After living here in rural southern Colorado for the past few years, I am often struck by my ambivalence towards attracting more people to this area. One thing is for sure, they are coming!
Each summer I see more people coming here to vacation and look for land or homes. The general trend is lots of Texans seeking a cooler place to summer, but I am now seeing more cars and RVs from other states, even as far away as New York.
And who can blame them? With sunrises like these, and towering peaks just a few miles off of Interstate 25, with rolling hills full of wildflowers, and cute little towns like La Veta, this place is some kind of paradise for nature lovers.
It’s not just me either. I checked with a local realtor this morning. She said the past few years have been “fabulous.” Our local water district reports that after five years with almost no requests for new water taps or hookups, they have received twelve requests in the past two months.
The 2008 recession hit this area very hard. Huerfano County still has one of the highest unemployment rates in our state, so it’s good to see things picking up and new businesses opening in Walsenburg and La Veta. My only fear is that too many people will move here and ruin our rural, relaxed atmosphere. Our saving grace seems to be how many choose to go elsewhere for winter.
I met a very interesting woman here a few months ago. She has lived in Aspen for the past forty years, and she cautioned us about telling too many people about this place. She hates to see what happened to Aspen, with a median home price of $1.5 million. I understand that kind of caution, because I first moved to Boulder in 1966. I saw so much change there over the decades, and most of it not good.
Adventures of the NEW??? Old Farts 
I lived in Boulder from 1976 to 2008 and the difference was incredible. I couldn’t afford to retire there, even if I wanted to, so I moved to the tippy-top corner of the west coast. It’s wonderful here, but I feel the same way. Fortunately anybody who lives here as to deal with the long wet dreary winters. :It’s worth it for the greenery and proximity to the ocean and mountains. 🙂
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Yes DJan! I lived in Boulder off and on forever, and I lived up in Seattle for one very long winter too. It was just too wet for my taste. I guess I’m just a rural, semi-arid girl from start to finish…
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I feel the same way about our new home, Cape May, NJ. During the season it can be tricky getting around with all the summer crowd and ‘shoobies’ but, come Sept. it becomes ‘ours’ again. I was encouraging other friends to consider retiring her because we love it so much but, I’ve backed off of that for now. I love it when it’s a quiet little hamlet we call ours.
b
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We moved to this sweet little town in 1988. Since that time, it has nine-tupled (Wasn’t sure of the term for 9 times) I look at what was the original town and it is dwarfed by all of the outer growth.
I still love my town. And most of my kids have now settled here as well with their families.
But I miss the charm of those early days!
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How beautiful. I am not familiar at all with your part of the country, but I have always wanted to be.
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I have always lived close to a major city but often dream of living somewhere rural.
We are hush hush about our favorite little beach town. It seems to get busier every summer do we stopped talking about it.
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Keeping anywhere a secret these days seems impossible, especially when it seems everyone is looking for a way to escape the crowds!
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