The mountains always let you know where you are. And how small. Boulder has more of these than any university town in the history of human civilization. As a result of having lots of people with the time and energy to believe in lots of things , Boulder is home to many causes. We have institutes devoted to every diet, massage, yogic practice, and solution to world problems that the human mind can conceive.
Boulder has the institute.
Denver is the best city west of New York . It's just I don't often feel the need to go there. As Jimmy Breslin once wrote about Chicago and New York, I think Denver gets up every morning thinking bad thoughts about Boulder, whereas Boulder could go for weeks without thinking about Denver at all. Which gets me to the point. You don't move to Boulder for the culture or for the people, as wonderful and diverting as they can be.