Until we get some trips planned, we will continue our online research…all the suggestions here are so helpful…thank you so much. The suburbs in CO Yale mentioned look good, especially Broomfield. What are summers like near Denver and Boulder?

As I mentioned before, we don’t like the heat, but if it doesn’t last too long we’d o.k. Here we are in November, and a few days ago we had a mini heat wave – two days in a row of mid 90’s temps. It’s back to being in the high 70’s now. I’m sure we are in a small group of people who wish it were colder, and I guess this warm weather we are having is why people pay so much for real estate in California…but we are ready for a change.


Any comments on summers in CO and what keeps kids busy in snowy weather would be great!

Denver had some record highes this summer but usually summers are absolutely lovely in Colorado. Other than moths, we don't have a lot of bugs. The evenings generally cool off. Afternoon thunderstorms are normal, especially in June, but they pass quickly. The joke is, "Did you hear about Noah's flood? Yeah, we got 2 inches."

If you're thinking Broomfield, you need to know that snow will come and go - it'll only be on the ground for a few days at a time. And Colorado has no shortage of things to keep kids busy. Because of the amount of sun, there is always bikes, trampolines, etc. Parks and school playgrounds are readily available. And you can literally wear yourself out with all the various opportunities for kids and families here. We have national parks, museums, zoos, every kind of rec league sport you could want, music, art, karate lessons, storytime at the library or bookstores, crafts at the craft stores, kids projects at Home Depot and on and on it goes. Believe me, you're more likely to have to work for "down time" than for something to do.

SoCal - We live an hour south of Denver in an area that's zoned rural residential so somewhat "country". For the summer, it gets hot in July but cools down at night. We do not have a/c & are okay. Winters can be variable, snowstorms usually melt in a few days but we have had some big ones.
Entertaining the kids during this isn't difficult, they love to play in the snow, build snowmen, forts,etc. & there are some good sledding hills. I don't know what you want to do in the lakes, but the water would be very cold. I have to say, I very much miss the ocean & we tend to vacation on the beach. Betsy

BetsyG - Exactly how hot does it get in July? Like Palm Springs or Vegas hot? I can handle a few 90 to 100 degree days. Just curious...you said you miss the ocean - what coast are you referring to?

I can't quite explain why we need a body of water near by. We just get such a good feeling when we are near the ocean, or a lake. We vacation in Lake Tahoe every summer, and don't even really go in the water...occasionally we'll rent sea-doos or parasail. The beach is a half an hour drive from where we live now, and we only went about 6 times this past summer. So I guess we could live without either a lake or the ocean close, and if we miss the water, we can take more trips!

Denver has changed dramatically in the 28 years I've lived here and one of the ways is weather. While everyone so far has commented about how the snow does not stay around long, summer have gotten ridiculously hot. Two years ago we had 90+ for 60 days. Not uncommon to see 100+ for 5 days running. Last year I succumbed and put in the a/c which I never thought I would do. People say it's a dry heat, but over 100 it doesn't matter how hot it is. Yes it cools down at night - to about 80. The other three seasons are truly lovely, but if you are concerned about heat, be aware. It's turning into desert living! Like you, we wonder where else we might live eventually, but despite my whining I know I cannot ever live with humidity again, and we don't have that at all!

We've lived in Colorado for about 10 years, and love it here. I grew up in the midwest, DH on the east coast, and spent a while living the big-city life before heading to the Denver area. We moved here for the lifestyle, but the climate is wonderful.

About water, I grew up in Michigan, where there are many lakes, though we didn't do a huge number of water sports. The lakes here in Colorado are few (and many are reservoirs), and occasionally I do miss the presence of water. The mountains and the wealth of activities here, however, outweigh the water (and the humidity and mosquitos that went along with them). And the mountain streams are fun to splash around in, though very cold.

The climate in the Denver area (whether north, like Broomfield, or in any other area other than in the foothills or the mountains themselves) is temperate. That means that we get a big snowstorm in Sept/Oct and in April/May, but we have many more days where the snow has quickly melted, and we can eat lunch outside on our deck. It's never as cold as it was in the midwest or the east. And it's very uplifting to have so much sun (and so little rain); I notice the lack of it now that I live here and travel elsewhere.

In the summer, it gets a bit hot (though it doesn't feel as hot as it did in the midwest/east). We do usually have a couple of 100+ days, but it cools off quickly in the evening - 80 degrees is pretty cool for evening sleeping temperatures, though I'd guess it gets lower than that.

You want to live close to a big city. How big a city do you mean? Coming from Chicago and Boston, my previous homes, Denver doesn't seem big at all. But it has a symphony, a variety of restaurants (though light on ethnic), cultural activities; pretty much anything that any (what I would call) medium-sized city would have.

Re kids playing in the snow, we don't have a huge amount of it to worry about. We spend a lot of time in the mountains in the winter, and that's where we do all of our winter activities; sledding, skiing of all types, ice skating, etc. When it snows in Denver, the kids can sled and make snowmen for a few days, and then in melts. So they can play outside pretty much year round.

One last comment about Denver is the lack of trees, except in Denver proper, where they were planted long enough ago to be mature, sizeable trees. In most of the suburbs, which are mostly quite new, the only trees are those planted by the developers. While they are maturing, it's nothing compared to the trees in the midwest and east. When I first moved here, I thought it was barren (I think the technical description for our topography here is "high alpine plains"). Now I'm used to it (and there are plenty of trees, albeit mostly pine, in the mountains), and enjoy being able to see into the distance, and when I visit my folks in Michigan the number of trees makes me feel closed in.