Boulder

Boulder is one of my favorite towns. It is alive and busy with people from college kids, young professionals, families, tourists, and retirees. there are great trails, beautiful views, and it is within driving distance from some of the best ski areas in CO, not to mention the Denver metropolitan area. Awesome town.

I went with my family when I was younger and the minute I stepped onto the market place I was in love.
It’s so amazing and reminds me of the old places where everyone’s happy with eachother.

idk.
But I LOVED it.
and I’m def going to college at Colorado University at the Boulder Campus, because of it.

Best time of my life.

boulder is hip, in a green, yoga loving, tea sipping, cozy kind of way. it’s got two great dynamics, the cu boulder + yuppie liberals, and they somehow mesh well between the hill, pearl street and the little neighborhoods in the foothills. there is sooo much to do here in the summer, the farmers market is phenomenal, tubing, hiking, exploring off the beaten pearl street, so many small shops (though they tend not to stay in business very long unless they are a boulder fixture) great restaurants, great apartments, the BEST old neighborhoods and gorgeous homes, esp in the wintertime. ahh!! the weather, the cyclists, the skater chumps toward campus and the lauren-conrad-like sorority girls who love them…boulder is somehow diverse, despite it being almost completely white washed. people are friendly, everyone, esp the homeless who adorn te streets. they are as much a fixture as is Hotel Boulderado. make sure you go to niwot for a short day. camping, take a bikeride in an afternoon thunderstorm, eat at hapa, go to the lazy dog and watch a CU game, or take one in at folsom stadium where the stands area awash of black and yellow clad rowdy drunken fans. the city teems with energy on game day. make friends with the regulars around barnes and noble and whole foods, flirt with a grad student at the bookend, go to the apple store, HIKE, A LOT, turn the campus into your home, use the bus system, crash a house party on the hill (they are in abundance on a nightly basis), pick up trash on the side of the road, walk you dog around boulder creek path, go sledding at scott carpenter (or a better hill if you know of one), volunteer at one the many philanthropic orgs.////LIVE on any street between 4th and 9th and as close to cascade as your wallet will permit. shop at chelsea’s if you want a dose of marc jacobs newest line to go with your northface jacket. eat fabulous seafood at Dolan’s on Arapahoe, or get your fingers sticky with daddy bruce’s bar b que up the street. have a long island at half fast (is it so obvious i’ve been to school here?).
winter here is absolutely gorgeous when the clouds settle in low and gray over the flatirons and the snow chills the sidewalks. there isn’t as much to do around here in the winter because snowboarding, IS, despite popular belief, still a little far away tfrom daily access unless you hit up eldora. the starbucks on the corner of broadway and university, however, has huge windows with veiws of the snowcapped, wistful mountains, that are perfect for gazing through on a cold day when you have a book to read or homework you want to do. get chummy with local “pro” skiers/snowboarders by going to their film premiers. go to shows at the fox and boulder theatre. go to shows at the the coffeehouses; boulder is home to a lot of local talent, and home to a LOT of coffeehouses at which to see them. you must MUST go to boulder creek fest in the summer, the local artisans are outstanding and the vendors there are as varied and strange as they come with everyone from the atheists to the spiritualists to the dog healers passing out literature. the safeway in north boulder is amazing. go there. sample their peanut bar. get honey crab wontons from the farmers market. smoke pot. go to church here if you’re looking for something unconventional…how ironic. take the drive over 36 from denver to boulder, and you’ll know what i mean when i tell you that you’ll know you’ve arrived when you come up over that divide and the flatirons and grassy hills come up out of nowhere.

boulder is the way to go. i’m going to have a tough time leaving this place.

The downtown was really nice and modern. I visited in early Septemeber, so there were college students roaming the streets in packs.

I went on the campus of U of Colorado and wow, what a place to go to school. Made me wish I’d gone instead of Syracuse. Folsom Stadium is the bomb.

AGH.
This is my least favorite place in Colorado.
I probably need to go back and give it another chance,
But I was dragged against my will to Celestial Seasonings, and…
Well. For starters, American tea is gross. :P :] We just need to accept that and stop pretending.
Hair nets are also extremely frightening.
All in all, it was just a bad experience.

I recommend hiking in the flatirons. You could hike forever and see some of the most beautiful scenery. I also loved the shopping at Pearl St. Denver is not too far away and is also a fun place to go-the nightlife! I also did the natural hotsprings in Cottonwood-relaxing!

...I saw Alexi Murdoch play at a tiny little bar.

Many things have drawn me to this place. For one, my mother tells me it’s a beautiful place. She says the mountains there are snowcapped even in the summer, and I can’t even imagine how amazing that must be to see with your own eyes. Also, I’ve heard great things about the city itself. I live in a small town, not exactly what I’d call a conducive atmosphere, and from the looks of it Boulder is exactly where I need to be. To top things off I’m REALLY in love with the University of Colorado (or at least it sounds terrific) and I’ll get to see it ALL when I go there this summer!

Boulder is a really cool place to live and visit. It has so much culture. It is beautiful city with a great downtown. Check out the flat irons and take a road trip to Rocky Mountain National Park while you are there. Somebody once told me that once you visit Boulder and than leave, you’ll always want to go back because it becomes a part of you. They couldn’t be more true.