Oh hay! I live here! It’s really friendly, and there is a great sense of everybody wanting to be where they are. People are from all over which is cool and it seems like everybody really cares about making the town a better place which is also cool. It is pretty college-y but once you know it well enough you can definitely stay away from the younger fratty areas and bars for sure. It’s pretty concentrated onto “the hill”. It is extremely white so don’t expect much diversity.
It is absolutely beautiful and I admire the mountains every single day. It’s super easy to bike everywhere, and so many beautiful places are within 5 minutes/an hour/four hours, depending on what you’re looking for. It’s a really awesome location in the USA in general I think, if you enjoy travel and appreciate nature.
And yeah like you said rent is sky high which really sucks. I think it’s worth it though. Also there are literally no fat people, which I only say because it’s an interesting fact. Everybody is active which is quite inspiring. There are a ton of great hikes literally 2 minutes from downtown, also super convenient and great. Lots of good restaurants and bars.
It’s extremely dry. Which is a major negative for me. I was used to Pennsylvania humidity and now it’s just constant dry skin and verging-on-sore throat. The summers really hot but pleasant. We don’t get as much snow here as most people assume. We get dumped on every once in a while. Probably about 4 times so far this year. But it isn’t very cold, although it’s such a dry cold that it can be biting!
Can’t think of anything else. I’m sure there is more. I really like it here.