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I am single,55 and very active. I have a beautiful condo in manitou springs with a view of GOGs and PikesPeak. I have recently received an offer which would mean relocating to Fort Collins. I have no idea how to make this decision. Are there hikes close by in Fort Collins? Is it too much of a college town for someone that is a bit "older"? Does it have unique restaurants/ I am stuck - need help quickly! Thanks
I am single,55 and very active. I have a beautiful condo in manitou springs with a view of GOGs and PikesPeak. I have recently received an offer which would mean relocating to Fort Collins. I have no idea how to make this decision. Are there hikes close by in Fort Collins? Is it too much of a college town for someone that is a bit "older"? Does it have unique restaurants/ I am stuck - need help quickly! Thanks
Alveeno,
Fort Collins is a great town for all ages. The college adds to traffic during the school year, but, unless you are near it, you hardly notice the influence of the campus otherwise. I feel that having the university here does increase the cultural offerings in town.
I have heard that we have among the highest number of restaurants per capita in the United States. There are many chains, but there are also unique offerings.
Fort Collins invests a considerable amount in parks and open space, giving us many natural areas in which to hike and recreate. The city owns Coyote Ridge, Pineridge, Bobcat Ridge, Soapstone Prairie, Reservoir Ridge, and Maxwell among others. Many of these have hiking, and most are in or near the city. Combined with trails in Lory State Park, and areas administered by the county, such as Horsetooth Reservoir, Horsetooth Mountain park, and the Blue Sky trail, you have countless opportunities for your hikes. A short drive up the Poudre Canyon adds more possibilities, and Rocky Mountain National Park is less than an hour away, further increasing options.
You will find that our views of the mountains from town are not nearly as impressive as those from the Springs. For travel, we do not have an airport that serves major destinations, so you will have to drive to DIA. If you are a skier, the major ski areas are 2+ hours away, and you have to take I-70 to get there.
Feel free to ask any further questions you may have, or for clarification or more detail.
I would like to ask your opinion/advice on colorado springs vs. fort collins CO. My husband and I are planning on moving to CO and are trying to decide between these two places, based on a few different things.
1) job availability/job growth
I would think Colorado springs because isnt it closer to denver? But fort collins is always being picked and rated as a best city to live in. I know jobs are not easily found anywhere right now but currently where we live the unemployment rate is over 12%!
2) weather
My husband and I currently live in a beach area. We understand it snows in CO and we will have to learn to drive in it. But out of the two places, which has the more mild climate? Is there any differences weather wise?
3) colleges
I want to be near at least 1 community college and state college or university, but the more options the better. Affordable schools are best. And if there are any christian schools, even better. I think fort collins is more of a college town?
4) affordable rent
We are looking for a nice apartment (with a fireplace, central air conditioning, pool, garages) for $800-$1000/month. I believe colorado springs has the more affordable housing? Or am I wrong?
5) not pro GLBT
I understand everyone is different with different views and opinions and we are not all going to agree and we are not going to all want the same things in a place to live. I dont have hate towards anyone, but I prefer not to live in a pro GLBT area. This is promoted in places where I live now with celebrations for "coming out day" and sections of town dedicated to gay business owners, and gay parades. I know this is a touchy subject and Im not trying to attack or offend anyone. But my family is more conservative and traditional and these very liberal areas are just not for us. Each to their own. But I would like an honest answer if there is one area that is more republican than the other out of these two places. I prefer the one that is more conservative to fit our family values.
Thank you
PS....no one needs to reply that I shouldnt move to CO or that I need to have a job lined up before coming or a lot of savings. I will have a job before I move.
I would like to ask your opinion/advice on colorado springs vs. fort collins CO. My husband and I are planning on moving to CO and are trying to decide between these two places, based on a few different things.
I'd say it depends on which one you get a job in, and I would add other cities to your list if I were you: Denver and Salt Lake City for starters.
Quote:
1) job availability/job growth
I would think Colorado springs because isnt it closer to denver? But fort collins is always being picked and rated as a best city to live in. I know jobs are not easily found anywhere right now but currently where we live the unemployment rate is over 12%!
