The Cherry Creek area is a very nice and mostly upscale neighborhood if you want to live close to the heart of the city. Its near to the beautiful Denver Botanic Gardens, as well as the state capitol building downtown, the Fine Arts Museum, the Museum of Natural History, and the Denver Zoo. The schools in Cherry Creek have an excellent reputation. As Mr. Noodle said, if you want a more rural setting (although to someone from LA, probably downtown Denver is rural!), the newer neighborhoods to the south Of Denver have good schools and safe neighborhoods. Highlands Ranch, and the towns of Parker and Castle Rock are worth looking into. Coming from LA, you'll probably discover that Denver real estate is a bargain by comparison and be able to move into a more upscale neighborhood than what you may now be able to afford in the LA region. As far as culture goes, Denver has a pretty good symphony, a lively theater scene, and plenty of music venues for acts both national and neighborhood. Used to be some nice jazz clubs in Cherry Creek when I lived there. Naturally, it ain't LA, but its not just some overgrown cow town anymore, either. Its still fun to go check out the National Stockman's Show that takes place in Denver every January, though.
We do get this stuff called snow here, so be prepared! Denver gets some really good snow storms with with plenty of accumulation every winter, but the good news is that the stuff melts off pretty fast and doesn't lay around for weeks and months, getting all grey and dirty like it does in some places back East.
The mountains to the west of Denver are filled with amazing things to see and places to go. Aspen is maybe what - a 3 hour hour drive, Mr. Noodle? Vail is closer than that. You can go gambling in BlackHawk or pan for gold outside of Leadville. Rocky Mountain National Park is less than a two hour drive and truely magnificent in the summer.
Just don't mention to anyone that you're from
California and you should do fine!
