Top 5 Things I Learned About Colorado

Taking my current position at Time Warner Cable caused my wife and I to be uprooted from North Carolina and transplanted into Colorado. Living here only a short time there are a few things we came to learn quickly.

5. Bring Your ChapStick and Drink Lots of Water

Although not exactly true for the mountainous areas to the west and even the foothills below, the one major thing I didn’t realize about this state was how arid and dry this place really is. As you fly into Denver from the east you seen nothing but flat land  and fields.  Any spots of green have to be completely irrigated. Because it is so dry, your lips start shriveling up within minutes of landing so be sure and bring lots of ChapStick.

Also, they don’t call Denver the “Mile High City” for nothing, most parts of Colorado are above sea level by a full mile. I’m not sure the scientific reason for it, but the combination of the dry air and high altitude cause you to need more water then you would on the east coast.

4. The Weather is Nice

A lot of people back east (myself included) picture Colorado as this frigid place where it snows all year round. That’s likely because most of the beautiful scenic photos of the state come from the Rocky Mountains and some of the peaks there can have snow on them most months of the year. The truth is that in Colorado you get all of your seasons. Summers are particularly enjoyable as you get nice warm days and very little rain making almost any day a great one to go outside.  Even in the winter and spring month people are out hitting the slopes and just about all year round you’ll find people riding bikes. Because there’s less rain you get to see more of the sun, and that makes even a colder temperature day feel good.

3. Get an All-Wheel Drive Vehicle

Here’s my caveat to the previous item on the list. When it does snow you’ll want a car that can get you around. For the most part, this state does a great job of keeping major roads in working order so the cities don’t have to close businesses just because they get some snow. That being said, side streets and neighborhoods that don’t get plowed often can be hard or impossible to navigate with a 2-Wheel drive car. I learned the hard way that those two spinning wheels in snow turn the snow around it into ice… and then you’re not going anywhere!  People here seem to love their Subarus, there’s probably something to that.

2. Food and Drink A-plenty

There is no shortage of food or drink in Colorado. This counts especially for the Denver metro area.  There are tons of great restaurants in and around Denver, it would be impossible to try them all.  Some of my favorites are Mangiamo Pronto, The Dickens Tavern, and Freshcraft. There’s always something new to try and it seems every other week you can find some kind of festival going on which usually brings the food trucks from all over. In addition to great food there are also a ton of micro breweries in Colorado.  In Denver alone there are over 200.  Also northern Colorado is home to the famous Oskar Blues and Left Hand Breweries. My wife loves the Left Hand brewery as they host a monthly “Ales for Females” event which provides tastings and backgrounds on different beers.

1. Coloradans Love Their Broncos

Although there is decent support for all the major league sports teams here (Nuggets, Avs, Rockies, Broncos) the one team which seems to get the most love are the Denver Broncos.  Maybe we showed up at a time when they were hot, or maybe Coloradans have always been such big supporters, but when there’s a home game everyone shows their pride. The first day I was working downtown during football season all I saw was a sea of orange.  The atmosphere was so electrifying I caught the bug and now I have Bronco fever!