Denver

Tam is trying to convince all her friends to move to Denver. She does this by inviting them up for visits and being a completely amazing hostess. I remember the following good reasons she and Mosch showed me for moving to Denver the first time I was there:

• They have a yummy fifties diner.
• There's a huge public library with awesome sales section.
• There's a nice art museum (actually, I'm not generally a fan of art museums).
• There's a beautiful downtown area to walk around in.
• Tam and Mosch had a totally cool funky old apartment.
• There's all kinds of interesting architecture, including my favorite Austin stuff, Chicago stuff, and hints of my favorite Colorado stuff.
• There's snowy mountains within easy driving distance.
• They have beautiful fall colors.

This time Tam admitted that Denver doesn't have the greatest restaurants (at least they're not good at Mexican food) and that at her totally cool funky old apartment, she had to pay $130/month for parking. (And I whine about the annual $324 fee for a guaranteed spot in a garage at UT--or $108 for rights to roam the other lots, hoping for a spot.)

So she and Mosch have moved to an apartment complex twenty minutes from downtown with no visible character. But they do each have their own big bedroom, decorated in my favorite style (bookshelves, full of books). And there's a rooftop kitty play land. And a great view. And, I assume, free parking. So, she's further from work, but they're closer to the mountains. Here are some more reasons I learned about to move to Denver:

• The foothills look like the basin at Big Bend.
• The foothills have prairie dogs and bunnies in them.
• They also have mountains.
• They also have red rocks.
• Boulder is friendly for bicyclists, just like the best towns I've seen in Europe.
• Denver has no traffic.
• The commute to downtown is 22 minutes, at any time of any day.

If anything runs me out of Austin, it will be the traffic. (Although, the plan to add extra toll roads and light rail may actually help. And maybe what they're about to build at the old airport will be so cool that I won't need to travel much anyway. We'll see.)

I won't talk about what great hosts Tam and Mosch are, because it's unbelievable. Let's just say that if they invite you for a visit, and you're not the kind of person who can't stand to be away from home, then go. They really do want you there. Try not to give them all colds like I did, though.