Moving to Denver: Here Are Some Things You Need to Know Before You Make the Move

"Kenda Ruck (00:01)
Hi everybody. Welcome to Living Colorado's Getting Real Estate podcast. I'm your host, Kenda, and this is our other host, John. Today, John, we are just kind of hanging out and chatting about what has been going on in Colorado. We thought that maybe the listeners would like to just hear what day-to-day life is like here. And I don't think your week is a good example of what it's normally like. You've had a crazy week, but

John Wilkinson (00:14)
Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (00:30)
You know, it there's lots of opportunities of things to do here.

John Wilkinson (00:34)
That's right, exactly. And I think, you know, post

over a year for each of us having been in colorado. You know, it's it is different, right? When you move somewhere and you have to discover not well, not only discover things to do, but you have to find you know, a dentist, your doctors, ophthalmologists, you know, all the things that you kind of take for granted when you're in your home base, right? I know we're working with a client right now who is moving from Missouri and one of the things she mentioned

was like, my gosh, she saw a dental a dentist sign, you know, in the condo building that that she's under contract for and she's like I have to find a new dentist. I've had the same dentist for 30 years or something like that. You know, it's it's all the things that you have to do. So yeah, there's post a year I think there's a lot that we can talk about and just share with folks that may be thinking about moving here.

Kenda Ruck (01:31)
Yeah, that kind of gave me like it gave me chills a little bit when she said that because I was like, my gosh, I remember that feeling when it hits you, my gosh, I have to I'm starting over. And you could tell it just hit her. And I remember that feeling. I've moved several times, but it was a real moment for her.

John Wilkinson (01:36)
Yeah.

Yes.

You know, yeah, it was. And I it just reminded me that, you know, we were in Austin for twenty three years, right? So we there were a lot of things I took for granted and and part of moving to a new place, so you know, for anybody who's, you know, relocating, you know, to Colorado or anywhere really, it's it's things that you don't think about that kind of hit you when you're you're you're planning, right? You're moving, you're packing, moving, all those things, trying to try to find a place to live. And then you get there and when we got here, I remember

Getting a postcard for a dental practice that was close to our house. I was like, well, let's just check it out. And I didn't think about needing a dentist, you know, at that time. but that hit you, right? Like you're planning for everything else, the move, you know, getting kids, you know, situated in school, and then you need, you know, primary care physician, and you need, you know, all of these things that you just and where's Home Depot, and you know, all of the all of the all the

things that you kind of take for granted. And so like part of the relocation for me was was tough because we were in Austin for so long.

Kenda Ruck (03:01)
Yeah. you just said where's Home Depot? I was thinking like where's home goods? So we were in the same family, but not quite the same. But yeah. the first thing I did when I got here, because I have moved around a lot, one of the very first things I did was find a primary care physician and schedule myself for a well visit. There was nothing wrong. but coming from Mexico

John Wilkinson (03:05)
yeah.

Right, right. Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (03:26)
you get sick, you like send a WhatsApp to your doctor and your doctor messages you and says, Come on over and we'll check you out. It's not like that here. So one of the first things I did was just schedule a well visit at a local UC Health satellite office, and went in and just got established. And it's awkward because you I don't know, it's just awkward. You don't know this person and

You know that you're gonna be coming to them when you're sick and you need something, but right now you're not sick and I don't know. It was weird. But I think, I don't know if you've had a chance yet, because you've had a busy week, but I did a video yesterday about the first ten things you should do when you move to Colorado or anywhere. And one of the things in the top ten were find a primary care physician. And you also have to think about finding a vet. And you know, there's

John Wilkinson (04:15)
Yeah.

Yes, yep.

Kenda Ruck (04:20)
It's a lot.

John Wilkinson (04:21)
Yeah, it is and you rely or at least I do, I think, and many people probably rely on referrals, right? Hey, so and so, I trust you, I know you and I need a vet or I need something, a a landscaper or whatever.

And when you move somewhere, you may or may not know anyone. And so who are you gonna ask? Right? So you kind of rely on the Google or on the on the whatever AI model that that you you know kind of rely on to ask those, you know, those questions that are can be pretty personal. Like we had our doctor for a long time,

the doctor, know, knew us, you know, so well that that the moving any of that stuff can be so overwhelming. But you know, there's things that I miss about Austin. And I think when people relocate from wherever, there's there's definitely gonna be things they miss. what are what are some of the things you miss about Cabo that that are not here in in Denver?

Kenda Ruck (05:15)
Gosh, you're kind of putting me on the spot a little bit. I was ready to move from from Cabo. I loved Cabo, but I was there for a season and I was ready to move. I do miss the ocean, being able to look at the ocean. But I have to say, the mountains really just give me that same grounding healing feeling that the ocean did. I miss my friends there. It takes time to get established in a new area.

