I have a question for those living in Denver, Colorado...?

Question

My friend is moving to Denver, Colorado from Los Angeles. I want to make her a "Colorado Survival Kit" (not that there's anything wrong with Colorado, but I'm sure it will be hard for anyone to adapt). I need ideas. I'm already knitting her a scraf.

So... what kinds of stores are popular there, or special to that region? What is a popular food in denver? What's the region like?

Keep in mind that Los Angeles is REALLY different from Colorado (I'm guessing), so sometimes the simplest things might help!

Answer 1

LOL - there are so many stereotypes and misinformed ideas about what living in Colorado is like, but I can assure you and your friend that it is NOT that different! And the differences will generally be more of an advantage!

For instance, the traffic around here is nothing like L.A. - you can actually drive 30 miles into downtown in under an hour! Rush hour is a couple of hours in the morning and evening, not all day! Public transportation is improving rapidly, with a new light rail system and good express and local buses.

We have all the same chain stores and restaurants as they do in California, I assure you! And plenty of them! We have a lot of Mexican food restaurants, but that won't be unusual for your friend. There are a lot of great steakhouses because the state is famous for cattle ranching. Other than that, we've got plenty of Italian, sushi, gourmet and mom and pops restaurants you'd find anywhere.

The weather is exceptional here - this winter's snowy weather is actually very unusual. The summers are hot, but dry and the winters usually sunny and mild. She may not need that scarf you're knitting!

One great gift would be some extra-strength skin lotion. The dry climate is not skin friendly and you really have to work at keeping your skin from drying out and making you look like a "prairie hag" (as my sister so delicately puts it!)

Denver and Colorado have exceptional outdoor recreation activities - lots of urban bike and walking trails, hiking and snowshoeing in the mountains, not to mention skiing. Perhaps a book on Colorado hiking, etc. that you could find on Amazon.com would be nice.

Your friend will find a very friendly, open city with nice people and beautiful scenery - I can't imagine she won't like it here!

Answer 2

I'm a fifth generation Colorado native. And I live in the Denver Metro Area (but the next neighborhood over is within Denver city limits.) I absolutely love living here! Today I spend the afternoon kayaking. Watching the sand pipers along the shores, and ducks and geese out on the water, with wild flowers and clear mountain refections! The park's just minutes from my house. What more could you ask for? Lodo (Lower Downtown Denver) is awesome to hang out in, with shops & art galleries and restaraunts & clubs. Whatever you want. And all over Denver there are great tiny neighborhoods you could spend the day in. It's the best city in the world, and I couldn't imagine living anywhere else!

Answer 3

With every day pass, our country is getting into more and more trouble. The inflation, unemployment and falling value of dollar are the main concern for our Government but authorities are just sleeping, they don’t want to face the fact. Media is also involve in it, they are force to stop showing the real economic situation to the people. I start getting more concern about my future as well as my family after watching the response of our Government for the people that affected by hurricane Katrina.

According to recent studies made by World Bank, the coming crisis will be far worse than initially predicted. So if you're already preparing for the crisis (or haven't started yet) make sure you watch this video at http://www.familysurvival.tv and discover the 4 BIG issues you'll have to deal with when the crisis hits, and how to solve them fast (before the disaster strikes your town!) without spending $1,000s on overrated items and useless survival books.

Answer 4

Lol - Buy your friend a coat, a shovel, a snow scraper etc! There is still 2 feet of snow in my backyard. We have all of the chains that california has. We are alot like a smaller LA. Our climate is just much colder!!

Region is generally very nice. Large city area, but nature is just a few minutes drive away! We have a nice public transport system.

Hope she likes colorado.

Answer 5

Here's what most people end up doing when the move to Colorado. It's like they buy into the tourist promo's or something.
1. buy a big dog like a black lab
2. tie a bandana around it's neck
3. buy a 4x4 vehicle
4. buy some sandles like treks or berkinstocks
5. buy several t-shirts and sweatshirts because you'll never dress nicely again.
6. buy a ball cap and where it everywhere.
7. get some metal balls welded to your truck or suv right in back under the hitch and if you're feeling really funny, paint them blue.
8. drink only fat tire or laughing lab beers and drink jagermeister (just like the fly boys! air force pilots)
9. attend Octoberfest in September
and last but certainly not least:
10.buy an expensive penthouse/townhown in the heart of downtown so you can walk out your door just in time to see a bum zipping his pants up after peeing on the sidewalk.

Answer 6

Pizza is popular in denver. Colorado is usually a cold place, more in the mountains and snowy. Not very much like california. So imagine your going to a ski resort, what would you do in that situation?

Answer 7

ive lived here for 7 months. A good kit shouls included
window de icer
an ice scraper for the car
tire chains
emergency heating blanket(cars stall out in the storms)
jumper cables, gloves and stuff like that
Denver is a large metro area, not hugely different from LA
Its cold during winter, which lasts too long and not being prepared for that makes it harsh
a good pair off UGGS or 2.

Answer 8

You could get her a subscription to 5280 magazine, the Denver mag that lists all kinds of resources, activities, shops, doctors, schools, etc. Also, saline nasal spray and good lip balm and moisturizer. It's so dry here.

Answer 9

oxygen bottle and a bottle of Deep rock water. Because we're high and dry, LOL, Check out http://townofcastlerock.org
the site will give you a idea of what metro Denver is like

Answer 10

Go to this link.... there is a hilarious "You know your from Colorado when...." list. It might help you out.

http://www.blogthings.com/colorado.html

Anything that has to do with snow, skiing, the mountains, or the Broncos should be good.

Good Luck