LoganMntMan

Louisville is a great little town just about 20 minutes drive from Boulder. There are nice little neighborhoods and the old town/downtown of Louisville is a great place. There is a great little downtown to shop, eat and walk--the restaurants are unique and the beer is great. I especially love Waterloo, they have great food, drinks, prices and live music right on Main Street.

I have grown to dearly love Salida, the river and her people. The Arkansas flows through giving the town its character. There are amazing shops and small businesses in Salida--you can pretty much get anything you need there and do not really need to venture out to the "big city" for much. The cost of land can be steeper than surrounding southern CO towns and counties but you get what you pay for and Salida is a great lifestyle. Winters are sunny and chilly like most of Colorado, but this is a great little valley and I would advise anyone looking to live in the Colorado mountain lands to scope this place out. It is a great mix of old/new--conservative and new age.

I really enjoy getting up to the area around Dolores and Mancos, McPhee Res is a beautiful spot. If anyone is moving to Colorado's sw region I highly recommend checking out the Dolores area for homes and land, great spot and not far from Durango for shopping and restaurants, Mancos has a lot to offer for such a small town too. There is a great health food and cafe in Mancos I also highly recommend and who could complain living next to Mesa Verde, great location!

Locally known as "Eldo" this is a great little quirky town. I mostly remember the cold, freezing cold, swimming pool and showcase diving board at the Eldo Pool. This is a great getaway from the Front Range heat in the thick of summer. The hiking trails are amazing and world class climbers come from around the world to climb and boulder around on the rocks and canyon sides. There are some homes and there is a serious community here that also takes itself pretty serious for good and ill. Its a great hippy town just a schmid from Boulder.

Dillon is a cool town even though it is along I-70 and pretty touristy is manages to pull off a good vibe. The lake is huge and you will see sailboats on it in the warmer months. On the far side of Dillon Reservoir there are some nice homes right at water front that are worth checking out. Keystone and Breck are just a skip away and for a ski bum young or old this could be a great investment town.

There is something really sweet about the town of Lyons. Just 20 minutes from Boulder and Longmont and about 20 more to Estes Park. Lyons is tucked up against red rocks (the Lyons Sandstone formation for example) that the University of Colorado in Boulder is largely made of.

There is Oscar Blues, a restaurant in the center of town where there is great food, live music several times a week and a video arcade. There is a food market and in the warmer months a great farmers market selection that is worth checking out on a Saturday afternoon. The people that inhabit Lyons are unique, there are a lot of musicians that have lived or live in Lyons. There is the July event called Rocky Grass, a bluegrass fiesta by the St. Vrain River that flows through town. Speaking of the river, don;t miss tubing in Lyons, it is better and safer than tubing in Boulder along the Boulder Creek. Lyons rocks;)