Imagine our resentment here on the Front Range in the late '80's when our property values dropped for five years straight and the couple of square miles in Aspen, just a couple of hundred miles away, were skyrocketing. The only nice thing that I can say about Aspen is that is a real town, unlike Vail, which is Disneyland in the Rockies. You hit the nail on the head for Boulder. But as mentioned above, Fort Collins' priorities are children, school, house, and community. Boulder's priorities are tofu, Birkenstocks, monks banging on drums, and earth mothers.
Boulder considers itself to be the academic and intellectual center of the universe.
Fort Collins considers Boulder to be a place where the clock stopped in mid-1969. The women out here are better looking than on the coasts. This is a blatant statement, but when I go to the Boston area, not only do I hate the women's clothes and hairstyles, I can't even figure out how they work. The women here are solid - big butts, strong arms, erect posture, straight hair, and good values. Well, maybe not all of them . . .