I have heard some sweet things about Golden - what is it about the place that you dig, Aquariumdrunk?
Daniela, I fully understand how you could think this was me considering some of my antics in TP and tarp line, but alas, I live in Davidson, NC and don’t frequent the DC area too often. Just the same, thank you for thinking that I could pull off this stunt, I’m honored!!!
:rollin :rollin :rollin
Well, I think landshark covered it…and then some!
:rock
I’ve learned some more things about Boulder and wanted some folks to comment about the “attitude” of Boulder citizens. Is this article from Outside.com accurate?
http://outside.away.com/outside/destinations/200608/best-outside-towns-2006-12.html
So you want to move to Boulder, Colorado, the perennial best town in America for (circle one or all depending upon your level of outsideness) roadies, rock jocks, organic consumers, backcountry skiers, mountain bikers, trail runners, ultrarunners, whitewater boaters, alpinists, credit-card environmentalists, New Agers, sellers of waterproof-breathable canine accessories, and those who support prairie dog emancipation at the expense of baseball fields. It’s a great place to live, because everyone looks and thinks exactly like you.*
Except they’re better than you. Get that straight and you’ll fit in. But you’ll matriculate quicker if you come with some attitude. Pose if you must. It’s the best town in America, for Christ’s/Buddha’s/Ganesh’s/Chris Carmichael’s sake. Step up.
But what’s it like to live here? Well, Boulder exudes a unique blend of over-the-top liberalism and extreme fitness. How to describe it . . . If Lance Armstrong and Amy Goodman had a love child, the prodigy would drive his Audi A4 to Boulder, buy a Maverick to decorate the roof rack, and then not ride the $5,000 bike because he didn’t want to encroach upon mountain lion habitat. Are you feeling the zeitgeist? Some more Boulder color might help:
A Buddhist monk moved into our condo complex. Shaved head, full regalia, real deal. He drives a 30-cylinder pickup truck named after a subarctic ecosystem where trees don’t grow and frost lingers.
Two strangers have said the word excelente to me in the past four months.
My barista (Oh, dear Lord, what’s happening to me?) to a fellow barista: “Cuba is, like, this paradise. Nothing has changed since, like, the fifties. They drive these old cars and play this great music.” Me: “Cuba? They put AIDS patients in concentration camps and throw journalists in jail for printing the truth.” Barista: “Uh, yeah, but the people are so happy down there. Who had the tall rice-milk latte?”
Need more telling details? The Dunkin’ Donuts went out of business, but the oxygen bar next door to the gay-and-lesbian bookstore seems to be doing well. The panhandlers on the Pearl Street Mall sport $70 sandals and pull in upwards of 25 bucks an hour. Did anybody mention that the median sale price of a home here is $525,000? That’s $302,000 more than the national figure. The best don’t come cheap. If that’s too pricey for you, maybe you should check out Burlington or Santa Fe. Oh, right: bad sushi.
OK, that’s all lifestyle stuff that comes with living in a town that has a large contingent of soft-palmed check- of-the-month-clubbers. Could just as easily be Marin County. Buy a meditation table, slap a GO VEGAN! sticker on your roof box, and you’ll blend. You’re here for the fitness pursuits anyway.
Except that’s where Boulder gets weird. In most American towns, outdoor-sports aficionados are part of an elite counterculture minority. Mountain bikers and climbers have cachet. Not so in Boulder. Recreating outdoors is the norm here, and it’s in your face. There’s always some horse-toothed mountain-town equivalent of Laird Hamilton ready to kick your athletic pride through the dirt. Remember the 2005 Tour, when T-Mobile kept attacking Discovery, trying to break Lance? That’s what a casual bike ride is like in Boulder. Strangers attack. Old guys with gray beards and steel bikes attack. Reach for a shot of Gu and even your friends attack. And women: Women always attack—they’re the worst.
Even slow guys like me attack. The other day I was reeling in a pro cyclist on a brutal local climb. My heart rate was near its max, but I was feeling good. I was in the zone. Maybe four years of living in Boulder have paid some fitness dividends, I thought.
Then I figured it out: He’s between intervals, and once his heart rate drops below 65 bpm, he’s gone. At least he said “No offense” before he accelerated.
