High School Senior wanting tips (Denver, Lakewood: skateboarding, to buy, college)

[sdodge15]

I am a high school senior living in Houston, TX and I am looking to go to college at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design in Denver, CO and I was wondering what to expect in the aspect of-

-Will I be able to skateboard?
-Ride my bike?
-Snowboard from time to time?
-What kind of car to buy before moving if I'm going to be driving into the mountains often?

Thank you guys so much with whatever you have to say, it is greatly appreciated

-Sean

[DenverAztec]

Hi Sdodge15,

Your school is at 1600 Pierce Street, which is in Lakewood and one block from Colfax. Colfax is the longest commercial street in the country, so there are plenty of busses that will easily take you to wherever you want to go in the city. If you get a car, make sure it has front wheel drive if not four wheel drive if you want to head to the hills for snowboarding. You will be close to many bike paths that will take you into the Denver or into the foothills and we have the largest outdoor 'free' skateboarding park in the country in LoDo. Denver is much more dense then Houston so you will find much to do without driving a hour to get to it. I actually like the food better in Houston and you won't find palm trees here, but the vibe here with the people is similar. Denver is a friendly town with much to do for someone is your position. Best of luck with your endeavors!

DenverAztec

[acommuter]

I can not give much advice as far as skateboarding and riding your bike. Though I do not see any reason why you wouldn't be able to. As far as driving to the mountains though I did this constantly while in college. I had very little money and could not afford a new or old 4x4 SUV which is certainly recommended if possible. Here is what to stay away from. Rear wheel drive is the worst!! They will fish tail on you and send you into a spin so quickly you'll have no clue where the road ends and the mountain starts. This is even more true for a rear wheel drive truck. If you have a truck with 4x4 make sure there is plenty of weight in the back. Subaru's are the unofficial cars of the rocky mountains and decently priced. If worst comes to worst you can be like me and my ford tempo.... we only made the trip on nice sunny days which are plentiful. Also take advantage of the buses that go up to the resorts, and friends with nice SUVs.

One last piece of advice: don't skip out on Friday classes to snowboard. or mon, tue,wed,thur classes at that. I ended up doing a 5th year of school due to that.


Good Luck and enjoy the slopes.

[steveindenver]

Skating downtown is hit or miss, mostly miss these days. Cops and Rent-A-Cops are all around. There are however a couple of decent and free parks in the area.

Biking is easy. Denver has TONS of lanes and dedicated paths. Most drivers are idiots, but then many bikers are asshats that run through intersections as if they own them.

Any car that does well in Texas will be fine here, with the proper set of snow tires or even all seasons. Don't be the typical fool who runs out and buys an SUV just because you move to Colorado. Reality is virtually no one needs them. Some people prefer AWD or FWD, RWD with snow tires is just fine so long as you are in fact not an idiot -- a point that it seems Americans have forgotten. Honestly it is easy and cheap enough to drive in this country that I am sometimes ashamed at how poorly Americans can do it. Drive on the right, pass on the left -- get it Americans?