Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Things I've learned in Colorado part III (?)

I suspect it's time for another installment of things I've learned since moving here nearly six months ago. Wait, six months?! I guess that's true. It seems like just yesterday and years at the same time that we crossed the border into our new state! Anyway, I digress.

It is windy here. Like, really really windy. In some ways I shouldn't be surprised by this, given that Aaron's employer chose the space between Boulder and Golden to build a testing facility for wind turbines, but I've never claimed to be the quickest study. If you think I'm kidding, not only are there house shaking gusts of wind that will wake you out of a deep sleep, but the entryway to my work has a big red light and neon lights installed so that if it's deemed too windy you need to use the other entrance. Why? Because if not, the winds are so strong, they'll knock you on your keester!

We bought a house about a block from Coyote Gulch Park. Isn't that a nice name? The part I didn't think about is that it's named this because there are real live coyotes all over the place! While I've only seen them around the area randomly while in the car (on the way to Costco, on the way home from Target...) Aaron has had a few run ins that were enough for both of us to consult Google on what one does when they encounter a coyote. Apparently, it's a neighborhood joke that if you have an outdoor cat, you won't have a cat very long.


Growing up on the East Coast, I have always pronounced this state "Col-a-rod-oh". Since moving here, I have discovered that locals say it the way I only thought people who talked strangely said it- "Col-o-raad-oh". I'm not sure I can switch, and these same people also say "Nev-aaa-da". *shudder*


Some folks in the area have referred to Denver as the Iceland of America. Moving here, I knew the crazy statistic about sunny days (300+ a year), but I still assumed we were moving to SNOW country! Well. Even though this a pretty bad year in general for snow, I can say that the little nook of Colorado we live in has pretty awesome weather. See, the mountains just west of us get lots of snow pretty regularly and while we do see snow, it's minimal and gone fast! I've put on snow boots twice this winter and really? Both times I could have worn sneakers. I'm not saying we won't get hit with a good size storm before the end of the season, but so far the weather has been consistently 40-50 degree sunny days since October.

My list continues on strange things I've learned here, but I'll save the rest for a future installment!




2 comments:

  1. Love your writing Pia! I'm happy to hear about your new life out there. It's amazing when you leave the East Coast or New England, how much you feel like an outsider anywhere else...until suddenly you don't, and then when you go back "home", the tables are turned and you are the outsider in the place you grew up. It happened to me big time in Los Angeles, and then again here. And the tables turned about 3 years ago, when I flew to Boston and felt like an alien.
    miss you!

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  2. Hey Pia, i just saw this blog now, and am glad you and the family are doing great in Colorado. I didn't know you were out there, but i am looking forward to reading your adventures.

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