Actually, Fort Collins is closer to downtown Denver by 5 miles. Colorado Springs is closer to the south suburbs of Denver than Fort Collins is, but to the rest of Denver Fort Collins is as close if not closer. Furthermore, the drive from Fort Collins to Denver is in my opinion quite easier than the drive from Colorado Springs to Denver. There is usually less traffic, and especially noticeable during winter storms the CS-Denver drive has to go over higher terrain. The CS-Denver drive actually passes over the Palmer divide, which is a major hydrologic divide between the Platte-Missouri basin and the Arkansas basin. The peak elevation is about 7500 ft, and there are pine trees and can be a lot of snow.
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2) weather
My husband and I currently live in a beach area. We understand it snows in CO and we will have to learn to drive in it. But out of the two places, which has the more mild climate? Is there any differences weather wise?
I don't think there's an appreciable difference in climate, except that Colorado Spring being at a higher elevation tends to get a bit more snow. I'm much more familiar with the Fort Collins climate, and it is a pretty easy winter climate unless you're coming from Florida or California. Plentiful sunshine, and not a lot of snow except in the months of November, March and April on the average year. Monster snowstorms in the middle of winter are quite rare (every decade or two). Monster snowstorms in spring or fall are much more common (every couple years). That's actually kind of nice, because snow melts faster in spring and fall than in mid winter.
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3) colleges
I want to be near at least 1 community college and state college or university, but the more options the better. Affordable schools are best. And if there are any christian schools, even better. I think fort collins is more of a college town?
Colorado Springs has a Christian University (Nazarene) but I know nothing about it, Fort Collins does not have one I know of but it does have some mega-churches. Both cities have both a community college and a 4-year state university. Colorado Springs is actually the home base of Focus on the Family, and has a much stronger fundamentalist Christian feel to it than Fort Collins. Fort Collins is a college town, and is really dominated by Colorado State University main campus. Colorado Springs a college town too (Colorado College, CU-CSprings), but it is also a military town, and is much too large to be dominated by those two small schools. Actually, the most important university of Colorado Springs is the Air Force Acadamy.
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4) affordable rent
We are looking for a nice apartment (with a fireplace, central air conditioning, pool, garages) for $800-$1000/month. I believe colorado springs has the more affordable housing? Or am I wrong?
Fort Collins has plenty of places of that price or lower. I actually think Fort Collins is cheaper. Furthermore, Fort Collins doesn't have any neighborhoods to avoid, while much of the cheaper housing in C Springs is in neighborhoods that many people don't like.
Quote:
5) not pro GLBT
I understand everyone is different with different views and opinions and we are not all going to agree and we are not going to all want the same things in a place to live. I dont have hate towards anyone, but I prefer not to live in a pro GLBT area. This is promoted in places where I live now with celebrations for "coming out day" and sections of town dedicated to gay business owners, and gay parades. I know this is a touchy subject and Im not trying to attack or offend anyone. But my family is more conservative and traditional and these very liberal areas are just not for us. Each to their own. But I would like an honest answer if there is one area that is more republican than the other out of these two places. I prefer the one that is more conservative to fit our family values.
I lived in Fort Collins for 3 years and I never met an openly gay man or woman. But Fort Collins is not a conservative town overall. It has plenty of conservatives living there, but it is so much dominated by the university that overall it's more liberal. It's like Boulder-lite at its core (the campus and downtown), with a little bit of old time rural rancher conservative Colorado to the north, northwest, and northeast of downtown and a little bit of soccer mom conservative suburban sprawl Colorado to the south and southeast of campus. Colorado Springs, on the other hand, is quite conservative overall, being both a religious and military center. It has Colorado College, which is a small fortress of liberalism in a conservative wilderness (hey, I'm on the opposite side of the spectrum from you ), but has overall the strongest record of conservatism in the entire state of Colorado.
Quote:
Thank you
PS....no one needs to reply that I shouldnt move to CO or that I need to have a job lined up before coming or a lot of savings. I will have a job before I move.
