Colorado Springs, CO

[elf]

There used to be an entry for Colorado Springs on the old boards, wasn't there? I don't like seeing that frowny-face thing on West Hartford, so I'm putting this one up for the Springs:

I've only been here just over a year, so this is no native opinion. . . but the mountains are really, truly beautiful to behold -- and handy, too! It takes a lot to get lost around here - See the mountain? That's West. Easy.

Some evenings, after sunset and when it's just dark enough to call it 'night', the sky looks so very velvety blue and sparkling with stars; the mountains have become pitch, abyss-black and a blanket of shining city-lights shimmer at their base.... truly amazing.

It's sprawled out quite a lot and there's no tall buildings that create a true 'City' atmosphere, so in my mind it's more 'good-sized town' than an actual city.

The winter doesn't seem as harsh as in my native New York, nor is the summer nearly as humid and sticky. There's been motorcycles rumbling by on a nice day in December, so I get to call my mother and brag how I'm outside with no jacket on and am quite comfortable. Granted, it's not like that most of the time, but those few days are very precious to me. Very. Precious.

There's just enough entertainment that you can find something to do if you've a mind to, and though you have to go up to Denver for actual culture as far as I can tell, there's little gems around here and there.

What else? The people are friendlier than in NY (shocker, eh?) but it's a little discomforting to me, as a native New Yorker. I got a new Safeway card using an unpronounceable last name so they would stop being familiar with me. That was very unsettling to me. If I want you to call me by name, I'll introduce myself, thankyouverymuch. ("thank you, Ms. .... *pause*... Do you need any help with your bags??"


So, yeah. The Springs have got me ready to settle in one place... for a little while at least.

[perth]

The Springs are nice. I actually considered leaving within a couple months, but opted instead to take over the mortgage on the house I owned with Case, and it's got me really feeling good about hanging around for a while.

Mari can probably point you towards some really nice mountain drives (and yeah, that's an invitation to do just that, Mari ), but the one I really like is to leave Co Spgs by way of Hwy 24, drive back through Aspen and into Glenwood Springs.

I may be misremembering my fellow Colorado Cellarites, but weren't you living in Fort Collins at some point? I'm from there originally, and sometimes stop to wonder why I left. All in all, I definitely prefer FTC, but Colorado Springs is nice.

[kerosene]

Well, I appreciate the positive attitdue about the Springs. One must have a positive attitude to live there, IMO. My favorite view of CS is in a rear view mirror, but I sure do miss the views of Pike's Peak sometimes. My bf and I just finished moving to Boulder, which is just up the road about an hour and a half. I must say that I am much more comfortable here, as far as the social climate goes, but I can't discount some of Colorado Springs' qualities. There are a few fun things to do in CS. I always liked walking Garden of the Gods, as it is relaxing and doesn't cost anything. If you get there in the evening, you can avoid most of the tourists.

Now, I am thinking about Boulder and I think I will start another thread.

Good luck in the Springs, elf.

[elf]

Me? I've never lived anywhere in CO than where I am now. . . (which is actually outside the springs by 25 miles, but we're going to change that soon - yay, Civilization!) The hubby type is tired of moving around - we've lived in manymany towns over the past 12 years, and now he's convinced me that we should settle down a little bit so the kids can stabilize. :p (Kids are resiliant, I tell you! Let em be nomads!!) But he doesn't like that much. So we're planning on moving into the Springs this summer and staying at least in the same school district through till the kids graduate. Fair enough, I figure, I like it here.

Anyway, I did take 24 west one day, ended up just past Lake George, and oh-my, is it pretty up there. It was September or October when I went, I think. . . and the aspens were all yellowed up. Not really very impressive as far as autumn colors are concerned, but I appreciated them. I do plan on taking a couple of road trips this summer... I plan on picking a direction and just <i>going</i> till I have to come back. So any suggestions are most certainly welcome!!

[elf]

Thank you, Case.

I forgot to mention Garden of the Gods!! And Palmer Park is nice, too. . . I took the kids to Palmer park a few times, it's nice because there's the playground right at the foot of the hills and stuff, and then you can drag the kids up to the park and let them climb all over the rocks, they're happy campers. And they haven't broken any bones falling off them yet, either!

But Garden of the Gods is truly spectacular. (Agreed, weekend days are NOT the time to enjoy it, though) The kids don't like it much because you are supposed to stay to the pathways and such.

[FloridaDragon]

I just posted in the West Hartford thread as we lived close by there and can't resist this one either...we used to live in that area somewhere (I was tiny and would have to look it up...I was born in Pueblo, and I think we lived in both Penrose, and in Denver for a while) but my Mom used to work at NORAD under Cheyenne Mountain. She is retired now and went ballistic (no pun intended) when she saw the Modern Marvals show on TV about NORAD...her quotes were something about "they can't show that!!!!" .... when she was there, everything about it was top secret.