Help us Decide Where to Live this Summer!
 

Help us! My husband and I are planning to "move" to a "cool mountain town out west" (as my husband likes to say) for a month this summer. Our top choices are places we've been to before but also happen to be the most expensive (Banff, Telluride, and Jackson Hole), so we are looking for other suggestions. Our ideal location would have... lots of great day hikes within a reasonable distance, a walkable downtown area with restaurants and bars and maybe some fun summer activities like festivals and farmer's markets, but mostly we want easy access to outdoor activities and beautiful scenery. We are also looking at Park City (not sure how great the hiking is in the area though?), Boulder (great town but may be too big and is not really "in" the mountains), and Summit County CO (don't know much about this area but it was suggested by a friend who lives in Denver). We are really open to any locations at this point- Colorado, Utah, Pacific Northwest, California, Montana...

Any other suggestions or comments on the towns we're already looking into? We currently live in NJ, so we would probably be happy anywhere in the mountains since we have zero access to any at home!

Sun Valley, Idaho? I think my husband would move there in a heartbeat...

http://www.sunvalley.com/SunValley/info/act.hb.aspx

Bend, Oregon? Some friends of ours just moved there from Southern California.

http://www.visitbend.com/Bend_Oregon...g/default.aspx

How about Vermont or New Hampshire where there are many vacation rentals owned by folks who mostly use them in ski weather?

Another vote for Bend, OR (or nearby Sisters). It is exactly what you are asking for. We go several times each year and never tire of it!

I have to put in a plug here for my favorite mountain town Crested Butte, Colorado. Much smaller than all those other places. though not much smaller than Jackson, Wyoming. Fantastic hikes all around the town, some right out your back door. Beautiful scenery. Quaint and charming downtown. Great restaurants, a little bit of shopping. Alpenglow which is a free outdoor concert every Monday night that the whole town turns out for, free concerts at the ski mountain which are gaining steam every year, a pretty good farmers market on Sundays, plus farm stands other days of the week. Great festivals and shows at the arts center. and if you want to get to know some people sign up for various dinners through the Tour de Forks at the Center for the Arts.

Crested Butte is known as the wildflower festival and the flowers are gorgeous in July. The Arts Festival the first weekend in August is great. Can you tell Crested Butte is one of my favorite places in the world?

Check out www.skicb.com for info on the ski mountain and www.prproperty.com for houses to rent. If you have more questions, please feel free to email me at screen name at yahoo.com

Oh, yes, Crested Butte! How could I forget...

Banff would be my top choice here, but Bend is also a good bet if you've not been there before. Expect a different but very enjoyable experience there.

Thank you for all the suggestions! We have good friends who live in Bend and we've always been meaning to go for a visit... Sun Valley and Crested Butte sound wonderful too! And saige, Banff is our top choice too (it's one of our favorite places and we spent a large part of our honeymoon last year in the Canadian Rockies), but I think it's just out of our budget. We've contacted a few people in Banff about monthly rentals and the cheapest we've seen (for a studio) was $3600, which is actually not too bad considering it is high season there but we just don't have that much to spend. Does anyone have any experience with Park City in the summer? On VRBO, we've seen some very affordable rentals (many less than $1000 for the month).

If you have friends in Bend, I'd go there! Locals will be able to give you tips on the best Bend has to offer. There is plenty of varied outdoor activity in the area and good food and shopping in town.

Love Colorado.
Have you considered Sedona, AZ?
We've only been to the Four Seasons at Jackson Hole but would love to stay there for the summer.
Coure de Lane in Idaho is gorgeous!
McCall Idaho is another fave amongst our friends here in SD.

Bozeman montana is a nice town also. Bend is also nice.

We live a couple of hours from Sun Valley and they are really struggling so you can find some great deals on VRBO house rentals.

Park City is also a good place to consider. There's a lot going on in the summer, yet it is more low key than in the winter. There are concerts, festivals, a farmer's market every Sunday and lots of great restaurants. Their Fourth of July celebration is a fun small town event. You can rent bikes and ride or walk on trails right from town. There are lots of other places to hike that aren't that far away. We try to go there for a weekend or two every summer.

Ashland would fit the bill better than Bend.

Whitefish or Big Fork Montana

Your post perfectly describes Bend. Lots of great hikes nearby, beautiful scenery, a good sized river and lots of lakes, and a vibrant downtown with loads of summer festivals. Bend is also home to a number of world class golf courses, and almost all of them are now open to the public as they all try to survive the downturn. You might consider staying in Sunriver, which is about 15 minutes South of Bend, and has an enormous supply of vacation rentals available. http://www.sunriver-resort.com/

Big Sky, MT if you like fishing, hiking, Yellowstone, golf, etc.

What about Whitefish, Montana... lovely small town, close to Glacier National Park, Flathead Lake, Big Fork..... and you could drive up to Canada and go to Waterton National Park for hikes (overnight trip).

Some additional locations to research:

Port Angeles and Sequim ("Skwim") WA on the Olympic Peninsula - mountains, beach, rain forest, ferry to Victoria BC, vampires down the road...

Coeur d'Alene ID - cute downtown, huge lake, resorts, mountains close by, easy access through Spokane.

Nelson BC - very cute town, fabulous access to the Kootenays and Pend Oreille country on both sides of the border. Banff on the cheap.

Missoula MT - nice college town, close to umpteen attractions - rivers, mountains...

Hood River OR - Mt. Hood, Columbia Gorge, Mt. St. Helens day trips, Portland 40 min., river canyons, orchards, wind surfing...

Missoula, MT
Bozeman, MT
Whitefish, MT
Big Fork, MT

Wherever you go, can I please come with you? Pretty please? Also bookmarking as this is a great idea!

