Denver vs. Portland, OR

[JBPisgah]

You're looking at two places with unusual climates. Denver has 4 seasons, but with crazy temperature gyrations within three of the seasons. (I've seen 45 degrees difference a day or two apart.) Winter will get cold, but warm at times, too. Summers are parched and the sun is an uncomfortable heat-lamp hot. 300 days of sun, if you mean full sun with few clouds, is a myth.

Portland pretty much has two seasons - rainy and humid, and then sunny and dry. Spring and fall are more like transition periods than the robust, distinctive seasons out East. Portland in the winter is gloomy, wet, and shivery - half a year or more of the kind of day that makes you just want to stay inside. Portland in the summer (about three months) is sunny, dry, and just about perfect, certainly cooler and more comfortable than Denver.

Bugs don't like either climate very much.

[docwatson]

I'm considering 2 possible job opportunities; one is in Arvada, CO, and the other is in Woodland, WA. How “urban” are each of these areas?

Arvada has a neat little downtown area that has great views fron "Grandview Ave" (just stay focussed on the mountains and not the suburban sprawl unfolding below you). It's a little downtown that already had a few neat places to hang out and that "has potential," and won't feel urban so much as a small town located amidst suburban sprawl. You can also pick up a bike trail there. Since you'd be west of Denver, its not too far to get into the mountains west of Denver, including good hiking around Boulder and Golden areas. There are also commuting options if you want to live in smaller towns in Boulder county, like Lafayette or Louisville (more "small town feel" than purely suburban) or if you want to live in an up-and-coming city neighborhood like Highlands in Denver, but it sounds like you're not into that (its not very "urban" - really mainly bungalow-type housing). Housing seems quite reasonable in Arvada.

As for lake Kayaking - there are few natural lakes in Colorado of any size, its more about alpine lakes. 3 hours away you'll find Grand Lake which is beautiful and at about 1 mi. across is the largest natural lake in Colorado. Also 2 hrs west of Denver is Dillon Reservoir, nice because no motorboats are allowed but also cold at 9,000' elevation. I've sort of given up looking for nice lakes nearby since the reservoirs with their motorboats just don't do it for me, but there are a couple (Chatfield and Cherry Creek) in the Denver area, and Lake Union in Longmont is one of the few lakes of any size that does not allow motorboats (or at least is no wake). Waneka Lake in Lafayette would be a place for a quick paddle, or Berkeley Lake in Denver, if you lived nearby. Standley Lake near Arvada is one of the bigger reservoirs; their boat permit rules seem to always be under review these past few years but they seem to allow a limitted number of boats. I started paddling Class I/II rivers since I came here but long to get back into sailing and rowing when we move to the coast. There are some active paddling clubs in Denver.

[NickMan7]

Originally Posted by JBPisgah

You're looking at two places with unusual climates. Denver has 4 seasons, but with crazy temperature gyrations within three of the seasons. (I've seen 45 degrees difference a day or two apart.) Winter will get cold, but warm at times, too. Summers are parched and the sun is an uncomfortable heat-lamp hot. 300 days of sun, if you mean full sun with few clouds, is a myth.

Portland pretty much has two seasons - rainy and humid, and then sunny and dry. Spring and fall are more like transition periods than the robust, distinctive seasons out East. Portland in the winter is gloomy, wet, and shivery - half a year or more of the kind of day that makes you just want to stay inside. Portland in the summer (about three months) is sunny, dry, and just about perfect, certainly cooler and more comfortable than Denver.

Bugs don't like either climate very much.

This is a couple months late, but I know people are still reading it. A prime example of the extreme conditions here will occur in a few days. We're expecting record highs in the low 80s on the 24th and snow and 30s (if we're lucky) on the 26th. 60s again by the 28th. Only ONE of the reasons to absolutely love Denver.