Steeb

Thanks all for the help and encouragement The wife and I are on good old streetview looking at places and planning our adventure!

The beer vouchers are a good idea, but less fun when I don't get a beer too Had one from Ska brewery recently in Colorado recently, pretty good!

Psyman

By the way, I think you'll find most towns in the western US have a microbrewery (or 10) these days, and if not, the pubs will have dozens of regional microbrews on tap. I know Boise seems to have a couple more breweries opening every year.

Psyman

Of course, the other thing you should consider if mountains/snowboarding is the main thing for deciding where to live is the quality of snow and opportunity for back country skiing/boarding. Most people I know who are obsessive skiers/boarders got bored with groomed slopes years ago and now "earn their turns" by using skins on their skis or split board and head uphill to the untouched powder under their own steam rather than relying on a lift. I'm still only good enough for the groomed slopes, but I know the snow around the inland west (mountains east of the Cascades) is some of the best powder you'll find. No heavy wet snow here.

Tarkak9

x2 what Cardien had to say.... it is however, still the people's republic and its not 3 square miles, its now 20 odd square miles still surrounded by reality. I myself got out about 10 years ago but still in the immediate area.

To get up to the slopes - Breck, Keystone from Denver is about 1.5 hours. Vail is about 2 hours. Steamboat is about 3.5 hours. Aspen is about 4 depending on which route. From Boulder, add about half hour. Alot of people run up to A'basin or Loveland Pass to get the quick fix. Obviously the slopes are less crowded during the week; but its quite nice to be able to wake up one morning and decide to just go skiing for the day.

Living in the mountains is more expensive than living on the flat lands and the metro area. Denver has nice areas and places to keep driving...

Steeb

Yeah, the craft brew revolution's kinda made it's way over here too, love it

We'll be fine with the pistes for a couple of years at least more park rats, though we've got our first powder trip this January so we could get the bug lol.

Cheers for the info Psyman, we're defo keeping an open mind for where we end up. Will take a look!

Do you guys in Colorado get out often during the season? Guessing if you've got a pass you'd try to make it most weekends!

Bob

Lot of mountains in a lot of the US...if you fancy moving else where.

The IT/tech market is pretty hot in Boston and the mountains are a plenty within an hours drive away, NH/VT/ME.

Just an option...also places like Manchester, NH, seem to be picking up a little and cost of living is a lot lower than Boston.

Beaverstate

C'mon Bob. Those aren't really mountains in the Northeast, more like largish hills.

Tarkak9

... call them what they are - moguls.

jackattack

No help on the IT/Mountains combo but just a thought on the old visa situation.

When I looked into getting my green card from the UK a few years back (I am UKC and married to a USC so similar to you), I seem to remember that it was going to take quite a while (think 6-9 months) for the application to process from the UK. So if you're serious about moving to the US with your wife, the visa should be easy but it takes time, so plan ahead. I am sure that someone with more knowledge than I will be along shortly and fill in the blanks but good luck in your search. I think that I'd love to live in the mountains but hubby wants the ocean so we're stuck, for now.

Steeb

Yeah, it took a good while for the UK visa stuff to get sorted so we kinda know what we're in for! Actually we had to get our local MP involved after they took 6 months to tell us that our payment had failed in week one (which our bank still denies they even tried to take out).

Out of interest, how hard have people found it to fit in once they've moved? I suppose we have the advantage that we can talk snow and beer!

Bob

The White/Black in NH aren't to shabby...and Cadillac/Sugarloaf in ME is pretty decent along with those in the area.

But I know what you mean about the ones in Mass, they're a little weedy, unless you head to western MA.

Still, if jobs were a consideration

snowbunny

What I'm seeing is a lot of reluctance to hire IT workers. Most new development jobs are in India, and I see MORE work in London than anywhere in the US. I'm beginning to think that working in London is more realistic than working in either the US or the Netherlands.

Psyman

With regard to fitting in, you just never know. I lived in a tiny town of 2,000 people in Eastern Oregon for 3+ years back in the 90's and made some of the best friends I have ever made within weeks of arriving there. Been in a town of 100 times that for 10 years and it can still be a struggle to fit in. Maybe for me it's a difference between between being late 20's/ early 30's then, and late 40's now.

I remember hearing an author on the radio a few years ago who compared American and British people to dogs, in regard of when they first meet. Americans are like the dogs that bound up to each other and lick each other and go running around and have great fun immediately. Brits are like the dogs that circle each other for ages sniffing each others bums before finally deciding if they want to play together. Not a bad analogy in my 15 years experience here. I'm sure being young and adventurous and wanting to experience the great outdoors you'll find plenty of like minded people, but it can just be dumb luck based on who you meet and work with whether or not you make friends quickly - which is the probably the best way to fit in and settle here.

Bluegrass Lass

Do you think that depends on your IT specialty? My OH is in the Open Source, Linux, MySQL, DBA areas of IT (I think he used the term LAMP too), and is currently looking for work out in Seattle. We are hoping he might find something that will come with relo assistance since we are in KY. He's seen quite a few jobs listed out there, but one has to wonder if they are real jobs, or listings for recruiters to get people's resumes. And I also fear his lack of a BS will be held against him, even though he has more than 10years experience in the IT field, and quite a few certs.

snowbunny

I don't think we'll see much hiring across IT. I do see some project-based contracts, but no real *careers* because there's indecision over what to do next. LAMP is Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP. It's certainly not a bad place to be, but there's tremendous competition. About 80% of the jobs I see are in India. Seattle is definitely one of the brighter spots in the US right now, but I'm actually also seeing more jobs in London than in the US. What's happening is that companies are seeking superstar talent to snap up and hold onto until they have actual projects. Other than that people are being hired based upon WHO they know, so networking activity is zooming. The mountains I'm thinking of moving to are in West Texas, and I might do something completely different to what I'm doing now. Just my tuppence worth.