LOL..when I wrote this it didn't look right and I googled it and it came up the wrong spelling.
'Coure de Lane in Idaho'..correct spelling 'Coeur d'Alene ID'
:))

I think it depends a lot on your family interests.
If you are into the environmental & organic movement and love the outdoors Portland Oregon would be a great choice.
I couldn't live for any long period of time in Idaho or Montana with the idea of settling into the community because my views would be so much different.

"I couldn't live for any long period of time in Idaho or Montana with the idea of settling into the community because my views would be so much different."

Just curious, what do you mean by this? The towns mentioned in Idaho and MT are all fairly different from one another so I'm curious what you mean.

La Jolla is considered one of the most conservative towns in Southern California.
Your screaming liberalism is a minority in LJ.
You should be up in the Bay area.

Hope this answers your question kureiff.
Montana and Idaho are for the most part conservative.

I agree that MT and ID are for the most part conservative, but to lump Missoula into the conservative category is funny. It's certainly anything but conservative.

'Montana and Idaho are for the most part conservative'

Where did I mention Missoula?

Missoula is in MT.

I feel like I'm missing something.

I was wondering what Nanabee meant by her views being so different than those in Idaho or Montana. I wasn't sure if she meant politically or not.

You mentioned political views and stated that Montana and Idaho are for the most part conservative.

I agreed that both states, overall, are on the conservative side politically. But the towns mentioned in this post within those states are not necessarily conservative at all. I used Missoula, as an example, of a town that is especially not conservative.

My main reason for Ashland over Bend in the summer is the presence of OSF and the Britt festival, coupled with the request for dining/farmer's markets.
You've got hiking, rafting, biking in both places.
http://www.osfashland.org/

<i>My husband and I are planning to "move" to a "cool mountain town out west"...</i>

Just my opinion, but Bend and/or Ashland hardly qualify as "cool" in the summer. The heat in the Rogue Valley in the summer can melt your bleedin' tires, and Bend is pretty dry semi-desert with some trees here and there and mountains in the distance.

<<<Our ideal location would have... lots of great day hikes within a reasonable distance, a walkable downtown area with restaurants and bars and maybe some fun summer activities like festivals and farmer's markets, but mostly we want easy access to outdoor activities and beautiful scenery. We are also looking at Park City (not sure how great the hiking is in the area though?>>>

I think you just described Park City to a "tee"--great walkable downtown, lots of summer festivals and free concerts, etc. As for hiking---we spend a week almost every summer nearby at Snowbird, in Little Cottonwood canyon. The hiking there is fantastic! We are serious hikers, and prefer the strenuous ones. The hikes at Alta, Snowbird, and over the mountain to Brighton all previde a challenge and lots of great scenery. And the wildflowers in Albion Basin and Little Cloud the last week of July are the most gorgeous I have seen anywhere.

This is an easy drive from Park City. We've spent some time there too, and I love the cycling---lots of bike paths and challenging trails if you like mountain biking.

Gardyloo is spot on about Bend and Ashland. Hot, hot, hot in the summer.

In Colorado, I recommend:
Telluride
Crested Butte
Steamboat Springs
Aspen

Not Summit County-- too much sprawl to feel like it's a 'mountain town'.

First off, Summit Cty is not a town. Sprawl is everywhere except -- maybe -- Crested Butte. Personally would fit your requirements pretty well. It has restaurants, walkable town, free public bus connecting other areas, summer lake activities, lots of festivals, and the hub of the Summit Cty bike trails. You could ride your bike to Vail on a paved bike path. Lots of hiking opportunities. A lots of interesting sites -- Georgetown, Leadville, Glenwood Springs and canyon, within a couple of hour drive. And the price would be much better than some of the other areas that have been suggested.

Ha ha. I thought the OP meant "cool", as in culturally, not cool as in
temperature.

fmpden, did you mean you could ride your bike from Crested Butte to Vail? It's 188 miles.

fmpden meant from places in Summit County to Vail, I assume. Not Crested Butte to Vail by bike (unless you're a serious biker).

I'm just not a fan of Summit County. (Clearly a "county" is not a "town".)

It depends on what the OP prefers. Do you want a more unique, historic, stand-alone town experience (as are the ones I suggested, more or less)? Or do you want lots of entertainment options, and activities, like Summit would have? Breckenridge could be a compromise between those two ideas, actually.

I think either Frisco or Breckenridge - both towns in Summit County - would be great. Another option is to go just south of Breckenridge, over Hoosier Pass into the Fairplay area. That puts you close enough to Breck for some shopping and dinner out - but it is less populated. The Colorado trail crosses through this area and there is lots of hiking. The towns offer summer music, little theater, farmers markets, festivals - lots to choose from. It is centrally located for day trips - into Denver, over to Leadville, up to Rocky Mountain National Park or Grand Lake. We have a summer home in that area and never run out of things to do.

I have to put in my vote for Red Lodge, Montana! It is much smaller than most of the towns recommended above but has a great vibe with the nearly-empty Beartooth Mountains looming above town. Tons of hiking and backpacking. 70 miles to Yellowstone Park. A brewery with great craft beers, lots of good restaurants, nice people and probably much cheaper than most places mentioned. Then again, I live here so am a bit biased. :)

I say a vote for Portland,Or. You have mountains, rivers, beaches not far, plus a great downtown to walk around in. They have a great weekend market to visit. Tons to do.

I just wanted to add that the Portland area sounds like it has everything you wanted for your trip! Have fun!

How is Portland(2,000,000 people) by any stretch a
cool mountain town?