hydrangea_blue - how was Denver?
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hydrangea_blue - how was Denver?
| Mon, 08-07-2006 - 11:19am |
Julie,
Once you catch your breath, please give us all an update on how your trip went, what you and the kids thought of the area, etc, etc.
Thanks, and good to have you back!
Amelia

Thanks so much for remembering and thinking of me!
DD, DS and I did like the area. Nothing that jumped out and got us so hard that we want to move tomorrow, but well enough that we would make the move, given the right location, school and house. We liked that it was green without being humid and sunny without being too hot. And hardly any traffic! We hit one of the major interstates during 'rush hour' and it was quite a bit different than what we are used to here in San Diego.
I mentioned that BIL and SIL recently relocated from the Atlanta area into the Denver area and while their being built and brand-new home is absolutely gorgeous, we didn't like how the houses were being built bumper-to-bumper in massive housing developments. In the areas surroung where BIL and SIL will live, there are acres and acreas and acres of land being developed just like that -- rows and rows of huge houses with tiny yards. Plenty of open space, playgrounds, etc. around, but just not what we had in mind.
Further north and west were areas that were more rural and more spread out with incredible views of the Front Range and Rocky Mountains, which we really liked! DD really liked Boulder, but it is quite a bit pricier and more congested traffic-wise due to the University than some of the other areas.
It turns out the one community we were especially interested in was not one we liked once we got there! We had lunch at a Subway and as luck would have it, the counter was manned by two local high school students and one who lived there but attended school in a larger neighboring community. One of the students had graduated two years earlier and said that the school and teachers were good, but she didn't like the people! Not a good sign for us. The other said he liked it, but that there were not many new or transfer students at all. When I asked, he said that most of the kids in the area just went home and played computer games after school. Another not so good sign. So with that knowledge, we vetoed that neighborhood and school district.
We were able to visit the Catholic School (DD currently attends one and really likes it) and found the enrollment was much, much smaller (540 vs. 1500) and that there were only two open slots in the sophomore class. We got curriculum and course descriptions and discovered that the Colorado school is a full year behind what DD is doing in California -- she is enrolled in an AP class for 10th grade that is not available until jr year and courses she took fr year are offered as sophmore courses. I don't know how the school would handle that one. Would they make her re-take the same courses just to keep on tract with their curriculum? Or would they allow her to take classes with jr and sr? I can't see that happening because she is already a young sophomore. So THAT's a big ????
DS is a bit on the shy side and the idea of a small school appealed to him quite a bit. He is also extremely bright so we would probably consider a charter school for him and it seems like there are a number out there to chose from.
One thing that was a bit of a disappointment was learning that tennis is not a very popular sport in Colorado. DD and DS and I all play; DS quite well and has the potential to be really good in a year or so. At the majority of the schools we researched, tennis is a secondary sport, if at all, and only some of the schools actually had courts.
We drove a little up into the Rocky Mountains and it was very, very pretty there -- we saw lots of people hiking, jogging, cycling and rock climbing around the area so that had a great deal of appeal since it's often so hot here we can't do much.
We spent a full day at the Denver water park. At the risk of being an obnoxious California, I struck up conversations with just about everyone who seemed open and had a few friendly conversations and gleaned some good info about different areas.
My big concern at the moment is being in such close proximity to my BIL and SIL. BIL is rather domineering and while I do appreciate the time and energy he took showing us around, etc., I don't think I want to live so close I'd see him often and DH and I have already quarrelled about it! But ... I think that's a subject for another post!
That's probably more info than you wanted! Thank you again for asking. We're all mulling it over now. DH wants a commitment so he can set the wheels in motion on his end in getting a transfer, etc.
Julie