I25 Fort Collins south to

4runnerguy wrote:

brooks379 wrote:

fanrgs wrote:

Expyinflight wrote:
We have friends in Littleton. They have lived there for over 25 years. They are saying the same thing. Loved it...until now. Too congested, and people are moving to the Denver area in record numbers. Traffic is bumper to bumper any and all times of day. The POT law is bringing too many newcomers. Housing prices are soaring.

I've lived in the Denver metro area for 54 years and my wife is a native of Golden. The pot laws have absolutely nothing to do with our population growth. Our growth rate is the same now as it was in the 1990's and 2000's.

But, yes, I am very glad to be retired and not have to commute every day in the current Denver traffic, which BTW, T-REX and light rail were supposed to take care of. :R

Tell that to the residents of Durango. All the pot smoking, homeless transients is crazy.

I agree with fanrgs here. People aren't moving here just so they can buy pot. We do get a fair number of tourists who travel here for the experience. If there's an economic growth factor to the legalization of marijuana, it's been that the industry has hired thousands of employees, greatly helping the economy. Those people in turn go out and shop, eat, etc, further expanding the economy. I do joke that much of the growth is due to the construction boom, where housing is being built to house all the people moving here to work in construction. ;)

As for the experiences in Durango, it's been that way for decades. Heck I remember camping up at Maroon Bells above Aspen several times in the '70s and having a guy come up to the CG and go from campsite to campsite, asking if anyone needed to buy pot. Used to get on the covered chairlift at Copper Mountain back then and often found the remnants of a joint when one put down the cover.

But yes, Denver traffic isn't much fun. We plan our trips down there to be going down when everyone else is coming up to the mountains and vice versa. I find the segment of I-25 from Castle Rock to Monument to be the worst considering one isn't even near many houses. The section around the Loveland/Ft. Collins exits gets pretty nasty too, but those are also getting to be pretty big bergs anymore.

I'll add one of Ken's famous Quotes as to Colorado;

"Actually, those of us from Colorado recommend that people from out of state don't attempt this road in ANY vehicle. It's narrow and curvy. There are trolls waiting under the bridges who will force you over the cliffs. A rogue avalanche might sweep you away in the summer. There are bandits waiting to hold you up and take your money and children. There's really nothing much to see, and Silverton isn't all that quaint and cute. The massive wildflower displays are vastly overrated. The vivid color combination of green vegetation against the red rocks can be seen at Christmas time in displays all over North America. The mine and ghost town remains are just unpainted, weathered wood -- nothing special. So for your safety, avoid this road in any vehicle at all costs. ;-)"

This sort of sums it up - Colorado is just "NOT SAFE" :)