John Wilkinson (05:36)
Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (05:42)
I had a I had a lot of really good friends there. and I miss just knowing where everything was. You know, I knew Cabo is a small town, but I knew if I needed something, I knew where to go get it. But you you were in Austin a lot longer. What about what about Austin?

John Wilkinson (05:58)
funny, I miss HE B. H. E. B. is this grocery store, grace grocery chain really in Texas. It's huge. And I'll tell you, people would told me that had already moved to Colorado or other places and said, You're gonna miss H E B and I thought they were crazy. Like, it's a grocery store, but like I miss H E B They have like these best flour tortillas they make from scratch every day. they have, you know, their own brand of food.

that's the Mexican food and others that's just so good, like pr like pre seasoned fajita meat that you cannot find here in Colorado. It's crazy. You know, I've gone to there's a place called Marczyk's which is

longstanding business here in Denver and it's kind of a grocery slash deli specialty gourmet food place and they have some fajita meat and and both chicken and and steak that's pre-seasoned but it's just not the same. You know it's it's it's it's I don't know it's just weird. It's like weird that you can't find that here and then you you do and it's just not not not that Marczyk's isn't good because it is, but it's just not the same. So H E B is definitely something that I miss.

Kenda Ruck (07:04)
Yeah.

Not the same.

John Wilkinson (07:13)
all the Texans out there, I know you know what I'm talking about. It's like one of those if you know, you know. so that's definitely something. And of course, you know, family and friends, that was really difficult for me.

moving, right? It was my sister my younger sister had had just had her first child and they both of my sisters lived like literally down the street from from where we lived, like with it less than a mile away. We could just walk to each other's houses. and so that was really difficult. And then, you know, friends that you build you know you know over you know twenty something years. Luckily we still keep in touch with everybody and and actually we have some of our best friends coming to visit tomorrow for the fourth of July

weekend which which will be a lot of fun. but yeah those are I think the the biggest things that I miss about Austin.

Kenda Ruck (08:04)
Do you feel like you keep in touch with them enough now? the reason I ask is because when I left Atlanta to go to Cabo, I left my kids in Atlanta. And the question I got asked all the time was, my God, how could you leave your kids? They're all adults. They're not like little children that I just left, but they're but that's right, exactly, exactly. But they all had their own lives and they were all doing their own things and you know

John Wilkinson (08:22)
Yeah. Right. CPS isn't coming to your house. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (08:33)
I said it feels like I'm in touch with them more now than I was then because when I lived close to them

They were there and you know, they were busy and they were doing their thing. And then when I lived in Cabo, we were more intentional about weekly calls and sending pictures and videos of things that we were doing in each other's respective lives. And I felt like I kind of got in a different way closer to them because it was more of an intentional connection. Do you feel like you're keeping up with your old friends and family enough?

John Wilkinson (09:09)
That's a great question. my you know my mom, as I've mentioned before, she's from Mexico and and we're very close. And the if if two days go by that you know we haven't FaceTime, we wait and when I do, she'll say, Ay mira, me tienes tan abandonada, you you I'm so abandoned here. I'm like, please, mom. No, exactly, exactly very dramatic, you know, it's just crazy. but you know, it I think you're right. It is

Kenda Ruck (09:26)
Yeah. Nobody knows, nobody loves me. No one comes to see me.

Yeah. That's what moms do. That's just a mom thing.

John Wilkinson (09:37)
It is a mom thing for sure. You know, I think it's

Two ways, right? One is yes, we definitely stay in touch with my family more. And when we visit, we have much more quality time with them than when we live there. Even down the street, I feel like it's better time spent because we're not there every day. And and it's kind of like you know, the saying where you know just you take it for granted and and when it's not there, you know, it's it's it's you have to take make an effort and so it makes it a little bit stronger. and I think that's definitely the case. Now on the flip side

that is because it is stronger and and we have such a good time, then you kind of miss them more. you know, but it's just kind of like the reality and you kind of have to you have to develop, you know, a a system of like communication and and staying in touch and being intentional about it. Because there's other the other side is we have you know some friends that you know may think we're too busy or we have things going on that it the reaching out you know isn't as often.

as we'd like. And it goes both ways, right? We we also could do more, but it's like you you've moved, you have you have to find the doctors and the dentists and the grocery stores and all these things. And also like try to keep up with friends, you know, make friends here, make acquaintance, and then also keep up with the ones in the back in the in that are still in Austin.

Kenda Ruck (10:56)
Right.

Yeah, right. Because you want to kind of try to recreate that friend system here where you live. And so you're you are trying to cultivate new relationships while maintaining old relationships and juggling them and and it can be it can be a lot. It can be a lot.

