Roadtrip to Co.....searching for places to move

[squidward]

My buddy wants to buy a bike from Denver, so I got thinking and figure it'd be a great thing to go along and con him into putting up with me checking out some places to move to when I graduate in May. I guess the most important thing is I'll be graduating with a Tech Ed degree (shop teacher) and would like to do that at first until I get situated. Any info on what areas have good schools, salaries, and such would be great.

This is what I like about where I'm at now and some of the hobbies I do.....

-warm summers, lots of boating/fishing areas

-hunting land everywhere

-decent number of motox tracks within an hour, both tracks and some trails. I'm a larger fan of tracks.

-has a decent jeep style club owned park an hour away. The more 4 wheel play areas the better for me.

-civilization/businesses. It's a 15K sized town with a wally world, some fast food, a general home/farm store, a few auto parts stores, and grocery stores. I can find most everything to build crap around the house or fix a car w/o having to drive an hour every time. Minneapolis is an hour so huge events and every store imaginable aren't stupid far away.

-college town. Not a bunch of old bastards croaking at every street corner and clogging the grocery store isles. And there are quite a few bars where there aren't a bunch of nasty hags prowling around.


Overall it's nice BUT, what I absolutely hate is the winters completely suck. They're cold, long, with barely any snow. Nearly every weekend we drive 4+ hours to the tip of U.P. Mi to go boondocking the power/gas lines.

Then there's the cost of living. I know property taxes are much, much lower then Wi, but what about the other stuff? I've seen a ton of 400K+ houses, but are there areas where "normal" houses aren't so damn expensive??

I'm flexible and am not dead set in living in the mountains, in town, or anywhere really. From what I've read being able to ride from my backyard would put me pretty far into the mountains, and away from some of the other stuff I'm currently use to. Tell me what you like and don't like about where you are, or have lived, in Co....where might be some good places for me to check out when I go on this roadtrip??

-Scott

 

[Rprecision]

If I had to pick a larger city outside of Denver.............no brainer Grand junction

If I could pick anywhere.............

Probably something near Lakecity and or Pagosa.

As many have said on here before, Life in small mountian towns can be hard, jobs, cost of living, etc.

 

[manlye]

Well this will be my first post, you might want to check out Pueblo. We have a motocross track, drag racing, circle track, Pueblo Reservoir, and snowmobile trails about 45min away. The Ophir Creek system is about 90 miles of trails which receives 250-300in per year. 2 colleges and a nice home will run you 100k. Warm summers and some of the best mexican food on the planet. Yes I might catch some greif from the guyes up north but they are down here every weekend because Rampart Range and Cherry Creek Res are too packed..........

 

[1BIGCAT]

Grand Junction- Mesa State college, Moab hour and a half away, Lake Powell a couple hours away, Montrose for wheelin, San Juans a couple hours away and Ridgeway State Park is an awesome lake is a couple hours away. There's some great places to sled that are real close! If I was a younger dude and not settled down, that's where I'd be living!

 

[sledskiing]

if i was young i would live in Denver.

Plenty of Chicks and Stripclubs.

Plenty of MX tracks in the area.

Drive to the mtns sucks.

 

[squidward]

if i was young i would live in Denver.

Plenty of Chicks and Stripclubs.

Plenty of MX tracks in the area.

Drive to the mtns sucks.

What sucks about it??

From what I've found the Denver to Fort Collins area and Grand Junction area interest me. My aunt/uncle use to live in Loveland and really liked it. They said I should check into the Grand Lake area. What's that area like? Then for GJ that's more high desert/dry climate isn't it? I believe it's closer to snow however?? From what I was told the snow that stay dumps hard on the west slope? The east will get light fluffy snow?? I for sure want to check out both areas and really check into housing costs. From there I can start applying for jobs. I don't think I'm ready for a mountain town yet....foothills within 30 minutes of civilization I can handle thougth.

Thanks for the comments so far! -Scott

 

[sledskiing]

What sucks about it??

i70 Traffic Sucks (winter or summer) however there are plenty of riders that suck it up and do the drive. We have 2 meetings spots along i70 (morrison park and ride, and Kermits) we meet at 6-6:20 AM and drive 3 hours to Rabbit Ears (stop for gas and food). There are some great areas closer but i have only a little experience with them. When the snow is good I like to head down 285 to BuenaVista/Salida area. It avoids i70.

If you go anywhere where you have to drive I70 and leave after 6:30 you will hit a ton of traffic, so if you go to the closer areas you either deal with the traffic or get to your riding early.

 

[LabRat]

I live in the Conifer/Evergreen area ,which has most amenities, and work in Denver. It's a commute of 40 minutes or so, but I work from home about half the time. Home prices are relatively cheap as you get past the 45 minute commute mark, and you can get a few acres as well.
I also have a cabin in Grand Lake. I absolutely love it there, as the lakes are not very crowded and the fishing is good. It's a fun town, and is bordered by Rocky Mountain National Park which is non-motorized, but also by National Forest with lots of ATV/snowmobile trails, and off-trail action too. It'd be a hard living there though unless you're in a business that can take advantage of all of the people that have vacation homes there. (contractor, or such). There's not much else for business in that area.

 

[Steamboat-RN]

I think you first order of business would be to see what jobs are available in you field. Lots of nice places to live throughout CO. But not all have teaching jobs available.
If you find some offers, then we can be more specific as to what's available in the areas.
Just a thought.