Moving to Colorado for work, where to live?

Hey all,

I'm looking for some advice...

I'm from Sacramento and have lived here for my whole life (25 years). I am moving with my girlfriend from here to Colorado in 2 months. We haven't decided on an area yet. My work (software engineer) is in northern Colorado Springs, near the Air Force Academy.

My hobbies include rock climbing (of course:)), cycling, mountain biking, kayaking, hiking, and I would like to get in to paragliding this year as well.

We're both more liberal than conservative. We have a dog and a cat and would like a 2br+ house, not an apartment.

MY QUESTION:
What neighborhood/town/city should we move to?

We're presently looking in to Castle Rock. Of course Boulder looks fantastic but unrealistic as the commute would be 1.5hrs to work.

I'm flying out there in 10 days to scope out the areas. Any advice would be great and I'll check it out when I'm there!

THANK YOU!

Monument might be nice, or you might look into the area's around down town CO springs and old colorado city. Old colorado city area is nice because you're super close to hiking, mountain biking, road biking, and climbing. The paddling scene in the springs isn't the best, but there's a play park in pueblo, one in golden, and the arkansas river is good too.

I live in north east co springs and it's nice, safe, and there's pretty much any store you could want/need within 5 minutes. I do have to drive 10-15 minutes to go riding or climbing but that's not too bad all things considered.

I've only lived here for about 6 months now so i'm not the best to ask but I would say the town that is as close to the mountains as you can get. We live in the boulder area and it's too pricey with a lot of yuppie stuff. it's a great town, don't get me wrong. The closer to the mountains the better in my opinion.

CRock is utterly devoid of anything interesting to do in the evenings. Frankly, your choices are about 95% suburbs, the exceptions being central C Springs or Manitou.

Check out Manitou Springs and houses around there/up the hill, seems to fit the bill...

Manitou Springs sounds to fit more than others. I'll check that out along w/ Monument, Castle Rock, and Central CSP.

Thanks for the replies!

I don't know where you will be working but I really liked Golden while I was there to visit.

Check out Manitou or Old Colorado City Area. If you have to commute to work from Monument that could an issue in bad weather. Manitou is laid back, weird, can be crowded during tourist season, fun,has decent trails and is close to climbing. Only thing I know about paddling is the Arkansas is about an hour and a half west from here. I know there have been some that have done some paragliding somewhere over here on the west side. Not sure where though.

Manitou is great, especially the crystal hills area, where you have easy access to the highway and can avoid the downtown and tourists in the summer months.
Running trails and climbing are literally 5 minutes away. The only downside would be the commute to Monument. Probably half-hour in good conditions.

Along the same lines....I am curious what the realistic drive is to access ski tours from the broad Colorado Springs area? Any realistic dawn patrol options?

Thanks! ajn

Pikes Peak in spring can have a few decent lines. Otherwise its probably a 2 hour drive to the nearest ski tours/descents.