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There is no way that thinking Denver is in the rocky mountains is a legitimate misconception. I have never meet a person who thought that a metro of 3million could possibly exists on a mountain - maybe kids in kindergarten but not an adult. Sure its possibly that someone may have such a notion but its niether common nor reasonable.
Most people don't have any idea what the population of Denver metro is. It's known as the mile high city. To people who've spent their lives near sea level, that sounds damn high. Like, uh, a mountain. The baseball team is called The Rockies and the ice hockey team is called the Avalanche. I sense a mountain theme building here. People from the rest of the country are used to seeing pictures on the evening news or their Yahoo home page of Denver buried in snow, trucks sliding off I-70 thirty miles from downtown, and the airport closed because of weather. Yep, sounds like snowy mountains. And around the world there are numerous well-known cities that actually are in the mountains. So why is it is SO hard to believe that someone who's never been to Colorado or researched the matter might think Denver's in the mountains.
Last edited by Mike from back east; 08-13-2009 at 10:13 AM..
Reason: Correction made.
Most people don't have any idea what the population of Denver metro is. It's known as the mile high city. To people who've spent their lives near sea level, that sounds damn high. Like, uh, a mountain. The baseball team is called The Rockies and the ice hockey team is called the Avalanche. I sense a mountain theme building here. People from the rest of the country are used to seeing pictures on the evening news or their Yahoo home page of Denver buried in snow, trucks sliding off I-70 thirty miles from downtown, and the airport closed because of weather. Yep, sounds like snowy mountains. And around the world there are numerous well-known cities that actually are in the mountains. So why is it is SO hard to believe that someone who's never been to Colorado or researched the matter might think Denver's in the mountains.
Ya I can see how a reasonable person can believe denver is in the mountains...
What trees are these conifers....
Other cities that are in the mountains according to someone's logic...
This city must also be in the mountains because it gets dumped on with snow...
But uh if I really thought about it there isnt a single major U.S. city in America that is in a mountain...and if I think even harder about reading a map I would know that...
But would a person qualify as having a reasonable belief about a place that hasnt seen a map or picture of it???
Sorry folks but I dont like trolls on our turf....
Have you ever been to the tenderloin in SF or skid row in LA? How exactly is Denver dirty compared to california when the two largest cities have areas such as listed? There is nowhere in Denver like LA's skid row or SF's tenderloin (6th street). Even market in SF is quite a bit dirtier than anywhere I can think of in downtown denver.
How is getting to the mountains a chore when its a 30 minute drive? I mean I-70 is nothing compared to 680, 880, 101, in the bay. Its more like a frontage freeway. And you can take a bus up to the rockies from Denver and go gamble. Not too hard...
Why are you complaining about people aggressively passing you up when you drive a four banger up the mountain???? You did that much when going to the Sierras???
My God you are completely rude and unpleasant!
I am NOT a troll. I've lived in SF, LA, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Seattle, San Diego, and Kansas City as well as other places. I found Denver to be dirty, dirtier than I thought. Older than I thought, too. The streets were full of potholes. It's not the only city like that, but your idiotic rude insensitive and arrogant response didn't allow that simple fact, did it?
My four banger did me very well for 18 years and it took me from Vancouver BC to Big Bend to NYC and practically every mountain pass in Colorado during Fall Colors. Only heading westward on I-70 out of Denver did I experience pressure from other drivers on an interstate that's woefully inadequate for its traffic flow. Again, who do you think you are? Am I supposed to buy an eight cylinder and waste gas and resources just to drive around Colorado and make a person like you happy? You don't like me "on your turf"? How freaking rude!
I love Colorado, always have. And I have considered Denver for many years as a place to relocate to. I think I'll reconsider now knowing I'd be anywhere within 50 miles of the likes of you. No, I take that back. I'll move there and look for you. How about that? I'll drive real slow when it snows and I'll buy a 4-cylinder just to make people angry when I climb hills. I'll plant water-wasting grass everywhere and use my equity to drive up home prices so natives won't be able to afford their homes. I'll litter on the streets, vote for all the worst referendums, and adopt illegal alien children just to put them in the public schools. Yeah, that's the ticket! Now see what you've done?!
Last edited by Mike from back east; 08-13-2009 at 08:56 PM..
Ya I can see how a reasonable person can believe denver is in the mountains...
But uh if I really thought about it there isnt a single major U.S. city in America that is in a mountain...and if I think even harder about reading a map I would know that...
But would a person qualify as having a reasonable belief about a place that hasnt seen a map or picture of it???
Dude, it's simple.
If you are a regular person, that doesn't travel or study geography at least semi-regularly, you'd believe that Denver was in the mountains, thanks to the media and other Denver promotion devices.
When Denver gets any sort of national exposure, such as a nationally televised sporting event, we hear things like "Greetings from the Rocky Mountains", add to that, when Denver makes national headlines, it's usually because of a blizzard.
Colorado is known as a "mountain state". Most people ignorant to CO might think the mountains don't officially end until the Nebraska/Kansas borders.
If you asked me to look at a road map 15 years ago, like say when I was 10, I might have imagined that mountains would have looped around the metro area, forming a natural beltway. Unexplored thought gives outsiders no other choice but to assume that Denver is surrounded by mountains, that's what national media and sportscasters would have us believe.
