My experience as a resident only goes back 40 years so take it for what it's worth. I grew up in Colo Spgs, lived in Durango, Littleton, Denver, and finally am back in Colo Spgs. As a very active outdoor person, CO was a phenomenal place to grow up, go to college, work, raise a family, and live. However, the state is changing; quickly. It is excessively overcrowded on the I-25 and I-70 corridors and it's virtually impossible to get away from people, even in the mountains and wilderness areas. The Colorado Parks and Wildlife, local politics, state politics, federal agencies are all overwhelmed and looking for any means to get funding which pinches residents and makes living and enjoying what CO was more complicated. CO has always been a place people came to so it's no surprise that it's feel would change over time. Politically, it is significantly shifted to the left in the last 15 years; irreversible in my opinion. The comments that CO is the next CA are spot on. Huge urban areas carry the majority of the voting population and like all huge urban areas, often conflict with rural values and sense of freedom.
It literally kills me to say/think this but when I am able to retire, I will be looking/considering a state that is less crowded. I wish John Denver would have wrote songs about some other state and left CO alone! The beautiful and free CO of my youth simply doesn't exist anymore.
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