Culturally liberal and educated smaller towns in Boulder County? (Castle Rock: real estate, homes)

[COcheesehead]

We don’t live that far from Ridgeway and jump down there for breakfast at a hidden gem in town called Provisions at the Barbershop. Great European style eatery.

The rest of the town is odd. Most of the neighborhood streets are not paved and most of the houses in town border on ramshackle cabins.

We like to stop there to eat, but no way would I live there. The area is beautiful though.

Palisade or Paonia may appeal to the OP better. They fit more into the artist colony, Boho lifestyle natural living communities. Much closer to the folks you’d meet in Boulder without it being Boulder.

[jwiley]

Originally Posted by fallstreak

We are looking for a place that feels like *home* to us. I am bisexual, we have many LGBT friends, etc, a place wouldn't be home to us if our family couldn't feel safe there. Having to move because the community we chose to move to was unaccepting of our kid or myself would really suck, no matter how far down the line.

Beyond that, even if my kids don't turn out to be gay or trans, the people you grow up with and the jokes they make shape so much of your thinking for life. For the same reason I don't want my daughter growing up and going to Palo Alto schools where everyone's parents are Facebook VPs pushing them to get into Harvard, I don't want her growing up with a bunch of homophobes who don't believe in evolution. This is why we ruled out Utah.

Talk about being judgmental and prejudice. Salt Lake City has a large LGBT population and talking to someone that splits time between there and San Francisco they easily prefer SLC.

As a father of a child who is gay I have spent the last several months looking for places to move to. I live in the eastern plains of Colorado now, but grew up just outside of the Colorado front range, and spent most of my life along the Colorado front range. What you are looking for does not really exist in rural Colorado.

Many of the rural areas of Colorado are very clanish, you will spend much of your life with the other people who move to the area. There is very little acceptance to newcomers from the people that have lived there for generations. If your child is gay it is not a big deal if your family is from the area. That child will be treated different by a handful of people but those people will also protect them from outsiders or bullies that go to far. If you are not from the area than your child will be bullied gay or not unless they are a superb athlete or bring other value that local kids see.

As for Lyons and Nederland, I doubt either work for you.

Lyons is just a small town that depends heavily on Longmont for things like groceries, medical services, and even shares a school district if I remember correctly, but it is on the main road to Estes Park. The trails are crowded, the roads are a mess during tourist season, and the schools are not great.

I have not spent as much time in Nederland, but from what I know it is a town for service workers that cannot afford to live but work in Boulder and wealthy people that do not have to commute daily to Boulder. There school district is shared with Boulder, but it always seemed underfunded when I talk to people from the area.

I have seen some suggest places like the Grand Valley which has Grand Junction, Palisade, and a couple of other towns. That may be a solid option. I personally loved the area when we moved there, but were forced to come back to this side due to lack of medical care. I know several gay people there and they never seem to have issues.

Another option may be somewhere like Wellington CO, it is on the very northern tip of the Colorado front range, but with the growth in the area it is very welcoming to outsiders. You are also 10 minutes from Fort Collins which is a very purple area that is also accepting to the LGBQT people.

[cmdreset]

I can't speak to those specific areas, but it sounds like you are looking for a small town with a decent college. That would probably tick all of your cultural/educational boxes - you just have to find one in the right location that hasn't gotten too big/affluent yet.

[brightdoglover]

Originally Posted by COcheesehead

We don’t live that far from Ridgeway and jump down there for breakfast at a hidden gem in town called Provisions at the Barbershop. Great European style eatery.

The rest of the town is odd. Most of the neighborhood streets are not paved and most of the houses in town border on ramshackle cabins.

We like to stop there to eat, but no way would I live there. The area is beautiful though.
...

The streets aren't paved because they are historic district and that's what people wanted. Don't think the houses here border on ramshackle, although there are sheds and all that are original. On my historic block, two blocks from Provisions, most houses are new since 2018 or so.

But then, I don't find the town "odd." I think it's pretty cool. There are a lot of artists and all. Just the original town was pretty skimpy in the first place. A lot of what you see is new/newish.

[orngkat]

I would check out Salida and Paonia.

[lostboy]

+1 for Salida. +1 for Paonia if you don’t mind the remoteness. If you are willing to stretch your 2-3 hours max to decent sized city, I would take a hard look at Durango. Albuquerque is about 3-1/2 hours away and it has a decent airport although there are direct flights from Durango to Texas where you can connect to anywhere. GL

[gg]

Do "liberal" and "educated" gel together? This has not been my experience, but I am a world traveller and have a lot of real life experience in owning businesses and having lots of employees.

Boulder in general is pretty liberal in feel. Tons of rich CA people moved there and completely changed the vibe of the area and I suspect it will be your latte liking.

I agree with others, your post is odd as you are no doubt going to bring your CA ways to CO. The old time locals probably won't like it much, but they are now outnumbered, so you will get what you want.

[StealthRabbit]

Seems there are plenty of towns in Boulder County that would work for OP.

Culturally liberal and educated smaller towns in Boulder County?

The 'locals' were displaced from Boulder County 40 yrs ago by Californication (distortion of property valuations in areas (11 'other' western states) that do not shelter / protect citizens under Prop 13)

Just choose Lyons, Ward, or Nederland and go from there. (rent first to find your friends and fit)

Lyons does suffer a lot of weekend traffic woes, so find a place off the main roads and with back-road access to get out of town.

Nederland gets you off the main route to EP, so you don't have to deal with the summer / weekend circus.

[lostboy]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

...

Nederland gets you off the main route to EP, so you don't have to deal with the summer / weekend circus.

Nederland is mostly in the trees and has burned recently. OP is fire adverse.

Fallstreak, if you are sure you want a small town another option would be Buena Vista. It’s near Salida so you check them both out on the same trip. Grab lunch, cross the Ark at the Whitewater park and go for a quick hike on the Midland trail. GL

[Hschlick84]

Boulder in late 80s to early 90s from what I concur was more hippie and live/let live, less latte and Volvo. Pearl St Mall has all the local shops for the tourist and locals alike. Beautiful area, but way too far on one side of the spectrum.