Mmmm, Fort Collins!

[cjsmith]

Climate information for the closest big city, including humidity - looks very nice (note to folks suggesting stuff: humidity is a deal-killer for Rob)

Home prices as affordable as Boise

Multiple airports nearby

Denver, slightly less than an hour's drive, is a hub - direct flights to most anywhere in the continental US

Pretty: near beautiful mountains, green things grow even in summer

Excellent veterinary program (now if only I were sure I could prepare myself and gain admission)

I think that this is what I meant, without knowing it at all yet, when I said a few days ago that "Boulder" or the "Boulder area" was on our list.

Comments

[wordweaverlynn.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's gorgeous there.

[wildseakitten.livejournal.com]

Fort Collins is a nice little town. We drove thru there on vacation in May. I didn't see much of it, other than to know its not terribly big. (which I personally like)... but close enough to lots of major things.

[psi-star-psi.livejournal.com]

I had to check, but Fort Collins is a safe distance from Glenwood Springs. Perhaps someday I'll write up the Boring Story about the Horror that is Glenwood Springs. For now, it's better avoided.

A number of college friends ended up in Boulder, so I've visited it a few times. Lovely area, but lots of snow. That sends it off Jen's list.

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

Hey! I said I'd consider colorado! I'm also willing to talk about Alaska. My main requirement is Western US.

I had friend from college who were from Ft. Collins. Nice place, I've heard. Good for kids

[genuine-snark.livejournal.com]

I like Boulder a lot. It's on my short list of places. Don't think I've been to Fort Collins in specific, but that whole area is lovely.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

humidity is a deal-killer for Rob

A man after my own heart. :-)

While it has a lot of cool things to see and do, Denver itself is nuts, IMHO - too big, too much traffic. However, the rest of the northern front range is awesome. I'm looking there (at NCAR in Boulder) or something similar for a post-doc a few years down the road.

now if only I were sure I could prepare myself and gain admission

I'd bet you can, if you can swing the prep time.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Denver itself is big, but there's a lot of smaller stuff nearby which is worth looking at. Boulder has suburbs that might be affordable, Fort Collins could be nice, and there's also a kite-tail of smaller stuff to the south of Denver. We might take a couple of trips just to figure out what we're looking at!

The prep TIME is of course the big issue. The oldest student ever admitted to the vet program in Fort Collins was 45. The average successful applicant has a year's worth of experience working with animals in veterinary and other (humane society?) settings. Then I have at least two years of school to beef up my chem and bio foundation. And we're not moving out of here for probably another year. Adding it all up I'll be 44 when I'm ready.

[msmichelle.livejournal.com]

I've been to Denver and points west like Breckenridge...gorgeous, like another world and I even live in a green, hilly, glacier formation state.
Plus, the weather...our friend from Denver has had days in December where he walked to work in shorts one day, had a snowstorm the next. Methinks those winter surprises are nice.
The mountains are hard to beat, for sure.
Vet School? Very cool!

[redgrrl.livejournal.com]

Wow -- SOMEBODY is making big changes in their life! Can't wait to go back a bit further and get the rest of the story. I take it that WNY is not on your list?? :(

[hnybny.livejournal.com]

I lived in Colorado for 7 years and loved it. We spent a significant amount of time in and around Boulder and though we never lived in Ft. Collins, we did spend some time in Greeley.

[hnybny.livejournal.com]

Feel free to ask me anything about certain towns, neighborhoods etc.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ooo, awesome! I might indeed. I'll talk to Rob and make up a pile of questions, shoot you an e-mail, and you can answer to whatever level of detail you like.

[layer.livejournal.com]

omg acreage for $300k! man that's tempting.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

ISN'T it though! Shorter growing season, for sure, and there's stuff that probably wouldn't make it at all... but still. Tempting.

30mins from Boise you can get acreage for $300K too.

[layer.livejournal.com]

that's what greenhouses are for. :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh good point. And a bunch of space to put them on, too.

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

There's someone I might want to point you to about being a "Older Vet Student" Started life as a lawyer and is currently in Canada on Surgical Residency.

[apparentparadox]

Also look at this web page for general information.

Fort Collins was on our list of places to check out, but we decided that for us, moving to someplace where we knew people was very important. I didn't want to move to a new city & not know anyone.