Tell me about northern Colorado....

[futuresoptions]

I have applied for several positions in the Denver / Ft. Collins area..... What should I know about this area? Can me and the family make it on 55-70k yr (My salary) until the wifey gets hired on some where? Do I need to trade our two wheel drive suburban in for a 4x4? How hard is it to get to work in the winter??? Do the liberals really take the conservatives off and they are never heard from again????

[tcar]

There are more R's than D's in CO as a whole. Almost as many Independents as R's.

Generally, northern CO is more conservative than Denver and 'The Peoples' Republic of Boulder'. Denver itself is also VERY Democratic, but suburbs are more R. Tom Tancredo is from a Denver suburb.

You'll probably be OK with 4 snows and a couple 25# bags of sand in the back. There are not that many days when this would be an issue.

We can get large snows but it melts fairly quickly. Most days the roads are dry.

There are pockets of expensive places to live - Boulder, but the more rural areas that aren't new Boulder suburbs are very reasonable. You can live there on that. Get an apartment or lease a house until you get your feet on the ground. Denver 'burbs can be less expensive, too.

[futuresoptions]

Good info tcar... Any good places to look for apartments other than Craigslist. As in local papers - thrifty nickels that may be online....

[tobster1911]

You should be OK with the 2wd. Just plan on staying home a day or two if it snows bad. Depending on where the job is located plan on a decent commute. Housing is affordable if you don't mind driving a little farther to work.

[futuresoptions]

Are employers okay with staying home up there on bad snow days??? Does everything shut down? Not that I am freaking out about it, but would like to be able to explain to the wife what we would expect....

[charleskieffner]

god almighty.............loooooose the texas accent/ditch the texas car plates/pitch the texas stickers/ and never EVER MENTION TEXAS ANYTHING IN COLORADO!

trust me on this one. go hunting there while living in texas and see how colorado game and fish treat you. first hand experience with this multiple times. if fight in bar involves 2 colorado boys and cops called, probably nobody going to jail. two texans fighting..........they is going to jail.! thank the drunks from LTV CORP for screwing up everythang for everyjuan.

lived in denver and evergreen for 4 years, ask me how i know!

[IROC]

I used to have to go to Loveland on business on occasion. Beautiful place!!!

[futuresoptions]

[QUOTE=charleskieffner;4269102]god almighty.............loooooose the texas accent/ditch the texas car plates/pitch the texas stickers/ and never EVER MENTION TEXAS ANYTHING IN COLORADO!

LOL, I have a steep Texas draw with a little Tejano slur thrown in from living so close to the border..... When I go to Houston or other places in Texas, people always ask me "What fuchin part of the country is your accent from?" I'll just tell the folks in Colorado that I am from southern California. And I know when and if I get called for an interview, the person on the other end of the phone is going to think they are talking to "Carl" from Swingblade...... Uh hmm...

[911boost]

I am in Fort Collins. We moved there in 2001, and bought a house and survived on $41K a year until my wife got a job.

PM your phone number if you would like, I would be more than happy to talk to you about Northern CO. We love it, and I don't want to go anywhere else.

Or, if you'd prefer I can type a bunch in here.

Just stay away from Boulder if you are "bothered" by the libs. That is what I do.

My Office was in Loveland for a while, now it is in Broomfield (North Denver) and my wife worked in Cheyenne for a bit, so I know the area.

Bill

[slow&rusty]

I second and third all that is said. Politically you are fine, you have your opinions and others have theirs, no issue there.

Winters here are a joy, I mean that, it might be 20F outside but with the altitude and the intensity of the sunshine you might not even put the heater on in your car during the day. Any overnight snow is gone usually all melted by 10am, leaving a wet road to dry on and a totally dry road by lunch time, no joke and no exaggerating. At night when the temps really drop if the roads are wet in the late afternoon they WILL turn to ice, so this is the only time to be truly cautious and exercise common sense.

Snow does not stay in mall parking lots like Detroit, NY and Canada for 4-5months, it snows and them melts 1 day later!

