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Hi tfox, thanks for the info. Looks like the move will be to Denver so really appreciate a starting point for househunting. Hopefully I can find something reasonable (under 250k). All I really need is a studio but don't want to coop dogs up so have to go with a house!
I was just,er, "moved out" of an apartment near the governor's mansion, back in 2007.These new condo-conversions were priced $99-134k. 500-600 square feet. Not acceptable for 3 dogs but far less than 250k you mentioned.This area east of Speer and 6th Ave. is really neat. High-end restaurants nearby, plus a Chipotle's multi-tenant walk-in mall. South Broadway(nearby) has nightly music within walking distance(30 minutes).A few little parks nearby,plus the pretty large Washington Park area, with hundreds of joggers,families and running and team sports, and two big urban lakes. University of Denver within 2-3 miles, host to both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton campaign stops in same building-same day,last week.Since you mention 3 dogs, I might suggest you try renting a house and look around for a house to buy after. Denver's most cosmopolitan area is the 16th Street mall. It is wacky and colorful. Denver's culture is confined to Broadway road shows, plus the DCPA in-house productions. Some "little theater" that is semi-professional. No fully-functional art scene here.LoDo (Coors Field area) is full of a hundred bars, some sports and some local music. Lots of mainstream arena music at Pepsi Center and DU's Ritchie Center. Red Rocks is a great venue but is mostly mainstream. The median house value is @$220 k I believe. Denver is mainly a sports town and a hiking and skiing town, with lots of educated people. Interstate 70 (west) is the main thoroughfare out of town-which people in Denver dearly love to drive upon.You will love the Mountains west of Denver immensely.Snow removal in Denver is either a) We screwed up-deal with it, or b) it will all melt off tomorrow.In sum, Denver doesn't suck as much as Salt Lake City or Kansas City.It's just too far away from L.A. and that sucks.Colorado Springs is boring but it has the really nice-and long-hike up to Pike's Peak.You should try it.At least Mazatlan is a 2 hour flight away. Hooray.
Two words Rockies Baseball!!! Cherry Creek State Park in Aurora is a pretty good place to take your dog for a romp with nature.
The best thing about Denver over any west coast town is the lack of the mildew or musty smells you have in the older building along the coast. I am originally from Northern California and did not notice the smells until I had been away for several years and went back for a visit. Denver has blue skies 360 days of the year, we have low humidity and less rusty cars. Did I mention we also have the Rockies and they start summer training in less than 2 weeks!
Another really big plus is the fact that the Denver East Animal hospital has their regular television show on the Animal Planet. This is a great animal hospital and even treats the wild beasts from the Denver Zoo. It too is located in beautiful down town Aurora.
I have lived in Colorado all my life, 21 years... and while parts of it are beautiful, Denver - is not one of those areas.
Denver is very brown, very dense, very dirty. It's not a terribly clean city to live in as you can tell from driving around the heavily littered areas near capitol hill, downtown or city park. Washington Park is much better but only by a little bit. The smog in Denver is a real problem as well, when you get that 80 degree weather here with a bright sunny day the smog creates the effect of a magnifying glass and you seriously feel about 15 lbs heavier.
Fort Collins is mesmerizing, I grew up in Northern Colorado and would absolutely recommend Fort Collins as a place to settle down and start a family. God, I wish my career would take me back to Fort Collins - they have some of the most amazing and inventive PAVED Bike Paths in the country! Fort Collins is close enough to the mountains (in the 'foothills') that it pretty much stays a beautiful temperature all year round. In the summer it rarely gets beyond 90 degrees, and clouds are plentiful but never obtrusive like they may be in Seattle. There's horsetooth reservoir which is beautiful (so many nights I remember of sneaking out and making love beneath the stars on a cliffside next to it), and plenty of hiking paths and outdoorsy stuff in the mountains just minutes away.
Fort Collins is probably one of the most beautiful places to live in the country, and it's still maintaining it's small city dynamic.
Anyways.
