I grew up in Boulder and I live in Boulder. Boulder is a special place. People are moving to Boulder because of the unique lifestyle that is available here. A great climate, an active lifestyle, world class dining and cultural and sporting events right in town. To that end I love supporting the community in what makes it unique and special. This year, I am proud to be a presenting sponsor for the Colorado Music Festival. with concerts held at Chautauqua Auditorium. I remember fondly my first concert at this historic and beautiful auditorium, and looking at the twilight sky out from my seat through the gaps in the siding planks gives me a visceral feeling of summer in Boulder.
I’m grateful to be a part of this community and I’m grateful to give back to the community that supports me. The specific concert I’m sponsoring is Thursday August 2nd and features the music of Bernstein – Dvořák – Bartók with Conductor: Peter Oundjian and Guest Artist: Narek Hakhnazaryan on the cello. If you can make it on Thursday you can use the code corp2018 to get a 20% discount. Here is where you buy tickets online.
I stumbled across this video produced by The City of Boulder about the Boulder Comprehensive Plan. The video is not only well produced and beautiful, it gives some historical insight as to the creation and maintenance of the open space that surrounds our fair city. When I am showing around someone from out of town for the first time I always tell them about the foresight of our city forefathers (just over 40 years ago) who started preserving what was unique and great about our area. Can you imagine if market forces were allowed to prevail and there was a sea of houses and strip malls in an unending swath from the foothills to the city limits? If you appreciate the lifestyle in Boulder it’s well worth a watch.
Most people head to Chautauqua Park to take a hike. Here is a different take on the enjoying this beautiful part of Boulder Colorado. Here is a detailed walking tour starting from the Chautauqua Dining Hall that heads through the neighborhood that is closest to the park.
Begin at the Chautauqua Dining Hall within Chautauqua Park. The Park is located at 9th and Baseline. There is free parking in the area. From the Dining Hall head east (away from the mountains) toward the playground and walk past the tennis court.
At 12th Street take a left and start heading downhill.
Once you pass a house or two take a right on Columbine Ave. for one block. I especially like this area so you may want to wander a bit on your own before you…
Take a left on 13th Street and cross baseline Road (Note, there is no cross walk here so if you need extra time crossing head back up toward the park for a crosswalk).
Take a left on Cascade and enjoy the walk back towards Flagstaff Mountain on this nice wide street. At 6th Street continue West even though it says it isn’t a through street. homes.
At the “T” take a right on Willowbrook . This tucked away street is especially charming.
Then take a right on Park. You are now headed downhill for a short stretch and then…
Take a right onto Aurora Avenue. This part of the neighborhood has some nice wild areas in people’s back yards and bears and other critters find this a great place to spend some time. Before you head back up a hill.
Take a Left on 6th This narrow street winds downhill and halfway it turns into Rosehill Drive. You will see a mix of homes here from modern and new to the only log home that I know of in Boulder.
Take a right onto College this street isn’t marked but at the intersection you can see the schoolyard of Foothills Elementary. Head toward the cemetery.
Take a right onto 8thGet ready for your uphill portion of the walk. As you walk you will see many remodeled homes and a few original cottages as well.
Take a left on Aurora then a Right on Grant – Grant is one way going the wrong way so if you are driving this route continue one block further to 9th. Grant will continue up the hill and take you directly back to Chautauqua Park.
This past weekend I loaded up the bike and took a high country fall foliage tour on two wheels. I lucked out and caught the fall colors
East Side of McClure Pass toward Marble
at their absolute peak. I will deviate from the normal theme of real estate and give you a sense of why I love living, working and playing in Colorado.
Here are the details of my Colorado bike tour. My route started in Redstone Colorado on Friday night and headed immediately west over McClure Pass. I camped near the top of the pass and the next morning descended to Paonia through alpine aspens fields, to rolling ranch land, coal mining operations and finally into the orchards near Paonia.
Between Paonia and Crawford
After a stop in Paonia for a smoothie I rode the back way from Paonia to Crawford. This 20 mile road wound through rolling pastureland, orchards and as I headed south it became drier and more desolate. After lunch in Crawford I rode south toward the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River. It was a hot day and the road seemed to head up much more than it headed down. With a fully loaded bike, it is hard to carry much speed. I characterize the slope of a hill by how fast I can go. Steep hills are 5 mile an hour hills and not so steep hills are 7 mile per hour hills. The road from Crawford to the Blue Mesa Reservoir had many 5 mph hills.