Too bad. You're going to get it. No need to give out personal info on-line, but think it over in your head --- is there any good reason why you are limiting yourself to a grand total of two small-to-medium cities in an entire nation ? As a conservative, I bet you'd like Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, South Dakota, Salt Lake City, south suburban Denver (very conservative in the main) many other places in this nation. Perhaps your current job has other locations in C Springs and Fort Coll --- that would be a good reason you've got those two towns on your list. But if you've just essentially drawn these two names out of a hat because you decided for no particular reason that you just have to live in Colorado, maybe you're limiting yourself too much. Maybe that perfect job as well as the perfect neighborhood is waiting for you in Rapid City, SD. You'll never know unless you're open to that location as well as the two you've chosen.
I think you would be much happier in the Springs.
Slightly milder winters. ... Cheaper rent.
Springs winters are milder ? I really doubt that. Also, are you sure the rent is cheaper ? What about when you only consider areas that aren't high crime (none of Fort Collins is high crime).
The ironic thing I just thought of is while Fort Collins is named after the old pioneer days fort that used to be there, there is currently no military presence there I can think of except ROTC on CSU. But Colorado Springs has an absolutely huge military presence. Based on comparing the two names alone, one would expect just the opposite to be true. Just an ironic kind of thing one thinks of when comparing two places at 1 in the morning.
If Sprawl-a-lot-o Springs has the same burn restrictions Denver usually has on wood burning fireplaces most of the winter due to pollution, you won't be able to use it.
But based on the sheer masses that want to move to Colorado and the very talented local surplus of available workers, it might be a while before something opens up. That seems to be the general consensus on this forum.
Your housing requirements are a tall order for either city for what you're willing to pay. From what I've seen in CO Springs to get all those amenities you'll need to raise your housing budget about 30 to 50%.800 a month gets a nice 2br apt though.
Springs winters are milder ? I really doubt that. Also, are you sure the rent is cheaper ? What about when you only consider areas that aren't high crime (none of Fort Collins is high crime).
The ironic thing I just thought of is while Fort Collins is named after the old pioneer days fort that used to be there, there is currently no military presence there I can think of except ROTC on CSU. But Colorado Springs has an absolutely huge military presence. Based on comparing the two names alone, one would expect just the opposite to be true. Just an ironic kind of thing one thinks of when comparing two places at 1 in the morning.
I've lived over two years in both cities. The springs has milder winters. it's further south, and the snow doesn't stick around for as long there. I remember the winter of 2007, I lived in the Springs my girlfriend lived in the Fort. They had snow on the ground for about 3 months. We didn't have any that stuck around more than a few days. It is also consistently a few degrees warmer in the springs year round.
Weather average data for the Fort FORT COLLINS, COLORADO - Climate Summary
versus average data for the Springs COLORADO SPRINGS WSO AP, COLORADO - Climate Summary
8 in. difference in snow. and a little over a degree difference in avg. low temp. (not huge but can make a difference)
So therefore I would conclude that the Fort gets more snow and therefore usually has worse winters than the springs.
As for rent: I still think the Springs has cheaper rent, but as you said there are more places there you wouldn't want to live.
You want to know the really ironic thing about the Fort's name? The entire name is a big lie. There was never actually a "fort" there, just a camp (camp collins), and the guy it is named for never actually was stationed there!
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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I'd Add Rapid City, Spearfish, SD & Laramie, Sheridan, WY to your list. As well as Billings and Bozeman, MT.
CO is getting a bit 'over-run' as it was when I left 30 yrs ago. (I was just there last week for the 'numerous' time this yr)
CS, definately is closer to your tastes (as are above towns, but MUCH better employment opportunities and similar Quality of Life (Laramie and RC have the worst of winter in above choices, but not all that much different). BUT there are some seedy places in CS. And very few of such in FtC. Loveland, CO (banana belt) is a good choice, but you will have to drive 10 min North, 20 min east, or 30 min South to a University.
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Fort Collins or Colorado Springs?
), but has overall the strongest record of conservatism in the entire state of Colorado. 