I'm moving from Denver to Seattle, I leave in two days. I think Seattle while overcast is cleaner and more beautiful than Denver, and the mountainous views are about the same. I can't say more beyond that but I really, really, REAAALLLY hate Denver (lived here for 2 years). I'll see what I think of Seattle and post here by next week.
I have lived in Colorado all my life, 21 years... and while parts of it are beautiful, Denver - is not one of those areas.
Denver is very brown, very dense, very dirty. It's not a terribly clean city to live in as you can tell from driving around the heavily littered areas near capitol hill, downtown or city park. Washington Park is much better but only by a little bit. The smog in Denver is a real problem as well, when you get that 80 degree weather here with a bright sunny day the smog creates the effect of a magnifying glass and you seriously feel about 15 lbs heavier.
Fort Collins is mesmerizing, I grew up in Northern Colorado and would absolutely recommend Fort Collins as a place to settle down and start a family. God, I wish my career would take me back to Fort Collins - they have some of the most amazing and inventive PAVED Bike Paths in the country! Fort Collins is close enough to the mountains (in the 'foothills') that it pretty much stays a beautiful temperature all year round. In the summer it rarely gets beyond 90 degrees, and clouds are plentiful but never obtrusive like they may be in Seattle. There's horsetooth reservoir which is beautiful (so many nights I remember of sneaking out and making love beneath the stars on a cliffside next to it), and plenty of hiking paths and outdoorsy stuff in the mountains just minutes away.
Fort Collins is probably one of the most beautiful places to live in the country, and it's still maintaining it's small city dynamic.
Anyways.
I'm moving from Denver to Seattle, I leave in two days. I think Seattle while overcast is cleaner and more beautiful than Denver, and the mountainous views are about the same. I can't say more beyond that but I really, really, REAAALLLY hate Denver (lived here for 2 years). I'll see what I think of Seattle and post here by next week.
Seattle is one of the most beautiful places in the USA. GOing to make FT Collins look like a sewer. You might have a tough time with the overcast skies. I lived in the area for most of my life. Its not the rain, its the times it just wont get sunny that gets ya. I also lived in Ft Collins/Loveland, and It just did not live up to my expectations, other than sunshine. Ft Collins, I agree is better looking than Denver, and is pretty compared to the rest of the front range (although I find Co springs favorable), but get over the clouds, make a ton of money, and you will LOVE Washington State...Any part of it. BTW, I now live in Phoenix for anyone who wants to wrtie to me about what I think of it (Im loving it). BUt please don't ask me about the weather, or comment about it being hot here...Everyone in the western Hemisphere is quite aware that phoenix gets hot in the summer. Just incase anybody is living under a rock: IT snows in Denver, It rains in Seattle, and it gets hot in phoenix.
Well I live in Seattle and love every minute of it but I plan on moving to Denver in the next year or so.
The Seattle real estate and even apartments are becoming very unaffordable for most people. Especially a single person. You can find a nice condo for under $250,000 if you look outside of certain areas.
One neighborhood I personally love is Greenlake partly because I live there. The lake is 3 miles and with a path it is great for dogs and meeting people. Stores are a walk away and with plentiful transportation cars are useless. I take the bus anywhere I need to go or I walk. Seattle isn't as congested as it may seem. For the most part it is only Belltown and Queen Anne that is congested thanks to tourists. Chinatown is lovely and the people are very welcoming. Seattle is a great area for the health and body minded.
I am moving to Denver because I have lived here all of my life and need a change. Thats the one thing about Seattle.. it can get a bit old if your here for a long time.
To KatieKatherine, you'll be back! It's good to experience other things, but nothing compares to Seattle. I am actually taking a trip to Denver next year with my wife to check it out as well, so I'm with you on needing a change.
I think if I got a job in Seattle, I wouldn't blink and eye to go up there (depending on how much in paid). It's a little more expensive in Portland then Denver (mostly fuel), but times we have been up in Washington have been much more then Portland (Just been in Portland for 3 months from Denver).
