I love Boulder, but...

[Eric Shannon]

we moved to Boulder Colorado about a year and a half ago and we love it! wish we had moved here 10 years ago. Okay, I know you don't consider it a mountain town. But it's pretty close considering we moved from South Florida.

Now, if this recession becomes a depression and we have to move - where could we go to find a less expensive place to live in the mountains with great schools? One of the things that I love about Boulder is that the weather is not as cold as we thought it would be... so many days in the 50s and 60s during the supposedly cold part of the year!

Some things I be looking for:

* something like Whole Foods grocery
* great public schools
* winter temperatures not frigid (a couple days below zero is fine)
* cable Internet available

what do you think?

-- Eric

[Amy Schapiro]

I like to say that Boulder is an outdoor city, definitely has outgrown its status as a small mountain town, but for someone looking for the outdoor lifestyle and accessibility, it is a great place to be. If you were to go to the mountain towns, you will find that many of the resort areas will have good schools and modern conveniences (maybe not Whole Foods, but something close), but they will be at least if not more expensive than Boulder (supply and demand), and if you go down valley, through the canyon, over the pass, whatever the different outlying areas in that particular region are called, you will have just as much beauty, outdoor recreation, and less expense but you may just give up the accessibility and better schools (supply and demand).

That being said, there are so many incredible mountain towns in Colorado. I have yet to hit them all. I would still like to explore some of the towns in the Southwest area outside of Durango, maybe Silverton and Pagosa Springs. As far as outdoor cities that are accessible where you may find less expense, Fort Collins, which you know, the Salt Lake City area (it has grown on me through the years) and Boise, Idaho. Whenever I have considered a small outdoor city, someone always suggests Boise, Idaho!

[Eric Shannon]

thank you Amy, can't believe I forgot about Fort Collins - we wanted to live there when we first checked out this area... it is much less expensive and i really liked the relative quiet. And the whole foods store is better than the one here. the mountains are not as impressive as they are in Boulder. But, this is just a plan B idea anyway.

Boise also looks good - surprise to see the average temperatures look reasonable.

-Eric

[Jason]

Fort Collins also has more water than Boulder....just doesn't feel as dry up there. I was up there a month or two ago to do some biking and couldn't believe how few folks were out. No way you'd ever get that in Boulder...

Eric Shannon said:

thank you Amy, can't believe I forgot about Fort Collins - we wanted to live there when we first checked out this area... it is much less expensive and i really liked the relative quiet. And the whole foods store is better than the one here. the mountains are not as impressive as they are in Boulder. But, this is just a plan B idea anyway.

Boise also looks good - surprise to see the average temperatures look reasonable.

-Eric

[Tracey]

Those towns out in western Colorado get too hot. I was just in Durango last month and it was just HOT. Never seems to be like that in Boulder. Telluride was also very hot - hot as an oven until the second the sun went down and then it was cold.

Boulder just seems to have the perfect weather!