I have lived in and around Denver for a few years now and have really come to love it.  Z and I intend on settling down here eventually after we explore some other places the world has to offer but before I moved away I figured a short post about what I love about Denver is in order. 

The Weather

It gets cold here but never too cold.   It gets hot here but never too hot.  The weather is always just right for a suit or t-shirt and hoody.  It seems like it gets just cold enough to go enjoy activities in the snow and just hot enough to go to enjoy Elitch Gardens water park.  In the city of Denver you don’t really ever even have to worry about the snow sticking around long. In 2015 I cross country skied down the trail system in Denver to a meeting and then switched to my shoes and walked back to RTD after the meeting. It comes and goes really fast and the city is very good at keeping the trail system neat and clean for us trail commuters.

The Fitness

Everyone is either active or enjoys active activities in some way or another.  Healthy lifestyle choices take a driver seat for most who live in Denver. All of my co-workers hike trails and my boss is an intense mountain biker.  It’s amazing that everyone seems to share a simple common bond which is getting out for a simple exercise whether it be hiking, walking, biking, rollerblading, skiing, snowboarding, jogging, climbing. I’ve made it a habit to have at least two setups for all the activities I like to do so I can ask others to join me and more often than not I get positive responses.  It’s awesome.  And of course, as I said above the weather is awesome and plays really well for outdoor activities and exercise.

The Lightrail and RTD

I enjoy parking the car (or simply leaving it at home) and using public transit.  Currently it’s not over crowded during regular hours and it’s always very clean. You’ll find the light rail does get quite busy during rush hour periods when people are commuting to and from work but there’s still plenty of places to stand.

RTD goes everywhere you could want to go and the Light Rail connects the surrounding cities and airport to Denver downtown with a quick, affordable train ride. It’s a wonderful system for commuting to and from work or simply just getting around.

Technology & Jobs

I’m a software developer and I had never so quickly been presented with more opportunity then when I first moved here. Working with a reputable local talent agency opened even more doors. I found quite a few of the jobs  were in the Denver Tech Center which is easily accessible from downtown via the Light rail.

There’s also great technology minded meetups here.  I enjoy an occasional visit to the Front Range PHP user group as well as the DTC Ruby user group. That’s just two many awesome tech minded meetups. 

There’s also a lot of startups and technology in Boulder (private, public, government and educational) which is just an RTD ride away as well. It’s amazing how much IT there is within reach if you live in or around Denver.

The Mountains

There’s no denying that the mountains are amazing.  I’ll admit that there are cities that have much better views of the mountains (Colorado Springs) and cities that are much closer to all the activities the mountains have to offer (Leadville) but Denver is still an amazing jump off point to the mountains.  This somewhat falls back on the fitness and weather items but the mountains are just beautiful. Z and I like to get out and picnic, hike and camp as often as we can and Denver is an amazing place to jump off from to do this.

Recreational Marijuana

I don’t really smoke much but I do enjoy the occasional edible, especially when hiking trails or jogging.  I’m not sure why other places aren’t jumping on this bandwagon.  I’m no doctor, nor have I researched the topic but it seems to me that pot is less harmful to us than alcohol.  I sure don’t drink a beer before going for a hike or a jog.  Nor do I wake up feeling less than awesome the day after hanging out with friends consuming some recreational marijuana at home or out camping. Just as when you consume alcohol you shouldn’t drive and depending on how you consume pot you might as well wipe out the idea of driving for the rest of the day but this falls back on the use of RTD and the Light Rail.  I consume recreational marijuana a couple times a month and until now I haven’t really advertised that fact but since I’ll be moving away from Denver I wanted to mention that I do enjoy recreational marijuana and  definitely support it being legalized everywhere.  I would gladly trade a a couple alcoholic drinks for a 10mg edible.