2WD is fine. I own 5 cars, 4 of them are RWD! Even if you wanted to get an AWD, Colorado has the second highest Subaru sales in the US and you could pick-up a cheap Outback \ Legacy \ Impreza for $2500 plus there are lots of Audis here too.

When I moved here I was making $45K per year and bought a house and did just fine! So you will be more than fine too, plus its a buyers market right now - luckily!

Good luck.
Yasin

[mikeferg75]

Agree with all that's been said...

I'm in Erie. Housing is my biggest issue, but I bought in Boulder County for schools ect...

Anyhow, If you plan on doing any skiing ect, you will need 4x4, 2wd may just get you by for commuting, but any trips to the Mtns, and you are hosed.

I came from MI, so these winters are cake, hell it's 75 out right now

Ferg

[RWebb]

not quite accurate, charles...

if fight in bar involves 2 colorado boys and cops called, probably nobody going to jail except any texans present in bar, outside bar, or driving on roads near the bar

also works with following substitutions:
instead of Coloradans.... and Texans

substitute Wyomingites.... and Coloradans, or
substitute Oregonians .... and Californians

the full faith and credit clause does NOT apply when a small popn state is next to a large popn state

[futuresoptions]

Thanks for all the great info guys, I have done some research on Ft. Collins and really think it would be a great place for our kids. While looking for houses to rent on Craigslist over the last couple of weeks I have seen some shacks going for $1200 a month and some nice homes for the same price.... mostly in the Ft. Collins area. I would prefer to live more rural than in the burbs and I hate living in town.... I am an introvert and I need my space lol.... But I do figure I'll get there, rent a place on a 6mo lease and this will give me enough time to find what I am looking for..... Will have to see what happens......

[TechnoViking]

I grew up in Denver, went to college in Boulder, lived in LA for 2 years and now I'm in Fort Collins.

I like Fort Collins quite a bit compared to the other places I've lived. It's got enough infrastructure to do pretty much anything you want without the "big city" costs, traffic, etc.

I bought a $250K home a few months ago with a 2 car garage....and a 4 car shop in the back

Schools are good, neighbors are great. I park my car all over town with the doors unlocked. Have left the front door of my house wide open all day a few times while out running errands. Would have never done that in LA.

The snow is usually a non-issue although last winter (or was it the one before?) was a real beotch. Lots of folks get around fine on 2WD. It's nice to have 4WD about 10 days a year. Companies are somewhat forgiving on heavy snow days and will let people go home early or come in late when it really starts dumping. Generally, though, its pretty mild here as this ain't Minnesota.

There are quite a few PCA members up here. We do a little beer party at the pre-tech inspections at Poudre Sports Car before DE weekends.

Hope to see you next spring at THE NEW RACETRACK:

www.highplainsraceway.com

[onewhippedpuppy]

I've spent a lot of time in CO and absolutely love the place. Winters aren't a worry, 32 in KS feels 2x as cold as 20 in CO. The beauty of the mountains is a constant, and skiing is never more than a few hours away. Summer is underestimated as well, there's also a lot of fun mountain activities that get overlooked. If I could choose any place on earth to live, it would be in the mountains of CO.

[Vipergrün]

Fort Collins has been at or near the top of 'best places to live'

I am missing CO much more than I thought I would. Extended family is here in CA, so we'll be here too.

You should do fine on that salary.

Although I lived just North of Co. Springs, I have to agree the people were great.

Watch out for liberal lesbos driving Forresters, though

[teenerted1]

spent 5 yrs going to college in fort collins and loved the town...my 3rd favorite place to live. college town atmosphere but plenty of other options available. sister went to grad school there too. shes now in denver but her inlaws are up there and they love getting up to get away from the city. comute to/from denver is getting thick. love to drive around on my visits to see how things have changed. some area around campus are the same 15yrs after i was there but lots of new stuff there ever time i come thru.

all kinds of housing near each other suburbs, old town and wide open plots close enough to be convenient but far enough to not feel smothered. good high tech and farming areas next to each other.

winters are mild for colorado but expect a couple of heavy storms a year. like most said if less than 6" of the white stuff over night usually gone by lunch time. but there are the abnormal years like winter of 2006/7 heavy snow that just kept coming every week. but if you can drive a 2wd in the snow now you will be fine 90% of the time.

if you are into mtn biking there is an awsome trail system out in the foot hills easy to ride to warm up from old town/campus.

many dinning choices about out there too. RIO GRANDE has some of the best margaritas(on the rocks).

