Denver area- NM
Fogeddabout Denver
– Last Updated: Jan-21-11 5:30 PM EST –
It's not worth your time. Too crowded in town and in the surrounding mountains. 100+ degree days in the summer sometimes and 29 below is our all time record low in January. You can't get anywhere in the mountains on I-70 because of the epic traffic jams on weekends. We have rattlesnakes, rednecks, and ruffians. Someone suggested Burlington VT. Good idea!
You can't take our univ's. serious here either. We have Ski U. (C.U.) in Boulder, which is the major party school. Wasted State (Western State) in Gunnison, the name is a dead giveaway and the town competes for the coldest spot in the nation with Fraser, CO. Shoot, spell check hasn't even heard of Gunnison. Colorado School of Mines is renowned for its engineers, you've seen the sort with dented aluminum hard hats, untucked white shirts, slide rules, and a glazed look in their eyes from too much beer and calculus. Better to stick with the ivy league places.
Now that was funny!
nice try
I don’t think you fooled anyone with that.
Well…
I think the suggestion fit all the criteria, big city, hiking, mountains, university, kayaking. I’m not saying I would want to live there, but figured I would throw it out.
Honestly though, the big city requirement would tend to lead to some of those other negative factors: traffic, tourists, crowded, etc… don’t you think?
Only a few perfect outdoorsy places
And they’re all in northern California.
Sacramento.
I liked the area better
back in the '60s when there were far less people. Now you can’t stop on a trail without being run over. There was a Colorado way of life and an unwritten code of conduct in the mountains. Now we have flatlanders who don’t understand, but have piled in to change things and bring along all of their nanny rules and regulations, and noisy machines. Forget experience and common sense, post a sign. Don’t bother to be prepared, just buy a locator panic beacon or call on your cell phone when you get lost or run out of water. Prime example is the young man who “committed suicide” by snowboarding avalanche chutes on Berthoud Pass this week. The avalanche center people had put out warnings of high danger, the wind was blowing a heavy dump of snow and this kid, his dog, and his friend decided it was a great day to shred. Search and rescue got to recover the bodies of the boarder and his dog from the avalanche that they triggered.
Garumph! The curmudgeon has spoken.
You forgot Fort Fun College
– Last Updated: Jan-21-11 10:27 PM EST –
(Fort Lewis, in Durango).
Gunnison and Durango are a bit of a drive from Denver anyway. Lakes near Denver, ho hum. They're reservoirs, not lakes; mostly with lots of powerboaters and jetskiiers.
If this is a college student, budget is likely a concern, and long drives get pretty expensive when done every weekend.
Hiking and backpacking opps are terrific and close, though.
Pittsburgh
I second Pittsburgh/Western Pa region. The poeple from DC buy second homes up here in the Laurel Mt./Seven springs area.
Seeing these suggestions
…makes me glad I don’t want or need to move to a big city for the next move.
No kidding!
– Last Updated: Jan-22-11 8:36 PM EST –
Big city and lots of very close uncrowded outdoor rec = mutually exclusive.
You can get sort-of-close but you sure won't get uncrowded. Then again, the OP did not specify uncrowded. Maybe he likes crowds. In which case Boulder would fit the bill, though (again) lakes paddling nearby is skimpy. He'd have to put up with literally hiking in a line up Mt. Audubon, though. That's how crowded the "wilderness" around there can get.
Portland OR, or Salem,Bend,or Eugene
Not sure where that is going but…
– Last Updated: Jan-24-11 9:34 AM EST –
the OPer hasn't indicated how important it is for them to be near cultural assets - concerts, art, great film series or writer's workshops etc. But that does matter for some. Between the two of us we need to be near places where I can play serious music in amateur or quasi-professional orchestras, sing in a good chorus and he can stay in contact with a solid local arts scene as well as have convenient access to NYC for the galleries there. And like many college areas, we also have great resources for writers.
We don't find a lot of places where we can find this level of cultural access and be as easy a drive to one of the biggest forest preserves in the country as a train ride to NYC, as well as being a few hours from the ocean.
We are also within one to two hours of release-based very reliable class 2/3/4 whitewater and a large lake with very clean (drinking quality) water as well as a lot of decent sized Adirondack lakes. Lake Champlain is further, but still within reach.
There are larger cities that are more surrounded by real wilderness, and many of them have decent cultural resources. But the resources available in an area with a concentration of colleges and older cultural institutions are hard to beat. Chicago is not my cup of tea personally for example, but having visited there I have to say it is a very neat city. For a string player or artist, it may be the best place in that part of the country that also has has ready access to big water.
I was guessing that
he works at indiana.edu. Maybe not. You’ve probably noticed me underselling Colorado before. It probably never works, but it’s worth a shot. Heck, I’m a transplant, but arrived after the family was invited by then Gov. Love. That’s my excuse when the natives complain about flatlanders moving in.
Huntsville AL
15 Miles South of the Tennessee State line…On the Tennessee River, Many lakes, Whitewater,National Forests and Wildlife Refuges, 45 Minute commute to the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee…
http://www.huntsvillealabamausa.com/
http://www.huntsvillecanoeclub.org/links.html
http://www.alabamawhitewater.com/ (Runs sorted by class)
Home to Marshal Space Flight Center and Redstone Arsenal Alabama, Home of the Army Materiel Command, Army Aviation and Missile Command, and the US Army Space and Missile Defense / Army Forces Strategic Command.
Major Companies located here Range from Aeronautics to Genetic Research…
The OP hasn’t even been back
I assumed proximity to a university was for the cultural and intellectual liveliness. There are some universities that aren’t right near huge cities.
But he did spec he wanted to be near a big city.
Pioneer Valley area of Massachusetts
Five universities, terrific hiking and water recreation. Varied terrain. Plenty of public access/parks. Four distinct seasons. Less than 3 hrs from the ocean, too. If the extremely steep hills nearby don’t excite you, there’s the Berkshires, Green Mountains, and White Mountains within a half-day’s drive via good roads.
Big city, not that big: Amherst/Northhampton. But big enough to offer loads of stuff to do besides sports.
Employment opps, not so good. This is an area where people go to school and wish they didn’t have to leave to find “real jobs.” Maybe it’s changed since the 70s and 80s–I don’t know.
Still see the obnoxious bumper stickers
Once in a great while.
The green-and-white ones that look like CO license plates (not the fancy new designs but the unique and instantly-ID’able old one), printed with the word NATIVE. As if their parents’ choice of residence is a personal accomplishment. Who cares?
It’s even worse than the “My child is an honor student at ____ Academy” bumper stickers. Who cares?
I was thinking job
So heck, the OPer could even be in math or physics. (though the latter often play an instrument) But yes, they haven’t been back with any more info to narrow this down.
This could be the plan - get some basic suggestions and research on their own.
Job AT a university, maybe, as 1st choic
…with nearby big-city employment as 2nd choice. Or trying to get jobs for himself plus a spouse, which would make a big city attractive.
I know someone who waited more than 20 years to get a teaching job where she went to grad school.