It doesn’t matter what sport you do; you will suffer similar humiliation. Go nordic skiing in North Boulder Park and two Olympians shout “Track!” from a meter back. Climb the Flatirons only to learn that someone once ascended in Rollerblades. Get Maytagged in a hole while paddling Boulder Creek and a World Cup champion slalom kayaker will toss you a rope bag. Running? Not me, not in Boulder. Boulderites run like gazelles. Fancy yourself a mountaineer? The waiters at Sherpa’s have summited Everest. But at least those guys are nice. If Reinhold Messner himself walked into south Boulder’s mountaineering shop to buy a carabiner, the sales staff would give him attitude. It’s enough to make you revolt against the blue sky (300 sunny days a year), pull down the blinds, and watch NASCAR.
I know what you’re thinking. If you don’t like it, why don’t you get the hell out? I’ll tell you why: It’s pretty damn nice here, actually. I just bought a German automobile—gonna chip it. My four-year-old has attended two birthday parties in climbing gyms—little dude will be free-soloing soon. Maybe it’s the endorphin equivalent of a contact high, but I’ve never been in better shape. The sun is shining. The prairie dogs in the infield are chirping. One more round of whitening strips and my choppers will be gleaming. Everything’s, like, most excelente.
- If your teeth are pearly white and your resting heart rate is below 45 bpm.
Boy, what a one sided article. :eek
True, I haven’t spent a lot of time in Boulder since the early 70’s and I’m sure a lot of things have changed since then, but I doubt it’s as bad as the article proclaims. Sure, the cost of housing has skyrocketed due mostly to people wanting to live in a nice area away from Denver Metro, but isn’t that the case everywhere?
There’s good and bad in all parts of of Colorado, as well as the rest of the country, depending on what you’re searching for.
If you want the big city life, then Denver or Boulder may be your cup of tea.
If you want the small city feel, then there’s plenty of places within a few hours drive of those bigger cities.
The front range has just as many pluses as the western slope, depending on what it is you want.
Take some time and explore. Spend some time in each area.
Don’t believe everything you read, and only believe part of what you see.
If it feels right in your heart, you’ll be happy with where you land. :flower
P.S. The only thing I didn’t like about Boulder was that it was too windy. 
Jen, Tom, Miki -
Thanks for all of the feedback. I have been to Boulder 6 times but have always been on vacation so obtaining a true feel for a city’s “real” flavor has been a challenge.
Unfortunately, I am not making Rockygrass. 
Of course you will all have a great time although I don’t know what Jen is going to do since the duo will be partying in Lyons.
peace,
Billy
I’ll be in Iowa floating down the Missouri River on a noodle…
For real?!?!
Those of us in Southeastern Colorado feel we’ve got the best situation. I’m 90 I-25 minutes from Denver, enjoy a reasonable cost of living, an unbeatable climate, cultural diversity, terrific food, the biggest lake on the Front Range and the 3rd largest BG fest in the state.
We do lack skiing, but then again, I take a dim view of any sport that requires you to create your own wind chill factor. 
Dean
Boulder has had one of the highest increase in the cost of living in the United States since 1980. The last index I could find was 135 based on 100 being average. Denver is at 103. There are lots of reasons why Boulder’s cost of living is so high, but the city comes up in city planning on zoning debates from coast to coast.
As friends of my say: “Ft. Collins: Just like Boulder without the attitude and expense”.
Boulder is a great town to visit. But it isn’t a place I would wish to stay for very long, even I could afford it. While the article is a big over the top, it is rooted in the truth
WOW. Can’t believe the clown who wrote that article still lives in Boulder! Pretty humourous article, I must say. But yea, if you can make a living in Lyons, that’s where I’m looking to move to next (or maybe Nederland). Rockygrass outside your front door, that’s the life.
I guess I need to chime in here. I have lived all over the front range. I lived in Golden for 2 years, Boulder for 4 years, Coal Creek Canyon (the foothills outside of Boulder/Golden) for 2 years, and have lived in Fort Collins for the past 2 years.
All I can say is that I loved living in Boulder. If you are on this forum chances are that you would really dig living in or around boulder. Yes, its pricey. But there is just so much stuff to do to make it worth it. The music scene is hard to beat. You would probably need to move to Austin or SF to find a music scene that rivals Boulder.
I think that most of the bad stuff you hear about Boulder is a bunch of crap. I really didn’t encounter all that stuff when I lived there. If you go do the things that you are into then you will meet a lot of cool people who are into the same stuff. Sure, there’s a lot of elite athletes, but there’s also a lot of beginner and intermediate athletes around too. I’m far from an advanced rock climber, but I’d still go out with a bunch of friends and climb and I never encountered any attitude. I’ve found that most people are actually pretty encouraging if your willing to try something new.