You say that it'd be stupid for anybody to believe that a metro of 3 million could exist within mountains. That's probably what outsiders ignorant to Denver might think is special about it, like that's why people live there. Do some research on places like Bogota or Quito.
Before Denver was ever on my radar, I figured it was either in the mountains or at least surrounded by them, I had no reason to believe otherwise. After researching and visiting, I saw that wasn't the case, but still decided to relocate there, and was happy with my time there and with the view of the mountains.
I do see your point about Los Angeles not being linked to mountains, I would think those ignorant to LA would think that it's flat with a beach, a la Miaml. I'd bet some are surprised when seeing Southern CA's mountains for the first time, I think that is pretty cool.
I am NOT a troll. I've lived in SF, LA, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Seattle, San Diego, and Kansas City as well as other places. I found Denver to be dirty, dirtier than I thought. Older than I thought, too. The streets were full of potholes. It's not the only city like that, but your idiotic rude insensitive and arrogant response didn't allow that simple fact, did it?
My four banger did me very well for 18 years and it took me from Vancouver BC to Big Bend to NYC and practically every mountain pass in Colorado during Fall Colors. Only heading westward on I-70 out of Denver did I experience pressure from other drivers on an interstate that's woefully inadequate for its traffic flow. Again, who do you think you are? Am I supposed to buy an eight cylinder and waste gas and resources just to drive around Colorado and make a person like you happy? You don't like me "on your turf"? How freaking rude!
I love Colorado, always have. And I have considered Denver for many years as a place to relocate to. I think I'll reconsider now knowing I'd be anywhere within 50 miles of the likes of you. No, I take that back. I'll move there and look for you. How about that? I'll drive real slow when it snows and I'll buy a 4-cylinder just to make people angry when I climb hills. I'll plant water-wasting grass everywhere and use my equity to drive up home prices so natives won't be able to afford their homes. I'll litter on the streets, vote for all the worst referendums, and adopt illegal alien children just to put them in the public schools. Yeah, that's the ticket! Now see what you've done?!
There is no way that thinking Denver is in the rocky mountains is a legitimate misconception. I have never meet a person who thought that a metro of 3million could possibly exists on a mountain
Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that people think that "in the mountains" automatically means on A mountain. I mean take Salt Lake City. It is IN the mountains (surrounded by mountains on 3 sides, with the Great Salt Lake on the 4th) but is not ON any mountain. I've heard plenty of people use the expression "in the mountains" and not mean atop a mountain or on a mountain. And if you think about it, downtown Vail is in the mountains, but downtown Vail is not on any mountain- it's at the base actually, in a valley actually.
Anyway, I can see how somebody who has never been to Denver might think that the mountains they see in Denver's skyline extend a good distance around the city rather than the city having mountains to the west and plains around the other sides. My take is that the idea of Denver being in the mountains IS a legitimate misconception.
Let me tell you folks that back east all we ever see of Colorado on TV is winter sports from famous high country resort areas.
Another staple of eastern TV are news clips of semi-trucks jack-knifed at Eisenhower Tunnel in a snow storm, especially when it's sunny and mild back east in the Fall or Spring. I vividly recall the first day of Fall back in the DC area as being sunny and mild, with news footage of an "early" snowfall in the Rockies. Coors beer commercials back east are all about snow, mountains and crystal clear mountain waters. Sure.
NO ONE back east ever sees that the eastern 40% of Colorado is flat plains covered with short grass prairie, or with corn like Kansas.
Eastern railroad fans only get books and vids on mountain railroading, the most exciting and romantic of history.
People back east only see the glorious stuff, the Rockies, and think the whole state is that way. My visitors from back east are taken aback when they get off an airplane in Denver and see prairie. PRAIRIE! HEY MIKE, WHERE'S THE MOUNTAINS?
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I moved here 6 years ago and I love EVERYTHING about Denver except the idiot drivers who won't get out of the left lane on the highways. And there are too many cops too.
FunkyMonk....one question, why are you still in Denver? If you want to be in SF, Chicago or some other city, just move. IMO Denver is a pretty great city. I'm from back east. I also lived in SF for six years. Not that any of that really matters. Denver has every possible activity one could want. What I love about Denver are the independent movie houses, the great variety of restaurants, all of the beautiful architecture, the wonderful parks, the friendly people, our great downtown, all of the cool off-beat businesses -- for example, Gelato Spot on 13th, Soul Haus (a men's clothing store), City-O-City, Videotique, the Market, Licks Ice Cream, Pablo's Coffee House, etc. If you don't like Denver, move. Move to SF or NYC. Denver is to great of a city for a hater like yourself. By the way, I'm a gay male. IMO, Denver is a very accepting city. There is every type of faith community that one could possibly want -- Unitarian, Lutheran, Catholic, Spiritualist, Buddhist, etc. Within 5 blocks of my apartment, there is a Unitarian church, the Catholic Cathedral, several Lutheran churches, a Presbyterian church, several spiritualist churches, several Buddhist places of worship -- most are 100% gay affirming congregations. Well, not the Catholic Cathedral. lol My point is, Denver offers so much to so many people. If you don't like it, leave. Don't wait. Leave tomorrow. Bye.
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