Would you move from Wa to Co?

I have a Nikon D700 and I'm just looking for feedback about an idea the fam has. LOL - Keeping it somewhat related to photography.

We currently live in Olympia, Washington which is just an hour south of Seattle. Beautiful area, good school, good job (with a seriously long comutte) but man, the weather is just taking it's toll. We're considering moving to the Denver area where you can still have the beautiful area, good schools, good job (potential promotion opportunity) and supposedly great weather. I haven't spent much time there but I do have a couple friends that have moved over there and they say, of course, it's great. However, I'm looking for other opinions and people just to BS with as I know my friends are liars and I can't trust my family for an honest answer without a guilt trip

Thoughts? Have you been to Co? Whatcha think? Whatcha think vs. Wa?

hahaha, bad discussion topic! I suppose I just need to figure it out for myself!!

Having lived in Denver for two years, and here in Cheyenne the remainder of my life, it's a great area. I've never been northwest but the area here is great.

oregon is closer and the weather isn't as effected by the onshore flow . If you get east of the mountains, it's very similar to colorado, just lower. Even the valley is warmer at least, but probably close to the same weather you are trying to leave behind. My sis lived in denver and liked it fine, but moved back to washington near yakima. Now they are looking at the Bend area, and if I had my way I would be in Eugene, no doubt. Oregon has it all for us, and I will choose the willamette valley every time. I can dress for rain easy, snow and cold takes more doing.

Oh no, who's D700 would I borrow if you moved? haha. Thanks again for letting me borrow it. Much appreciated. I got no experience with Denver, but I do know Olympia is a great place to raise kids. However I do get quite bored with Olympia from time to time. I'd definitely like to move to Portland one of these days.

Good luck with the immensely difficult decision!

Denver is not without a struggle or two during the winter. Air stagnation can be an issue....about as bad as the smog in LA used to be. There is also the small matter of snow and cold. If you don't mind the occasional bad air day, if you don't mind the altitude and if you don't mind snow and cold....Denver is a very nice city. Culturally, it is on par or ahead of any other city of the same size. The schools are decent, crime is not rampant and it appears you are all set on the employment horizon.

I used to live in Edmonds, Washington (1/2 hour from Seattle). That is a beautiful area, indeed. I also spent one week per year every year from the age of 5 until 20 in Colorado and my family had friends there that we would stay with.

I don't know if this is a function of the altitude or air density or what, but it seems like all the people that were native to the area (that we knew) in Denver showed aging in their skin at pretty young ages (30s looked like late 40s). I know from skiing a lot that the light can be amplified as it reflects off the snow and that sun-burning can be a serious issue too (for the fair-skinned like little-ol'-freckled-me), so the snow/ice may be the culprit in that case rather than the atmosphere. I'd love to live in the Denver area for a couple years just to be able to ski at a-basin on the weekends during the ski season. If I had an opportunity, I'd try it out...you only live this life once, ya know.

Oh, and on a photography note, there isn't a more beautiful thing that I have seen than the Colorado section of the Rockies...snow or no snow, its a stunning place for landscapes.

Well, hey, if you have a major reason to move to Denver, well, move to Denver!

For me, I prefer to live within a day trip to the coast. Plus, here in the Pacific Northwest we have so much available. Go to Denver and to the East you have...the Great Plains...to the West, the Rockies. I have nothing against the Rockies, some beautiful places, in fact go a bit farther West and there are spectacular places in Utah, and South places to love (I have a fondness for the Four Corners area) but for me these are fantastic places to visit, not to live!

I love the NW even though the rain gets a little annoying at times.. The diversity around Portland/Vancouver plus the short drive to the coast and to Seattle makes it hard for me to leave. Also, i don't think I'd rather be anywhere in the world more than here in the fall. There's just something about it!

I have never been to PNW but do live in Denver and love it. Yes, the weather here is incredible. Snow falls and melts before you know it and it always seems to be sunny! Our baby is too young so I can't comment on schools but Colorado does have get good recognition for education. Very low crime and unemployment has stayed below national average through the recession while property values have stayed above. Due to the outdoorsy focus of the population, it usually ranks among the healthiest states.

What you will miss though are the lush green surroundings you must be used to in the PNW; here it is a heck of a lot more brown than that!

Hi. I grew up in Denver, many years ago. Then lived in Medford, OR and Kirkland, WA, then back to Grand Junction. I've moved a fair amount and can tell you life can be heaven on earth, if you decide that's what you want, wherever you are. Colorado is nice, they are quick to point out an average of 300 sunshine filled days per year. The weather, like anywhere else will change, just wait 5 minutes. It is much drier than the Olympia area, but you have much greener landscapes and more water in general. I live in Dallas now and would move back to CO in a minute if I could make a living there. But the econmy in CO is very slow.

It is always exciting to move to a new area, so much to explore and places to go. Sometimes it is hard to look at the area you are living in now to see it with the same fresh eyes.

Bottom line, if you've lived in WA for a long time, you'll miss the fresh days, berry hunting and cooler weather, and the days that Mt. Ranier comes out. But in CO you'll have new vistas to explore, drier, sunnier weather and a wider variety of weather than Olympia gets.

Have fun, good luck and God bless!

Mark, I'll mail ya my D700

Oh man that's a ton of info. Thanks everyone! I too would love the Willamette valley area but the company I work for is pretty much only in Portland city. I guess I could commute, but I commute a long time here and it sucks. You're right john, you can be happy where you make it and the commute is part of the problem, 13 hours a week on a good week. Plus we have friends in Denver and don't know anyone anywhere else but here.

And yes we love the fall here, the air is crisp, the sky super blue! Then, it rains for 9 months

The toughest part I think is our two kids, 1.5 and 6 and how will they handle everything? Plus, prior to the kids we were DINKs, now we're DITKs so not only do I have to transfer promotion wise, we'd need to sell our house here and the wife would have to find a job in Co unless we totally downgraded our lifestyle.

Who knows, what's life without a little adventure! so much to consider.

1.5 and 6 is alot better than say 7 and 11.5. My kids went all the way from k-12 in the same school district with the same kids as friends, the same teammates, the same busdrivers, and I have to say it has made so much differance for them. If you can get set up in a promotion in Denver now, do it now for the kids I would say. Stability definitely helped my kids make good decisions, and I liked it just a little too.
Good luck to you

I lived in Everett for a summer, and now live in Denver. I have to say, the NW has a lot of variety, but I have never found a place with weather as nice as Denver (I've also lived in MN, IN, OH, and CA.)

Denver has the snow, the cold, the sun, the hot, and anything in between. The skiing and biking are amazing, the mountains are endless, and the Utah desert is within a day's drive. (Day trip resort and backcountry skiing are nice to have, Arches is 5-6 hours away).

I do miss the coast, and the big glaciated peaks, but thankfully I travel a bit.

The sunrises and sunsets here seem to be amplified compared to many other places, and I'm not really sure why.

If you can live on the far west side of Denver, against the foothills, the air quality concern is a non-issue, even on the bad days.

Anyway, if weather is a concern, Denver is the place to be. Something like 300 days of sunshine a year.