I also really liked living in Coal Creek Canyon. The real estate is much cheaper than boulder. It’s a nice mix of feeling away from it all, yet being close enough to Boulder/Denver to enjoy the nightlife. The gas expenses sure did add up though.
Right now I live in Ft Collins and I really dig it. I’ve been doing a ton of road and mountain biking since I moved here. I have to say that I think Ft Collins is a little more bike friendly than boulder. Most of the trails around Boulder are hiking only, and don’t allow bikes. Most of the trails aroung Fort Collins allow bikes and there are some pretty nice trails. The rock climbing isn’t nearly as good though. The thing that I don’t like about Ft Collins compared to Boulder is the music scene. The Fort has a decent music scene, but it is in no way as good as Boulder. It’s gotten better for bluegrass since Bradford from Open Road opened a bar called the Swing Station. We’ve definitely been getting a lot more national bluegrass acts.
Well, that was a little long-winded so I’ll leave it at that for now. Peace
Matt
Yeah, Lyons is pretty sweet too. I haven’t lived there, but it seems to be quikly becoming the center of the colorado bluegrass world.
Matt - thanks for your thoughts and advice. :cheers
That article was one-sided, and very funny. Even though he was stereotyping, I did agree with a lot of the stuff he said. I guess the bottom line is, if you have the money and the right attitude, Boulder might just be the place for you.
I have to add my 2 cents to this thread. I have lived in Colorado since 85 including 8 years in Telluride, a brief (less than a year) stint in FT Collins, and the last 11 years in Boulder. First I want to thank Matt. It’s not often you hear a resident of the Fort say such nice things about Boulder. In fact, Boulder bashing seems to be a favorite sport of many Colorado residents. You can draw your own conclusions as to why. Sure the cost of living is higher than other Colorado towns, but you could easily argue that the “quality of life” is correspondingly high. You get what you pay for. It ain’t cheap in Manhattan Beach CA or San Francisco either (Or DC for that matter). If you have to live “in town” I’d take Boulder over just about any other Front Range city. 30 mins to DIA, 45 to RMNP, 30 to Red Rocks, and 20 to Planet Bluegrass, several quality brew pubs and a bunch of great resturants, not to mention a thriving music scene and all of the cultural opportunities that come with a major university. That said, Tom probably gave the best advice so far: Ya gotta look around and really see for yourself! There are lots of little mountain enclaves along the front range from Manitiou Springs in the south to Ward and Gold Hill in Boulder county and lots of smaller towns out to the east as well. Longmont is getting hipper all the time and is as accesable as Boulder if not more for DIA and the I-25 corridor. Ft Collins is a nice little college town with an interesting mix of hippies, yuppies, and rednecks and a pretty sizable festivarian population. Lyons is a great little town. In the end it’s more about you and what you want out of a place than about the place itself. 2 days 3 hrs 10 mins till onsite camping opens.
Hiya!
My BF and I recently took the plunge and bought a house in CO, after 13 (YES 13) trips over the past 2 years to this gorgeous state.
We are limited financially (being teachers), and were seeking quality of small town life and access to outdoor activities. We also love local businesses and microbreweries - luckily, MOST towns in CO sport plenty of both. Another huge plus for us is 100% non-smoking everywhere!!! YAY!!!
We LOVED Golden, Ft. Collins, and Castle Rock (south of Denver), because of their centralized old-town downtown areas and easy access to other important stuff (airports, climbing/other outdoor sports, etc.). We sidestepped Boulder purely for financial reasons, but really enjoyed Lyons when we were just there for RockyGrass. We ended up lucking into a repo in Castle Rock, and are really excited to fix it up and move up here next summer.
To echo what other wise people have said on this thread, you should spend more time up here, talk to the locals (they will usually be really honest about what it’s like to live in a place), and then just commit to making it happen. I have lots of friends right now ooohing and aaahing about The Secret, which basically says if you act like it has already happened, or is going to happen imminently, “the universe” will pull everything together for you.
Good luck :horsey
Congrats to you!
:cheers
First part of the plan is coming together:
My first open house to sell my place is 9/30.
Help me realize my Colorado dream by buying me out! :lol
First part of the plan is coming together:My first open house to sell my place is 9/30.
Help me realize my Colorado dream by buying me out!
But by doing that, we prevent ourselves from realizing the same dream :eek