Overall, Denver is kind of nice. There are some really nasty slums in places like aurora and commerce city, but there are some really nice places like cherry creek, thorton, or highlands ranch. Denver proper is a nice place to work or visit, and the suburbs are a nice place to live. The housing is much cheaper in comparison, but stay away from Lowery to buy a house...the land is contaminated with perclorate.
The weather is not that bad. Expect at least 2 weeks a year of some good snowy weather where it affects how you drive, the rest it gets cleared off enough by plows or the sun.
It is a bit bland in Colorado, but that's not nessicarily a bad thing. There are all sorts of cultural, historic, and fun events around the metro area with lots of places to go. The nice thing is that, in general, they are pretty sedate and in general they are pretty safe.
Honestly, people are pretty much jerks...pretty much anywhere and these places are no different. The thing in CO is that most people mind their own business, and are happy as clams to leave everyone else alone too. I have noticed in Portland people tend to be very chatty to pretty much anyone who is not scarey.
I posted this same question on the Seattle board and want to post it here as well to get the opinions of people living in Denver.
I've reached a standstill in my decision on where to move and need help. The two places I'm considering are the Denver area (within 30 miles or so) and the Seattle area (within 30 miles or so). I'm from Santa Cruz, CA and moved to San Diego two years ago. San Diego is beautiful, but for some reason I just don't like it here. I'm a little bit bored and a lot of the people I meet are not as friendly as I'd like (which makes meeting nice people all that much better). I'll be moving with my Golden Retriever, so I'd like to live in a dog friendly city. One thing I don't like about Southern California is the cost of living and the congestion. I know that Seattle is pretty congested and expensive, but it's so beautiful there, and I like that there are plenty of opportunities to get away (San Juan Islands, Portland, Canada). Is Denver fairly congested as well? As for the weather, I'm not sure if I prefer the snow of Denver or the rain of Seattle. I consider myself fairly liberal and the laid back lifestyle of Seattle appeals to me (not to mention the fresh seafood) but the lower cost of living in Colorado also sounds nice. What do you guys think? What are some of the best and worst qualities of living in Seattle or Denver? What are the people like in each city, and how easy is it to escape from the big city every now and then? Thanks!
Well, I've been to both cities and have family in both cities. I just talked with my cousin's wife in Seattle a few days ago, and she said they have only had about 1/2 of a day of sunshine this summer. I know that isn't typical, but that's what she told me. I've been there in the summer, and I agree it's absolutely beautiful, and we were seriously considering a move there, but after looking into it more, I personally couldn't handle the rain. They bought their kids a slip n slide and haven't been able to use it yet this summer. However, we were there last summer for a week, and it only rained a tiny bit one morning. Anyway, this past winter, I looked at the forecast a lot for Seattle so I could see if it really rained as much as people say - cold with drizzle...cold with drizzle, cold with drizzle. YUCK!!! I'll take snow any day.
Well, I've been to both cities and have family in both cities. I just talked with my cousin's wife in Seattle a few days ago, and she said they have only had about 1/2 of a day of sunshine this summer. I know that isn't typical, but that's what she told me. I've been there in the summer, and I agree it's absolutely beautiful, and we were seriously considering a move there, but after looking into it more, I personally couldn't handle the rain. They bought their kids a slip n slide and haven't been able to use it yet this summer. However, we were there last summer for a week, and it only rained a tiny bit one morning. Anyway, this past winter, I looked at the forecast a lot for Seattle so I could see if it really rained as much as people say - cold with drizzle...cold with drizzle, cold with drizzle. YUCK!!! I'll take snow any day.
Seattle has this unjust reputation for being super rainy. Tacoma about 35 miles south of Seattle gets about twice the rainfall as Seattle. Also many east coast cities get more rain than Seattle. It's the fog, and misty drizzle that isn't measured along with overcast skies that's responsible for the reputation.
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Im Moving From Denver To Seattle
