Rocky Mountain Tribute

Saturday I'm headed to my favorite tattoo shop to get a price quote for my Rocky Mountain tribute tattoo. I'm super excited. This reminded me all about the reasons I miss the West and the fact that I've had several people ask me about our experiences out west since our move back two years ago. This post is all about the decision we made to move back East.

We lived in Erie, CO for a short time and then Fort Collins, CO for the rest of our stay. We were in Colorado a total of 9 months.

Let's first begin with what I loved:

1) Open spaces. No stupid trees where you get lost and have to worry about loosing dogs. Rarely seeing people. Riding for miles and miles. 

2) There was tons of character in the mountains. You could meet some really neat people and find some really neat shops.

3) Sage is amazing.

4) Weather. Sun!! 360 days a year. Pffft. Uncalled for in MI. Mild winters in the foothills.

5) Rocky Mountains. Amazing and breathtaking every single time.

6) Awesome career opportunities in science and controlled grazing/rangeland management.

7) The drives were amazing. Things never looked the same. 

8) Camping was amazing. It actually felt real and lovely and no other souls around.

9) Cattle ranches. Real ranches and cowboys. 

10) The rodeos. <3

11) Lots of good memories of vacations out there. I've always felt that is where I belong. 

12) Fort Collins was a really cool town. Super close to the mountains.

13) Eagles Nest. Favorite Open Space ever.

Anddddd what brought us back:

1) Water rights. They are weird and confusing. They would send a lot of water further west to Nevada and you had to pay for it. Expensive. Also, much of the water depended on how much snow the mountains got. Weird.

2) Lack of water. There were rivers... that was about it.

3) High living expenses. Outrageous. We lived in a popup for a short time because a studio apartment was close to $1000/month. The mountains (where we really wanted to be) are 10x worse.

4) Rattlesnakes are scary.

5) Wildfires. They are real and scary and something Michigan never worries about.

6) Family was an enormous part. People getting older that we wanted to be around to see.

7) Josh really missed hunting and fishing. 

8) The people. Oh so many people. Though after coming back, we realized the population here in MI is much larger than we remembered.

I think that's about it. I wish that we would have tried a few different areas of the West before we moved back (potentially) for good. I feel like further north would have suited us better. I forever thank the move for the things it taught us and the experiences and memories made there. Things happen for a reason, though, and as much as I miss it  for now we are settling here. I will leave it at that as my next post plays off that a bit.

That'll do for now.