The end of 2016 brought some life changes that we definitely didn’t anticipate. Namely, we bought out Travis’ business partner and suddenly my 2.5 year work hiatus has ended as I’m jumping in to help Travis revamp the business, launch new software, and help with consulting jobs. I’m trying to channel my long dormant inner saleswoman and polish my skills to get back in the game. I’ve definitely missed using my business skill set and will try not to ruin anyone’s business (include ours) as I get back up to speed ?. We’re working hard to keep this a very part-time job for me so I don’t have a major auto-immune, EBV, etc. relapse.
So, as it turns out, being here with my parents in Oklahoma for the time being has been a godsend. We would have reverted to survival mode if we were off somewhere on our own without help and a support system right now. We’ve been home basing from my parents’ guest house at our family ranch in Oklahoma since late October. We’ve taken multiple trips to different Texas locales over the last 2 months and will do more of the same until March. My mom also has to have hip replacement surgery next month, so we’ll be around to help take care of her as well. That’s probably the least we could do in return for housing and child care. Well, that plus some “minor” house projects. We’re very grateful!
Ok, so what’s next? As I mentioned, we’ll home base from Oklahoma until March. Between now and then we will take 2 trips to San Antonio and 2 trips to College Station. We also plan to spend 4-5 nights in Fayetteville, AR – we’ve heard that’s a cool place with superb mountain biking. Those 5 trips combined with providing a cobbled together version of home health care during mom’s surgery recovery and continuing to figure out how to run a business together again feels as much as we have the capacity for right now.
Mid-March we plan to head to Colorado for 6-8 weeks. We could potentially see being within 90 minutes of the Denver airport on a longer term basis, so we need to do some recon. Potential spots that fit the bill: Boulder, Fort Collins, Silverthorne, or a small suburb/town on the western edge of Denver.
Here’s where we would welcome some input. If we live in a place with a legit snowy winter, I feel like it’s a total waste if we can’t go skiing a few times a week. I hear how that sounds, but we’re prioritizing the ability to do mountain and outdoor activities year-round. Silverthorne is very close to multiple ski options, Boulder is just 35 minutes away from a small ski resort, but Fort Collins is nearly 2 hours to skiing. Of the 3 places, Fort Collins has been recommended to us by 6 different people this year alone as a place to consider living. It’s just an hour away from the Denver airport and you can avoid all of the nasty Denver traffic coming to and from the airport. Boulder is 45 minutes to an hour from the airport on a reasonable traffic day, but I think reasonable traffic coming in and out of Boulder is a rarity indeed. Silverthorne is 90 – 120 minutes from the airport, but has a giant reservoir for water activities, crazy ski options, and of course trails galore. What’s a girl to do?
In any case, we’ll check out at least 2 of those options this spring and then head to what’s become our regular rental house in Tahoe from mid-May to mid-July : )
July 15th we’ll head back to the fiery inferno of Texas and Oklahoma to make a round to family and friends before heading out again. We plan to spend August through mid-November in either the northeastern US or somewhere in Europe. Again, we’re taking suggestions.
We’re thrilled to be able to continue our adventure for another year – here’s to another 18,000 miles or so in 2017!
(Vintage US map flickr photo by peonyandthistle shared under a Creative Commons ( BY-NC-ND ) license )
I lived in Fort Collins for 6 years or so and CO for another 20 so I might be able to offer some insight into the area. As a first note, I would say that all of these places are in housing bubbles at the moment. Boulder is going to be the most expensive, but the other 2 won’t be that far behind and the pace of housing price growth is astounding and unmaintainable. Doesn’t exclude them but important to know if you’re looking to buy a place.
Fort Collins: Fort Collins is a really nice place to live – the people are nice, there’s loads of amazing food and good breweries, there’s quite a few places for outdoor recreation (all 3 will have loads of recreation – if not skiing), and the downtown area is great. Skiing is quite a ways away, but you’re also closest to Steamboat Springs which is in a beautiful valley full of slopes. Also don’t count on it being easy to get to Denver – the 45 minute drive can easily take 2 hours on week days with bumper-bumper about half of the way down.
Also it doesn’t snow much in Fort Collins proper, it’s just really cold in the winter. With how the town is tucked up against the foothills and in a slight valley the bad storms tend to wrap around town to the north and south and miss FoCo itself. I’d say that FoCo gets about 1/2 – 2/3rds the snow that other towns on the Front Range gets most years. There is, however, lots of wind from Wyoming.
Boulder: Boulder is… Boulder. You might have heard it referred to as the People’s Republic of Boulder and it is hippy/yuppy as it gets – not a bad thing per-se but really important to know if you want to live there. Also mind-bendingly expensive. The average house price is north of a million. But, you get awesome views of the mountains and flat-irons to make up for it. Getting to the slopes won’t be easy from Boulder – the trek up and down I-70 on a skiing weekend will take hours and generally be bumper-bumper with multiple accidents and delays for no reason at all driving down 36 to get to Denver to hit I70 is a nightmare most days. There’s lots of great tech communities here and in Fort Collins.
Silverthorne: As you mentioned above this is by far your best option for skiing. The other 2 are going to generally be nightmares for getting up to the slopes. Pretty area but very far from the airport as you mentioned.
I hope some of this helps. I’m pretty partial to Fort Collins having lived there until this year but each place is pretty special and neat. I hope you guys have a good time visiting CO!
Thank you so much for your insight, Mike! That’s super helpful and gives us a lot to consider. We may send more questions your way : )