Boulder Bound!

This will not be news to most of you, but I thought I should write about it anyway (to get one more May post in, if nothing else): Ed and I are headed west! We're planning to move into a rental house in Boulder, Colorado on October 1st.

Neither Ed, nor I, envisioned living in New York forever when we moved here. It has been a fantastic place to live for the last five years, and I've loved it far more than I expected to. I've made a great group of friends and my job is wonderful. I enjoy the convenience and the energy and am inspired by the concentration of talent and drive. Pulling up the roots that have spread almost involuntarily throughout this city will be painful. But I'm also ready to move on. I miss having outdoor space of my own in which to garden or just hang out. I can't wait to adopt a large dog to be my running companion. I look forward to tossing gear into the car for a weekend ski or camping excursion without launching a logistical nightmare. The bottom line is that though I've adjusted to city life far better than I ever would have imagined, at the heart of it I'm just not the big-city sort.

Ed and I are both lucky in that we are not constrained by professional concerns. He can take his company with him anywhere he wants. I, with my certification to teach ages "birth through sixth grade" and "sixth grade through adult" am qualified to find a job in just about any school and can do private tutoring on the side in a pinch. But so much latitude can be a little frightening: we could go anywhere, so how to choose where to go?

It was easy to draw up a list of criteria. Our new home had to be 1) close to very good skiing and venues of other outdoor activity; 2) close to a major airport; and 3) in an area with some reasonable cultural scene. Alas, the make-up of our sprawling country is such that Number One is at odds with Numbers Two and Three in almost every case, and so our list effectively ruled out nearly everything. Most great skiing spots are in tiny, relatively unsophisticated towns serviced by small airports. The exceptions to this were Salt Lake City and Denver and their respective surrounding areas. As far as downhill skiing goes, SLC was the clear winner; it has unparalleled access to a number of stellar ski options. But after poking around the city a bit when we were out there for Sundance, Ed and I agreed that it wasn't the place for us. In winter, Salt Lake City is known as Smog Lake City, and the brown haze that hovers over the buildings and nearly obscures the view of the nearby mountains was too much. Even though the layer dissipates every spring, we were both sufficiently turned off to cross it off the list.

Smog Lake City in Winter 

To properly get an idea of Denver's offerings, we flew out and stayed for a week. I was nervous that we'd have to go back to the drawing board if we didn't like it but I needn't have worried--I loved Colorado just as much as everyone who knows me said I would. We spent a few nights in Denver and although I really liked many of the neighborhoods we drove through, the city itself didn't do too much for me. It was fun to see, and we went to some cool spots, but I wasn't that excited about the idea of being there every day. We checked out some very fetching suburbs, too, (Littleton was a standout), but I wasn't head over heels.

Half an hour down the highway later, however, we entered Boulder and a warm feeling of relief washed over me. The Boulder neighborhoods, particularly in North Boulder are beautiful and instantly triggered fantasies of sipping tea on a front porch on a June morning or taking a dog for a leisurely stroll on a crisp, colorful autumn afternoon. The houses are well maintained, cradled by large, old trees and boast big yards. Despite the gracious, verdant feel of the neighborhoods, the city is actually much bigger than I'd first thought. During the school year it has 100,000 people, though it gets a lot smaller when the university students leave for summer. At no point, however, did it feel like a "college town," though I'm sure one could find that atmosphere quickly by visiting certain areas. There is a very charming downtown, but there are also several huge, soulless strip malls--disappointing to the side of me that loves scenery and local business but welcome to the side of me that knows certain things can be found only at massive chains like Target or Bed, Bath, and Beyond. All of the corporate sprawl is concentrated on one side of Boulder, though, so the rest of the town feels peaceful and almost garden-like. Boulder is incredibly dog- and bike-friendly. The foodie scene is flourishing in Boulder, which is great news for two spoiled New Yorkers, and there's a flourishing microbrewery scene. And everywhere we went people were friendly (which is a little unnerving to someone used to Manhattan but could grow on me). Ed and I went for a run along a river that started on one end of town and within just a few miles we were in the wilderness, jogging through craggy outcroppings. In the city I sometimes pretend that the roar of traffic is actually the sound of water crashing over rapids. There was no need for this sort of delusion in Boulder.

This is spring?

Boulder is not perfect, of course. The warm wash of relief I experienced is surprising in some ways, since we entered Boulder at the start of a mid-May snowstorm that ultimately dumped several inches on us. Locals mused that this was a bit unusual but did not seem horrified; unpredictability like this is, well, predictable in a mountain town. And it is certainly small; part of our rationale for renting for a year prior to buying anything is to determine whether it feels too small. Many people bemoan the cost of living in Boulder, but I'm not worried about it. For one, Denver was more expensive than I expected it to be, so it seems the difference between the price margins of the two places is not as different as perhaps it once was. And secondly, after living in New York everything feels like a bargain. Finally (and this is a big one), there is only one highway to get to the resort skiing that nearest to Boulder, and I have heard nightmares about the weekend traffic on it.

I'm sure that I'm only scratching the surface in terms of the downsides to Boulder. But I also have yet to learn about lots of things that will make me love living there. I'm already smitten with the idea of getting from my front door to a trailhead in a matter of minutes, of being closer to California, and of weekend road trips to some of the most beautiful natural attractions in the country.

Chatauqua Park is literally minutes from the heart of downtown Boulder. 

I can't put into words how strange it is to think that this is my last summer in New York. But I'm elated by the prospect of the new adventures that await us out west.