Yes, the rumors are true. Julie and I have settled down in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We have spent the last month traveling around the US trying to ascertain what place was right for us and our somewhat shallow roots. Here are our thoughts on the handful of places we visited.
Portland, Oregon: has become too cool for us, people are annoyingly PC, and it is a very politically homogeneous culture. It also rains 9 months out of the year. Port Townsend, Washington: a somewhat hidden gem on the Olympic penninsula. If we were ten years older we would have settled in this beautiful spot. It is located in the "rain shadow" of the Olympic range and gets half as much rain as Seattle. San Luis Obispo, California: seemed too perfect. How interesting can life be if your surroundings are always at room temperature with a gentle breeze? Also, I'd like to be able to buy a house without resorting to selling cocaine to finance it. Albuquerque, New Mexico: looks exactly like it's portrayed in the series "Breaking Bad". The town has some pockets of culture, but they are surrounded by bland suburbs or bleak ghettos. Julie had a job waiting for her here which she ended up turning down even though she had no other offers. That sums up Albuquerque. It is a place where you might turn down a job offer in a rough economy because something about the town screams "get out of here" like the preacher in There Will Be Blood. Bozeman, Montana: too small and too familiar. A beautiful place that was an important part of my past, but not my future. Flagstaff, Arizona: the Bozeman of Arizona with a few more shady characters. A decent town to get a flat tire in.
Colorado Springs, Colorado: the little town we didn't see coming. We were only meant to be stopping by on our way to check out Denver. We ended up staying a week and signing a lease on a house. In no particular order, this is what drew us to this place. It is beautiful. The town sits in a valley adjacent to the Rocky Mountains which serve as the backdrop. CS is a largish city that is easy to negotiate and is located only an hour from the big city of Denver should we ever want to attend a baseball game or go to IKEA. You can ride scooters all over CS, and if they are 50cc or less, you can use the bike lanes. Colorado Springs has about 300 sunny days a year, which by my count is nearly every day. CS has a healthy mix of politics, from the hippy wicca suburb of Manitou Springs, to the more conservative military industrial complex. People love to be outside here, and the town is blanketed with running trails and dog parks. It is a very dog friendly town, with a handful of bars that let you bring your dogs. People love to run here, and there are many clubs where people run and then have dinner and drinks together (they call it hashing). There is a mega fundamentalist church here called Focus on the Family, which plays a large roll in giving CS a reputation as a conservative town. From what I gather, this keeps the cool kids away and helps keep housing prices low. A house in the old downtown area where we live goes for around 200K. The same house in Denver would easily go for 300K. There are many areas of CS with old houses with a ton of character. There also seems to be jobs here. And lastly, an old gypsy woman told us that we should settle here.
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