Denver Observations

[pharmer]

Just got back from visiting family in the Denver area. It's so different from Colorado Springs. The good:

Everyone is so polite it makes a cynic (me) suspicious.
The food is outstanding, had a brisket to die for.
"Green spaces" are everywhere; parks and trails well maintained.
Lotsa jobs, our hotel was filled over the weekend with work trucks; "XXX pipeline company, DDD construction company, XYZ logistics. They were quiet, well mannered and clear speakers.

The bad:
Traffic is horrendous, any time any day. I25& I70 are bumper to bumper for miles.
Every off-ramp of said hiways along with lesser has "People warehouses" apartment buildings with at least 1,000 units six stories high.
Home prices are through the roof. My son moved there in 2013, looked at a house for $225,000. It was nice. Moved to the Springs for several years and moved back. That house just sold for a little under $700K.
"OG's" who have been in the area for generations hate everybody else and will let you know, politely.

Oddities:
No bags at the KingSoopers or WalMart. My daughter in law gave us 2 large "Eco-sacks" so we could carry our stuff. In Florida I could put every item in it's own bag up the street.
There are folks that resemble aliens, not one aspect of their appearance occurs in nature. And they work at it.
We went to the "Butterfly Pavilion" as a birthday treat for my granddaughter. Parking lot was full by 9am so we had to park at the Westin hotel.
On the way in I noticed a field between the hotel and an off ramp. Lotsa holes. After having a hundred butterflies land on everybody, walking back to the cars, dozens of dogs were out running around like a circus act. Completely unfazed by traffic, folks walking, walk right up to you. I guess some numbskulls feed 'em. I would have but I didn't have bags to carry prariedog snacks in. Joe

 

[LVSteve]

Comparing with Vegas:-

Lotsa jobs? What's going on out there? I'm still trying to reconcile our population increase when tourism is down 11% and the hospitality industry has been slashing jobs for years. It's not like somebody opened a major factory or industry here.

Heard all about home prices from my buddy whose son lives there. The lad was married not long ago, and I think the couple are planning to move elsewhere because of the home prices. No point in them coming to Vegas as home prices are stupid here too.

The apartment malaise sounds similar to what we have here in Vegas on a slightly smaller scale. I've not seen anything over four stories here.

Seems like Denver is like Las Vegas where the road infrastructure is way behind the curve for the increasing population.

Didn't CO do whole "ban the plastic bag thing" a few years back?

Tame Prairie Dogs? We get Ground Squirrels here. There is a park nearby where the idiots obviously feed them as they come running up giving you the whole "got snacks" routine, especially in the winter. Their population probably means the park crawls with Bullsnakes in the spring.

 

[pharmer]

Comparing with Vegas:-

Lotsa jobs? What's going on out there?

Californians have californicated the Denver-Boulder corridor. Skipped right over the "in between" states. They saw that they had "$real power" to have things their way, occupy less than 5% of the land area but held over 50% of the voting power. Hence the blue hair, metal faced aliens that sold their 1,200 sq ft bungalow in San Mateo for $1.6 million and bought a 3,500 sq ft ranch house for $800K in Elizabeth, Co and vote for "no bags" grocery shopping. Joe

 

[Denverd0n]

Denver was once a great place to live. I moved away in 2009 and I'm glad I did. I avoided the dramatic demographic shift, which I won't be too specific about since that might veer into forbidden topics.

 

[pharmer]

Don, we're glad to have you. (Unless you're a blue haired metal faced moon unit that wants to take away my WalMart bags Joe

 

[Rodan]

Drove through Denver recently on I25 in our RV. 2nd only to Houston on my 'worst driving experiences' list... The combination of road condition, construction, traffic and driver behavior was hair raising.

 

[IAM Rand]

My wife and I have been to just about every corner in the Denver Metro area when she was doing her thrift stuff. Of course I was more of a body guard than a helper. That and I loaded her stuff in the truck. I have lived in Colorado since 68 when my father made the best decision in our lives by moving to Denver. It reminded me of Independence Day(the movie). The people that move(d) here from other states of a different persuasion are doing what the aliens did and then they will move on. Traffic in Denver is not the only place where it is bad, Colorado Springs is just as bad if not getting worse. On the weekends there was hardly any traffic, in the city or on the way up to Denver. Now it is horrible all the time. Watch out for rain or snow, you would think that these are new things to people that come from elsewhere. A little rain and everyone is going 15 under the limit. Don't get me started on snow. I can tell who the out of state people are because they keep their snow tires on all year round.

Next Snake Pliskin movie is Escape From Denver. Who is the A number one