After leaving Aspen, I headed northeast to Denver where I stayed with my friend Amy who recently moved there from Atlanta. But even though I spent a couple days at her place, I only once ventured into Denver — to eat a delicious meal at WaterCourse, a 100% vegetarian restaurant near downtown. Perhaps the reason that I wasn’t able to explore more of Denver is that I was caught in a tractor beam of awesomeness by Boulder, a very cool town about 30 minutes north of Denver.
One goal of this trip is to find the next place to move to, and Boulder is now at the top of my list! (The only other place on the list so far is Durango.) I really like Colorado in general, but I really love Boulder… let me count the ways.
- The outdoors — hiking, biking, camping, rock climbing and bouldering, skiing, snowboarding, and probably 10 other cool sports that I have yet to discover. People in Colorado (yes, I’m generalizing) love being active outdoors, and so do I!
- There are more Thai restaurants and coffee shops than streetlights. Count them! I’m a big fan of food, and I could easily spend an entire year’s salary enjoying all the delicious restaurants in this town.
- The people — lots of really friendly, intelligent, and open minded people. Many younger people because of University of Colorado. And there’s also a strong sense of community(ies) there too. I met so many people who I could easily be good friends with.
- Walkable town — You can easily live here without driving because everything is so close together that you can walk or bike anywhere, and there is good public transportation when you need it.
- Everything you need without going totally mainstream — Although there is a mall in town with the typical Target, Macy’s, REI, etc., there are tons and tons of smaller shops where you can find anything you need at a reasonable price.
- They have a movie theater with 16 screens — enough to satisfy my love of movies. You know I’ll be there at least a couple times a week!
- Great local entertainment — tons of cool hangout places, weekly outdoor movies during the summer, local music scene plus a couple theaters where you can find big name acts all year round.
- Proximity to Denver — I’m sure there’s lots more cool stuff in Denver that I have yet to explore. Plus Denver has an international airport and a great place for some cheap flights.
So in a nutshell, Boulder might be my next home. But I still have all of the west to explore still, so it’s possible I could find another place that I like better… we’ll see.
Tags: Boulder, Denver, places to move to