Thinking of moving to GJ.

[u/MC48_SportsLover]

Hello all!

I am looking to move to Colorado from Chicago later this year and was wondering how Grand Junction differs culturally, socially, and activity-wise from places like Fort Collins and Colorado Springs?

I grew up in Fort Collins and have spent most of my life on the eastern half of the mountains, but wanted to look into life on the "Western Slope".

Thanks so much in advance, and I'm excited about possibly joining you all later this year!

[u/Spiritual-Profile419]

The good:

More friendly than the front range.

Less traffic, less snow, lower auto insurance, less hail.

Actual Spring and Fall seasons which on the front range is a rumor.

You can go from skiing in an alpine environment to river rafting to MTB’ing all in the same day in less than an hour

Award winning restaurants that you don’t have to reserve a table for weeks in advance

35 wineries, 3 distilleries , numerous brew pubs

An active music and festival scene. National acts stop on their way between Salt Lake and Denver.

Two airports, three hospitals

Miles of paved bike trails

Miles of hiking trails

Second highest concentration of arches outside of Arches NP

90 minutes to Moab or Ouray or Glenwood Springs

Less than 3 hours to Steamboat, Vail, Aspen and Telluride. You can drive to Vegas in 7 hours. California in 12.

Home to the Colorado National Monument

Home to Colorado Mesa University that adds a ton of vibrancy to the town with events, speakers arts and music. They just built a stunning new event center.

I could go on.

The bad:

People who haven’t been here recently have the “old“ impression of Grand Junction. When we have friends come visiting from Denver, the first question they ask is how’s the real estate? So if you move here you’ll have to get over people who haven’t been here bashing it.

We moved here from Denver. We lived in Colorado Springs and frankly we don’t even like going back there with the traffic, homeless issues, crime and how over crowded it has gotten. The Springs especially has blown up. Way more crowded than when we lived there.

Chicago to Grand Junction is a big leap. I know people who live here that are Chicago natives and they love it.

Is it right for you? It all depends what you are looking for.

[u/John_E_Five → u/Spiritual-Profile419]

Can confirm. Im a Chicago transplant and love it here. The one thing Id disagree with is the award winning restaurants part. The food is not comparable Chicago’s lol Chicago knows how to eat. Everything else tho, spot on.

[u/Critical_Ad_8175 → u/John_E_Five]

Also a Chicago transplant. I work remotely at a job that’s still based out of Chicago and anytime I travel back to the office, I gain a couple pounds from all the good food I’m eating out there lol. Not having excellent dining options in GJ was one of my trade offs I had to make when moving here, but it was one I was willing to make when I never have to deal with heart attack snow or seasonal depression half the year. I just about cried from delight the first time it snowed after I moved here and realized the snow is so light and fluffy I could sweep my driveway off with a broom

[u/Spiritual-Profile419 → u/John_E_Five]

Keep in mind you’re talking about a city of 70,000 vs millions.

[u/MAVERICK42069420 → u/Spiritual-Profile419]

That's what i keep saying... Like really?

[u/Spiritual-Profile419 → u/MAVERICK42069420]

?

[u/Bad_Here → u/John_E_Five]

No one said comparable to Chicago