Lets say Denver was in Kansas instead of beautiful, colorful Colorado. What would you think of it? How good of a city would it be? Would it still warrant a vacation? Is it still a good city?

Yes, it is a great city.

What is it that defines a "good" city for you?

I do ike Denver but I can't see ever living there due to the extreme weather conditions. I think it IS a great little city though. The close proximity to the great outdoors is certainly part of its allure. Changing the geographical location of any city could well change the whole dynamic. It IS what it IS.

I think you might be surprised at Denver's weather--not exactly extreme at all. And when it does snow, for the most part, it doesn't hang around all that long. more than 300 days of sunshine per year with the clearest blue sky!! The night sky is stunning!!
Lots to do, good museums, the mountains within and hour and a half--yeah, you can't ignore that aspect!!

I agree with Gretchen on the weather comment. My east coast relatives crack me up when they make comments about how awful our winters are... their winters are worse than ours! It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't lived here and experienced it.

Don't tell anyone that! They only see Denver when the airport is closed and on the national news. It's getting crowded enough. Keep the good weather a secret.

It's true that the east coast can get major winter storms - but only in the winter.

Winter weather in Denver can start much earlier and last much longer. (We were there for market research the second week in September some years ago - leaving NYC it was around 80 - when we landed in Denver there was snow- more than 7 inches - on the ground. The next day it went up near 60 - but it still distinctly wasn't summer weather.

Oh, I can probably do you one better than that. DS was married on one of those gorgeous October days where the sky was blue blue and the temp 75*. We were going to Breckenridge with friends the next day to celebrate the wedding being over and enjoy the mountains. We left in a blinding snow storm and the temp in Breck hit -14*!! We went fly fishing!!
I still love Denver--and its weather. I love my NC weather too--9 months of the year!!