Moving from DC to Denver

Moving from Washington, D.C. to Denver, Colorado

If you ask any of my friends or family, they’d tell you I’ve been itching to leave the District of Columbia for years.  I love DC, don’t get me wrong, but I needed a change of pace.  Being an air force brat and moving every ~2 years engrained the need for change in me.  So, after four years of college and six years of work in Washington, DC, I decided it was time.  I left in May of 2018, traveled around the world until late August of 2018, and arrived in Denver early November.  The months in between returning from traveling and making the move were filled with “what now?!”s and interviews galore.  Austin & Chicago were strong contenders, and I definitely believe I would be equally happy in either of those glorious cities.  For a variety of reasons, Denver became the frontrunner and my new home.

What do you think of when you think of Denver, Colorado? Hopefully it’s not just weed, though it definitely pops up.  Since I’m not a big Mary Jane gal, I think of mountains, hiking, snowboarding, & breweries.  I imagined people in Denver being similar to those in the Midwest – noticeably kinder than us East Coasters.  I had this vision of relaxed people, spending their weeknights going on short hikes and eating homecooked meals, while the weekends were ski weekends or lazy days at their local brewery.

Some of those things are correct – others, not so much.  You know I love lists, so we’ll break this down with some bullet points:

• The altitude

  Oh boy, people talk about it, and I’ve definitely experienced it, but it’s a different animal when you move here. Nosebleeds galore, lots of cracked skin from the dryness, no volume in my hair, broken nails, and feeling 200 pounds overweight when taking a brisk walk or walking up one flight of stairs.  Never in my life did I think I’d enjoy coming back east to let that sweet humid air moisturize my dehydrated skin.

• The drivers

  The people out here are just on a whole other level.  I always thought east coast drivers had a notoriously bad reputation – lots of the city drivers (yours truly included) are aggressive, angry, and at least a bit rude.  So far I’ve spent about a month in the mile high city and have seen two kind of insane interactions at stop lights.  One of them involved a motorcyclist jumping off his bike to yell at the car behind him while the lady in the car next to them filmed it all, hoping for a juicy story.  The other story involved a woman who jumped out of her SUV to yellow at the guy behind her, while they were both videotaping it.  The Denver locals blame it on the influx of Californians and Texans – that may be true, either way, I was surprised by the aggressiveness.

• Intense locals

  I suppose you can find this anywhere, but there are lots of people here with the “Locals Only” stickers, where the “C” is the one from the Colorado flag. We get it, Denver is booming.  Newsflash – so is Austin, DC, NYC, San Francisco, LA, etc., etc., etc.

• Incredible views

  When I drive to work in the morning, the sun is rising above the mountains. When I leave work in the afternoon, the sun is setting behind the city skyline.  Talk about peaceful, breathtaking sites, they’re unbeatable!

  

• Not bad traffic

  If you ask anyone here, they’ll complain about it (and I probably will soon enough), but let’s be honest – it’s way better than DC and probably lots of other cities.

• Lack of public transportation

  The RTD is honestly better than I thought it would be, it goes to the airport and has branches to quite a few different parts of town. However, it’s $9 to get to the airport, and there aren’t many RTD stops within walking distance of a lot of neighborhoods downtown, so a lot of people don’t use it.  I haven’t explored the bus system yet, but I’ll update this once I do.

• Mountain Accessibility

  For the outdoorsy type, this place truly is magical. Within 20 minutes, you can be hiking somewhere.  Within 1.5-2 hours, you can be skiing.  There are lakes around the city, and biking trails all over the place.

• Airport Situation

  I know this is going to sound so picky, but I was truly spoiled in DC. I already complained about this, but I’ll say it again – why is the airport so far away? I understand why it is, but I don’t understand why there isn’t another airport closer to the city (like Reagan to Dulles, or Midway to O’Hare).  Fortunately, the flights are really affordable within the US since it’s in the middle of the country.  Also, there are tons of international flights available because of the size of the airport.

• Transplant Mentality

  Luckily, since Denver is so popular, there are tons of transplants here. It seems like everyone here is down to meet new people since they’re also new.  Friends of friends of friends have become my new group here, and I love it!

• Food

  Don’t get me wrong, the food scene is great here. However, it was fantastic in DC, and New York was only a 3.5 hour train ride away.  I miss delicious sushi, ramen, bagels, pizza, etc.  Green chili is a huge thing here, I’d never even thought about it before I moved here, but it’s tasty!

• The Weather

  WOW people were not lying when they said there were “300 days of sunshine” in Denver. I thought they were, but in the 3 months I’ve been here (in winter, nonetheless!), I can tell it’s true.  No seasonal depression here, folks.

So far, I’m extremely glad to have made the change.  It’s a large change of pace, but I’m trying to leave behind some of my high strung east coastness.  I’m a big believe that change is good, and can always present an opportunity for growth.  Here’s to new beginnings!