I tried to move this last night, but the server wasn’t cooperating.
Off to IMHO.
Phlip? you live here in C Springs? Oydya fuckin wow. I never knew that! Nice to meet you “neighbor” C Springs native here.
Anyhow, I am a Colorado Native, born and raised.
I have lived in C Springs most of my life but lived in Grand Junction and Denver Metro.
Denver is a nice city, most of us call it a town because it really is a town rather than a bustling city like NY, Houston, Chicago or LA. But there are gems to be found.
Lot’s of sports oriented activities. Be that going to professional sporting events or enjoying a ride through one of the many trails on your bike or feet. Skiing of course is close by and they do have the ski train that goes to Denver owned Winter Park. But you need not take the train and there are plenty of activities in the mountains year round. Just be concerned about driving I-70 on a holiday weekend any holiday weekend of the year. Either find alternative routes or go to places most Denverites don’t go then.
Take fishing, hiking, serious mountain biking, alpine sledding, and even the sport of shopping for the serious shopper in the mountains. Of course Denver has loads of shopping and more shopping but I hate shopping.
There are talented acts that make their way to the Mile High City. Red Rocks, Fiddler’s Green and Mile High Stadium (occasionally the Pepsi center too) are great venues for music. You’ve got the biggest in musicians to Broadway tours through there. They even sometimes come down to C Springs (I saw Sting in December at our little venue called the World Arena.)
Life is more casual. In many (not all, call ahead) five star restaurants you can wear casual clothing. That means Dockers and for the women a pretty skirt or nice pants set.
Weather is damn unpredictable here. In December it can be -20º and a couple of days later in the 60s which is why so many people prefer it here over other northern cities. Here lately we have been bouncing from the 60s to the 90s and today was hell. Screw that “it’s a dry heat” heat is heat is heat. Heat sucks.
Yes, it does have its drawbacks like any big city. The public transporation system plain sucks. If you don’t have a car you will want to buy one because you will spend more time on the bus than you will at work or home combined. Then you have to learn the local streets because the highway system sucks ass and with them building the new light-rail (some dynosaur name or whatever it is) they have really screwed up I-25 in a big way.
Over all, as a Colorado Native, I would much rather live in Denver than many places I have been to in my life. Colorado is more a family place than it is for a single person but you can meet some wonderful people here even if you are single. I don’t recommend it to people that love a “fast” life with a lot of nights out (LoDo is fun but can get old quick.)
If you have any other questions, while I am not the authority I am pretty damn knowledgable, use my email address.
The weather here is about the nicest weather I’ve ever experienced. I read somewhere we get 300 days of sunshine a year & I believe it. The winters don’t really feel that cold, 55 degrees is short sleave weather because of the sunshine.
I’m going to have to disagree with techchick, but she doesn’t know any better 'cause she’s a Colorado native 
90 degrees here is nothing like 90 in the Midwest or New York. You definately want to stay out of the sun though 'cause it can be killer.
I moved to Denver (Aurora, actually, because of price) from the Central Coast of California (you know, Monterey, Carmel, Pebble Beach, Santa Cruz, Heaven; that area 
). That should tell you something about how nice Denver and Colorado can be. 
Aurora is the biggest non-stop suburb I have seen outside of Orange County in California, and it’s kinda boring because it is all oriented N-S or E-W, except a couple of main arteries. It wasn’t bad to live in at all; I lived very near to the Mall and was able to walk to everything I needed, including a really nice library.
Having said that, you drive alot in Denver, just like in all other western states. By western standards, it isn’t that far to most places from Denver, but compared to the East Coast, you’ll be surprised.
No one has mentioned altitude yet. It’ll bother you at first, if you are into being active. After a while, you get used to it.
Denver has two newspapers. This is important, as you find out if you ever move to a city with only one paper. And one of the papers is kinda cute in that it is put out in magazine format, rather than the traditional double fold of most newspapers.
The temperature thing is easy to figure out; it’s not that cold in winter. I’ve golfed there in February, which I certainly couldn’t say of any place I know east of the Mississippi and north of the Mason-Dixon line. Comfortably, too, I might add. Course there was the time I almost got caught out on the road in a blizzard on April 1 that dumped more than a foot of snow on SE Colorado.
Enjoy your new home, and by all means, don’t take long to get to the top of Pike’s Peak.
Reading this thread has made me miss Colorado (the Springs, actually, was where I lived) tremendously. That combined with all the rainy days in Boston over the past few weeks. I don’t really have anything to add to what’s here, except that I would move back in a second, so my advice to you would be to go for it.
Oh yeah, the beer is definitely fabulous.
Huh? Taking the toll road (E-470) is quick and painless to the airport. Since there’s less traffic, even when stopping to pay the toll, you can fly. From my house in C Springs (live in the Briargate area, north part of C Springs) to DIA I made it there in 55 minutes and took me 60 minutes on the return trip on Labor Day weekend even.
I hope they keep it a toll road forever.
I lived in Littleton but not really Littleton. Off Colorado and Orchard (three blocks south of Greenwood Village.) This was 1995-1998 and paid about $845 for a two bedroom townhouse that also had a pool. Perfect for me because it was south metro so I could easily hop on the I and come down here to see my family.