[911boost]

I am out at the end of West Prospect, Ted, so those trails are about 2 minutes from me. I ride them a lot, they are a good time.

The drive to denver is a pain, but they are making it 3 lanes all the way up to 66, so once that is done, and its 3 lanes up past where the Longmont traffic gets off, it will be a lot nicer.

I drive to North Denver, and it takes me right at an hour. 15-20 minutes to get through Ft Collins, then the rest on 25. Of course, when it snows, it can take longer, but I usually work from home.

Great comments so far. Are any of you guys going to the Boulder Cars and Coffee this Saturday? I think I am going to get the 911 out for a drive, the weather looks really nice.

Bill

[charleskieffner]

true story...........went hunting below pagosa springs above chromo along rio blanco river. was down on dead end road by myself. opening morning i go across field to knoll(hill) , camp east of hill, i have climbed hill and now am on west side face looking west to ute indian rez. being my typical self, glassing for deer. i hear a truck park. i notice TEXAS plates thru doktor 15 x 80's, 4 guys jump out, coupla bottles of jack daniels come out and sit on tail gate. light snow on ground. they start taking snorts off jack bottle. i see this juan coming...................

yep out comes the big assed bolt scoped rifle...............


and they aim towards ME!

i scramble down hillside wearing my legal orange vest and hat and sho 'nuff here comes a belted magnum round MY WAY!

well had enough of :

A) being shot at

B) screwing up my perfect hunt area and pastoral hunt scene.

since snowing i pulled hk-91 to hunt with that day. racked round in pipe with 5 rds(legal) in clip. pointed gun into western cliff face that they could see rounds impact(dust), lit them off..........all SIX (6)...............texans damn near pooed themselves. ended up putting rifle away and jack bottles away slammed tailgate and split.

needless to say that hunt area was toast a coupla days. anyway snow coming down more. im in valley down steep road. 2 guys i had met from lousiana stated they had camped there year before and had hell of a time getting up hill in 4wd low last year. i heeded there advice and broke camp down to just tent and sleeping bag ready to bolt next early am if snow bad.

bout 430 am i awake look outside and its coming down pretty good. all i had to do was throw bag in truck and bungee tent to p/u bed and split up hill to new camp with lousiana boys.

while getting dressed into my union suit(w/poop chute), i hear noise, lo/behold its a herd school pod covey of deerski's..........grab trusty 30/30 winchester and proceed to stand in red union suit w/rifle one step out my tent sighting on about 35 deer......................NOT ONE HAD ANY HORNS! sigh!

anyway met 2 old boys from texas. seem nice enough. i set up camp with lousiana boys. both sheriffs outside new O 'leans. funnier than hell. anyway following morning meet up with 2 texas boys hiking. we hiked about a mile and out of nowhere heres a nice 5 x 6 mulie, first texan unloads remington 3006 semi on deer and drops him. i help gut him and we walk back to camp dragging deer. guess whose in the camp???? colorado game and fish! checks are tags, stated we really appreciate the level of professionalizm that az has on their hunter safety courses. looks at texans and states " thats a damn nice deer ya got. one problem where did ya shoot it? they describe a mile away. sorry boys...........either 1185 bucks right now, we dont take checks or yer going to JAIL! why the texans ask? because you shot it OUT OF UNIT!

i about fell over. the lousiana boys laughed all night, i laughed all night! i am still laughing years later writing this. last i saw of texans they was handcuffed and in BACK of game and fish truck while it was snowing OUT! what a picture. 5 days later when i left their crap and camp were buried in snow! they had not gotten out of jail yet!!!!!!!

true as hell story!

[rattlsnak]

I have never lived there, but I spend a few nights a month in the Centennial/ Arappohoe area and it seems very nice. (I'm actually there right now) And of course, it's going to be like 76 degrees today!