Possibly Moving to Colorado

[iahebert]

SO!

I'll preface this by saying i'm not sure if this goes in the right spot, but here goes.

My job has undergone a bit of change lately, and I may be in the position to relocate to Ft. Collins, CO with them. Currently I'm in Redmond, WA which is about 15 miles east of Seattle. It's a nice place here, but the opportunity for a change is appealing.

I already know about the breweries, and heartell it's a great place to live, apparently Money magazine rated it the #2 place to live.

Does anyone here have any feelings/thoughts/ideas one way or another with regards to Ft. Collins? I'm just looking for some input.

Thanks a superton!

[steveh]

Fret? Oh... Fret!

Fretless is a resident and local advocate of the neighborhood.

S.

[TeufelBrew]

I've been in the Denver Metro area for 15 years. Love it! With that said, I'd move to Ft. Collins in a nanosecond!

You know about the beers and breweries. AWESOME!

Community is thriving but not congested/crowded. Lots of good planning went into the city's growth. Parks and open spaces everywhere.

Mountains are right there! The areas you have access too are much less crowded than places to the south (Denver, CO Springs)

What do you like to do? Google the city and I'd be willing to bet most of the things you want can be found there, except the ocean of course!

[fretlessman71]

No. FoCo is an absolutely awful place to live. Bad smog, congestion, horrible climate, people are a$$hats, no good restaurants. Don't come here and drink up the only reason I have to stay, okay?

I'M JUST KIDDING. :) I jokingly (semi-jokingly?) refer to Fort Fun as "God's Country" in polite conversation. It is, indeed, the coolest place to live in the world if you ask me. The only downside is that EVERYBODY wants to move here, as you probably already guessed.

Oh yeah - we only have one microbrewery by precise definition, as New Belgium and Odell have both outgrown that category according to the Brewer's Association. Fort Collins Brewing is the sole survivor. We also have a Big Horn Brewing, and Coopersmith's Brewpub.

PM me if you have any specific questions - I'll do what I can to help. :D

[beerking]

Oh yeah - we only have one microbrewery by precise definition, as New Belgium and Odell have both outgrown that category according to the Brewer's Association.

Actually, they all fit in the "new" category "Craft Brewery." ;)

[iahebert]

Thanks for your help guys! I'm still on the fence going back and forth, but the kicker is if I don't move, I won't have a job. If I do move however, I'll have a job and they pay for the move...

That and the fact that all my family is up here.
I'll keep you posted on the progress.

thanks again!

[fretlessman71]

what will ur job be?

[iahebert]

Currently I work in the Loss Control (read risk management) department for enterprise rent-a-car. They're moving all of their claims from a regionalized format to a very central format, and the center is in Ft. Collins.

[steveh]

Colorado's not that far from Washington. How old are you? I'd take the chance if I were younger -- heck, I might even take a chance now, given the right opportunity! Sort of wish I'd had one back when.

S.

[iahebert]

I'm 27, but I keep going back and forth on what I want to do.
Lately though, it's been way more towards going for several reasons, including job security and a paid move, also I'd likely get a bump in pay, and from what I heartell, CO is a bit cheaper to live than WA. The only real things that are holding me back is my family and GF, but it's not like i'm never going to see them again.

I'm really glad you guys are giving me some good advice, It's always nice to get an outside party's perspective.

[steveh]

Well, all I can say is that if I were given the opportunity to make a similar change when I was 27 (jeeze, that's almost as long ago as you are old!) I'd have jumped at the opportunity, but that's me.

S.

[fretlessman71]

I'll say this: The recession hasn't hit Ft. C nearly as hard as it has the rest of the country; for whatever reason, we're pretty well isolated from all of it.

Now, I base this solely on the fact that I make my income from other people's EXPENDABLE income; that is to say, no one HAS to go and take bass lessons or pay me to do a show. And yet I stay employed, and have plenty of students and gig 3x/wk. :)

[East Coaster]

A couple of festivals that are there in the summer may be the kicker for me.

[fretlessman71]

Sorry, you can't move here unless you cheer for the Avs. ;)

[iahebert]

Funny thing is, no NHL in Seattle, and arbitrarily (don't even know why) I have always been a fan of the Avs.

I was sitting at home the other day and thought "Oh! if I move to CO, I can go to an Avalanche game!"

That count?

[fretlessman71]

You'd be better off rooting for the Colorado Eagles right now... they're closer, cheaper, and this year, BETTER. www.coloradoeagles.com

[iahebert]

OK, so I've made up my mind, and now I'm getting excited to go.
Probably won't be officially down there until may(ish) but I really appreciate all the good advice and feedback.

Fret- As the time gets closer I'll probably be pm'ing you quite a bit for advice, hope you don't mind.

Again...Thanks for the help!

[iahebert]

So!
It's been a while since anything got posted here, and I wanted to give a quick update.

I start my new position May 27 in Ft. Collins, and will likely be moving down about a week before that. I wanted to give a quick thanks to everyone that offered some good input to my decision and also a heads up.

thanks again!

[Jared]

Haven't posted here in awhile.. Looks nice!

Anyway the coolest, most badass homebrew club EVER is right here in Fort Collins. Check us out. We meet at the local brewpubs and breweries once a month.

http://www.liquidpoets.com/index.php