I am seriously considering getting out of Michigan within the next couple of years; or maybe sooner depending on whether the job market ever recovers...

I have been looking at Grand Junction, or perhaps the Denver area... What is the economy like in the Grand Junction area? I am think I have almost convinced the wife that west is the direction we need to head; I have travel around the Country with my job, and the western terrain and climate suit my desires best.

 

I like the Colorado Springs area myself and will be looking at moving there in the near future. Grand junction is a little more mellow as far as weather and is closer to Moab though. Denver just to many people for me I will actually be moving to Monument just north of Colorado Springs good school for the kids small town atmosphere and close enough to the spring and Denver if need be.
Just my 2 cents

 

My middle son will be a senior next year so I really can't pull him out of school and drag him halfway across the country for mere selfish reasons. I also have a 2yr old, so if I am going to make a move I would like to do it before he starts school...

I am just looking for a change in life; I have lived in Michigan my whole life and just need a change of scenery. The wife is onboard with the thought, we just have a different time frame in mind, for me it could be tomorrow, and she is looking a few years out...

I like the idea of the high desert for its climate; I would like to be someplace that is relatively warm, but not too hot, and an area that lacks high humidity. And of course the most important part; someplace to wheel that has more to offer than sand and mud…

 

junction is not a bad area. Its definatly high desert as its nestled in the valley between the monument and the mesas. Its plenty big enough to live a normal life. it has almost every resturant and store that you will ever need as well as movie theaters and malls. It does get cold so its not like arizona but when it snows it only sticks around for a day or so. Moab is only about an hour and a half away. San juans mtns ( imogene pass, black bear pass, etc) is an hour or so away. It can get pretty windy and dusty though. best to visit and see for your self though!

 

Thanks for the info; I was hoping to take a closer look at the area when I was on the way to Moab, but we rolled thru at 11:30pm on the way out. And then decided to stay an extra day in Moab and were crunched for time on the way back home, so we didn't have time to stop then either. I can deal with the cold, and growing up where I did dust was plentiful; well when someone would tear down the gravel road anyways. I enjoy the snow to a certain extent, if the surrounding terrain has something to offer.

I have some time before the move can take place, so for now I am just trying to get a feel for what is out there. I have always liked the Provo area also; but have never had any real time to explore there. I have seen a lot of places that at a first glance look to be a great place to live; but have yet to manage the time to really get out there and take a closer look. So for now I am just looking from a far, and when the time gets closer I will have a definite list of places to explore the possibility of calling it home...

Is it safe to assume that Colorado Springs receives a large amount of snow fall during the winter months; and is it humid on warm summer days? I really hate humid weather, and would like to avoid it at all costs. I will also need to live someplace that has a good school system, and that can provide gainful employment for the wife and me. I cannot live in a large city; I would go nuts, so medium to small town living is where it is at for me.

I would also like to settle someplace where I can tear up some twisted roads on my sport bike for more than six months out of the year. I am sick of looking at my bike tucked away in the corner of the garage all winter long.

 

Dude, colorado is freaking Candyland!!! I just got back from a trip to ohio and philly, and was happy to regain a nice perspective of where I live....This place is so gentle and clean, and new, and full of happy humans.....it's pretty ridiculous.

job market is absolutely better than michigan cause the CEO's want their family to grow up here so they move the companies here...its that simple.

Zero humidity, 20 degrees feels like 45 in Ohio/Michgan...Its sunny all of the time....There is barely crime here...Outside of commerce city and aurora...In philly this past weekend i was like "holy shit I'd need to carry a gun to move back here".... in Ohio i was reminded about the constant grey skies, its very depressing!

look at boulder or fort collins on the front range...lots of High paying IT related industry. The western slope has all of the magazine cover'esque scenery, even happier people, but less jobs and more insanely wealthy weirdness going on...

It would be what you guys make it...it would depend on things like your jobs and your financial comfort level....but colorado is like I said too good to explain....Candy Land...

 

This is exactly what I was hoping to hear….

 

As an Albion College Grad, growing up in Indiana, born in MI, having spent lots of time in the Traverse City area, and family in Lansing, I can tell you that I'm happy to Colorado home. I've been in the Boulder area for about 8 years now and truly love it. As A-Squared said, people are just a lot happier and healthier here than in MI. Its a DRASTIC difference. I just had some friends move from Ann Arbor to CO a few years ago and that was one of the first observations that they made.

Along the front range, you often have temps hit the 50s in the winter with sunshine all the time. Whenever it snows, it only stays on the ground for a few days...the longsest that I've seen it stay on the ground is 3 weeks. This is a HUGE difference to the MI gray winters with bone-chilling cold. The lack of humidity in the winter makes the cold temps a little less chilling and its a pleasure in the summer with humidity rarely getting above 30%. The only downside on the weather front is July. July sucks in Colorado...this past summer we had 23 or so straight days above 90, with several days in the 100s. The killer for you will be that you can't jump in a lake as easily as you can in MI. That is the one thing that I really miss about MI...the lakes. But there are so many more great things about CO that make up for this difference....Plus I usually escape back to Northern MI during July to get my fix and avoid the heat of summer in CO.

Red Rocks, ski areas, happy people, and TONS of incredible areas to wheel, camp, hike, fish, and just chill out. I have a lot of buddies that ride dirt bikes and live in the Longmont, Lafayette, Fort Collins area. In this area, the Boulder Valley School District and Jefferson County School district are the best for the areas just north of Denver and away from the big city feel.

The CO economy is 100x better than MI right now. There are plenty of skilled jobs out there and the housing market is on the rebound...slowly at least. My company has openings... www.intrado.com

Let me know if you have more questions...I'd love to be of assistance.

 

if it gets to hot here, a quick trip to 12k feet (plus) and you still can find snow in july! that what i did this year. hit 90+ degrees so i went and layed in the snow on 4th of july!

 

I moved from Illinois in the summer of '05 to Denver. I tried for Colorado Springs, Ft Collins, Estes Park, basically anything but Denver until I realized it was my best chance to find a job in my industry. There are days I'd still prefer Ft Collins, but life in Denver is still good. The weather's great, winters are mild compared to the midwest and you can get to the trails easily.