The road didn’t have a big shoulder but the road surface was smooth, the
Between Crawford and Gunnison
drivers were very considerate and the traffic was very light. I would estimate that 50% of the vehicles that I saw on that stretch of road were motorcycles. As I headed toward Gunnison I caught some views (although hazy) of the eastern edge of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. After a 90 mile day I was very thankful to find a campground at the dam of the Blue Mesa Reservoir. The views over the last 20 miles were characterized by rock buttes skirted in aspen groves, very beautiful!
The next morning I rode along the 19 mile long Blue Mesa Reservoir before heading through a small canyon and coming out in a wide valley that holds the town of Gunnison. On this stretch of the road I met another cyclist loaded up for touring just like I was. This is a rare occurance so we both slowed and I crossed over to chat. Tom was on his 46th day out of New Jersey on a cross country tour that will take him next through Utah, Nevada into San Francisco and then down the coast to LA. We had a lot to talk about because in 1993 I rode my bike (the same one) from Seattle to Boston.
Curecanti Ranch Area near Blue Mesa Reservoir
After a big breakfast I headed up the valley from Gunnison to the ski town of Crested Butte. The valley is very scenic with many river crossings, large ranches and a cute fly fishing village called Almont which was filled with anglers with a wet line. But as I headed north the wind headed south. Headwinds added at least a half an hour to the 25 mile ride up the valley.
Crested Butte is a cool little ski town. From what I could tell the town is filled with young, healthy, outdoor types and their young families. There were bike racks everywhere, even in front of houses. My guess is that bikes outnumbered residents. After some great ice cream at the Third Bowl Ice Cream shop (salted caramel and cowboy coffee in a waffle cone) I resupplied and headed up the dirt road to Kebler Pass. I was really glad that the pass was a 7 mph climb of about 7 miles. The views on the west side of the pass were just incredible! If you want to get a slice of back country Colorado, this is a great way to do it in a car. As I descended I had to stop often to take photos. I’d never seen so much yellow in one place and at the prime spots were filled with serious photographers with all of the gear.
Near Kebler Pass
There are many good primitive camping spots on the west side of the pass and I found a spot a beautiful aspen grove. I woke to a wet tent and after packing up I descended 19 miles of dirt road. The road in general is in good condition but after a rain it’s pretty sloppy. There are some absolutely beautiful high country cattle ranches on this road.
The last stretch was again back up the west side of McClure Pass. Most of the way is fairly rolling with only a five mile ascent to the summit. I reached 38 miles per hour on the decent from the pass and rolled easily back into Redstone and a hot shower at a past clients home.
Overall it was a great weekend and I have to say that my legs are feeling the next day. In all it was 214 miles of beauty that is best enjoyed at a slow pace.
I just finished making this video about Boulder. It gives a tour of Boulder by highlighting the lifestyle, economy, shopping, dining, housing and schools. If you know someone who is considering a move to Boulder, forward them this video! Thanks for taking a look and letting me know what you think.
For more community information go to here
A Gallup poll on overall well being has named Boulder as the number 1 city in the United States! The index is based on the polling of 365,000 US citizens a year since 2008. The video above is a CBS Sunday Morning feature on Boulder, the number 1 town for overall happiness and Huntington West Virginia which came in last in the index. The video features a true local and an old friend Dave Query.
The index includes health statistics and hard to measure happiness or optimism statistics. The overall score for Boulder was 73.7 a full point above Lincoln Nebraska and Ft. Collins Colorado. It’s hard to say what is so special about Boulder but this starts to quantify it. Ready to move here? There is room for a few more. Give me a call and we can get started.
I grew up in Boulder and I live in Boulder. Boulder is a special place. People are moving to Boulder because of the unique lifestyle that is available here. A great climate, an active lifestyle, world class dining and cultural and sporting events right in town. To that end I love supporting the community in what makes it unique and special. This year, I am proud to be a presenting sponsor for the Colorado Music Festival. with concerts held at Chautauqua Auditorium. I remember fondly my first concert at this historic and beautiful auditorium, and looking at the twilight sky out from my seat through the gaps in the siding planks gives me a visceral feeling of summer in Boulder.
the Dining Hall head east (away from the mountains) toward the playground and walk past the tennis court.
new to the only log home that I know of in Boulder.
