Overrated
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7/22/2018
I moved here 8 years ago from Tampa, and my love for this metro has completely grown cold. To begin with, I will focus on the positive. Colorado has gorgeous mountains, and they line the west edge of the Denver area, offering numerous opportunities to explore nature. Colorado as a whole offers a decent variety of geographical wonders to discover for yourself, peppered with different styles of picturesque mountain towns throughout.
Unfortunately, the negatives outweigh the positives.
First, you must love winter, and when I say love, I mean, not just tolerate it, but love it. And by winter, I don't just mean the dead of winter when it's in the teens and snows, I mean the lingering effects of winter that appear as early as October and last as late as May. This includes the snow, but also the ugly, brown and grey dormancy which is apparent from October to May. The problem with the snow along the front range is it has a way of crashing the other seasons, meaning an out of place snow storm can kill both the fall colors and the spring flowers. And the thing about the snow hear is it has the tendency to melt quickly, so in the morning you're scrapping it off your wind shield, and in the afternoon, your stepping in puddles of wet, mushy, dirty melting snow, which also means it's going to freeze that night and create a nice thick layer of ice which could linger for weeks depending on the weather, and the sun exposure. North side parking lots have the tendency to remain dotted with ice for days after the sun exposed snow has melted. And if you like snow, well enjoy I before it melts. And when the snow melts, it's back to the ugly, brown, dry land, and lifeless trees which stay with you even after the snow has melted.
Second, it's crowded. The roads are crowded. The highways are crowded. Rush hours can start as early as 3:30 and still be jamming up the highways at 7:30. Saturdays are crowded, Sundays are crowded, and the weekend as usually a perpetual rush hour. Parallel parking is everywhere, bikes are every where, buses are everywhere, pedestrians are everywhere. All these things means driving anywhere outside your neighborhood is hell. People drive slow, even when they don't have to. It's not uncommon to find people on the streets and highways going 10 miles under the speed limit even if they are first in line and they will find someone going as slow as they are to drive next to for miles so you can't pass them. Buses will cause 10 car pile ups at intersections on narrow 4 line roads. Bicyclists will cause 10 car back ups, or even worse weave directly into traffic during rush hour and try to ride the road like they are a car. Parallel Parker's will cause backups as they try to squeeze into the only spot they have found for blocks, which means they will try multiple times to make it fit.
The stores are crowded, and grocery shopping on Sunday, especially in Aurora is chaotic hell. Parking lots are crowded, and expect to dodge a continual stream of people, and exiting the parking lots is a massive headache, especially trying to exit left, crossing traffic. Homelessness is everywhere in the core, and because of Denver's camping ban, and park camping ban, homeless people will finding creative spots to pitch their tent and shopping carts over a broad area.
The mountains are crowded, and if you're like most people who work M-F, and play time is the weekend, then you're going to be stuck in back to back traffic on I-70 going up the mountain and coming down, or you're going to be hiking from your parking spot a 1/2 mile away from the trail head before you even begin hiking. Skiing is crowded and the lines to go up the slope with all your gear is a head ache. Expect to see a lot of people on the slopes or visiting the mountain towns.
Denver is expensive, and so is the Colorado lifestyle. Rent and home prices are expensive, which means more of your time is going to be spent working than playing. Those fancy condos and apartments and new houses you see in pictures and as you drive around will probably be at least a half of a million dollars, or $1500 month rent for a studio. Most likely you'll be pushed to the north or east into Thornton, Brighton, or Aurora which besides the rediculous crowds means you'll be seeing a lot more of Kansas style prarie land than pristine mountians. Then add state income taxes, car taxes and registration fees (easily $700 the first year, and a bit less per year), overpriced hipster restaurants, over prices farmers markets and street fairs, overpriced outdoor equipment (think REI), ski passes plus equipment, winter woredrob, snow tires, gas (snow and mountains lower mpg), parking costs, increased insurance rates because of hail storms, electricity, and pretty soon you'll find yourself either too broke to enjoy everything Colorado has to offer or too busy working to enjoy it.
Denver is dirty. There is a lot of trash, there is homelessness, and grime. There are smelly gas refineries and dog food factories, Greeley cow farms, and piss filled outdoor malls. The Platt river contains a lot of industrial run off, 16th Street Mall smells of piss, is dangerous, dirty, and crowded. Colfax, also smells of piss and is dangerous, dirty and crowded. Cherry Creek bike path and Creek bank is full of used drug needles. Seeing a used condom on the street is not un common downtown. This of course means your dog which you brought to Colorado because you heard it was a dog friendly state, is going to need a bath every time you take him anywhere near the city core.
Denver culture and politics is very uppity. The whole city is a white wash of liberal politics. Most of the city is being gentrified and becoming very WASP-y, Boulder-like. Liberal politics control the whole state, because of the concentration of people in Denver, the Libertarian mindset which used to be prominent in the state is always under threat by liberals who want to increase the size of government, increase taxes, increase regulations and restrict freedoms to become more like California, and the current Democratic candidate for Governor will potentially swing the state in a dangerous socialism leftist direction.
Finally it's dry, which means dehydration headaches, dry itchy, cracking skin, dry itchy eyes, and less green vegetation.
Scott | Lakewood, CO