latitude is usually in the ice box. There may have been slightly more sunny days in the winter in Indiana, for instance, but they were usually very cold and windy and hardly worth leaving the house for. When it is sunny here in the winter (happens even more often than I thought it would), the temps are usually well above freezing.

I know your mind is made up and closed off to the idea of the PNW, but just thought I would clear that up. Enjoy Boston. I have never been, but I have some family there who like it. I'll get around to visiting eventually.