John Wilkinson (11:20)
You can.

Yeah. But you know, I think

Kenda Ruck (11:23)
But the good thing is we live in

a place where everybody wants to come visit us because they love it here. So they all like I have so many people who are like, When when can I come to Denver? you know. So that's the good thing.

John Wilkinson (11:32)
Yeah. Same. You know,

and I'm also pitching them to move here. You know, like one, I'm a realtor and I can find you a great place to live, you know. And two is yeah, I know somebody and also like, you know, w it's beautiful here. You know, yesterday we my s my sister and brother-in-law are here visiting and

Kenda Ruck (11:37)
That's right, always. Yeah. Hey, I know I know someone. Yeah.

John Wilkinson (11:53)
One of the things I love about Denver is just the access, you know, to the mountains. Literally within an hour, actually less than that, we went we left the house at 9 30 and we got to or sorry, nine forty-five and we got to Idaho Springs, and there have they have a new gondola system there called Mighty Argo, which is an old gold mine in Idaho Springs, and it takes you from the bottom

the gold mine up the mountain out of springs you know to the top and they have this great like it's called the outpost it's a restaurant where you can and they have a stage that they're building for live music and it's spectacular views and I know we're gonna be diving into Idaho Springs and Mighty Argo in a future podcast with with with the creator of it and she's gonna give us all the background story about it which will be great but like within 45 minutes you know we're in the mountains it's it was a drop of 10 degrees

And it was beautiful. My brother-in-law is like, my gosh. One, he hates heights. The gondola ride was scary for him. But you know, it was so beautiful. And then we went, we left there. We had actually lunch at BeauxJo's down in Idaho Springs, which is the original BeauxJo's. You gotta do BeauxJo's. It's so cool. And they have like this miners' fair kind of going on down there. So it was just so fun. And they and my brother-in-law and my sister were like, God, this is

Kenda Ruck (13:06)
I've heard you have to you have to do BeauxJo's yeah, I've heard that.

John Wilkinson (13:17)
So nice that you can drive less than an hour and you're like in a completely different environment. And then we went up Guanella Pass.

which is the switchback, you know, from Georgetown, Colorado and switchbacks up to the top and we were at ten thousand feet. We saw like a bighorn sheep on the side of the road, a buck, you know, it was just like, you know, all that stuff. It's just you we t we kind of take it for granted here, but still like you said, like the mountains are that grounding place for you. And then we we got to Clear Lake and and fished and Hayden caught five fish, Dan caught four fish and you know, it's so spectacular the the the

Kenda Ruck (13:49)
Wow.

John Wilkinson (13:53)
the views and just the the cool breeze, you know, and like this alpine lake and so that's the thing I one of the things I love about Denver, right? It's it's all the things you're sad about moving, but you get here, if you're relocating, you have a job, it's discovering all these places.

Kenda Ruck (14:09)
There are so many places to discover. even if you don't want to go up into the mountains, you have, you know, you can go to Golden. Golden is this quaint little town that is where Coors brewery is headquartered. And we took the kids once and we did a tour of the brewery, you know, in Golden. And it just feels like a completely different world.

John Wilkinson (14:30)
Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (14:35)
I think I think Boulder has a similar vibe. It feels totally different than Littleton for sure.

John Wilkinson (14:43)
Yeah.

And didn't you you and Greg went to a Rockies game recently?

Kenda Ruck (14:47)
We did. We went to the Rockies game on Father's Day. It was so fun. They were passing out these like Hawaiian shirts that were Rockies colors. And we had great seats. We were like four rows up. It was s really cool to be able to sit down right by the dugout. And you know, I love sports. I I love I

John Wilkinson (14:56)
fine.

Kenda Ruck (15:08)
I that's another thing that I've done is I've taken on the identity of all the sports teams here. I'm like, okay, I'm in Denver. I'm gonna be a Broncos fan. I'm gonna be an Avs fan. I I'm I'm having a hard time getting on the Rockies, you know, bandwagon because they are situated in dead last in the league. but I kind of felt like because my expectations were so low that everything they did.

good was like, yay, Rockies, this is so great. So I got me a purple Rocky shirt and I just was all in for the Rockies that day. And and it just I was sitting next to this lovely young family and the the son was telling me all the stats of of the Rockies players and it just makes you feel like you're part of a community. And

The good thing about having a losing team is that the tickets aren't that expensive. They're kinda cheap. So you're going to a Rockies game next week, aren't you? Or this week.

John Wilkinson (16:10)
Yeah, we are. And you

know, yeah, we're it's on Fr, July third, Friday. They're having fireworks after and we have a bunch of neighbors. I think there's thirteen of us going. And we got a suite, and to your point about cheap, you know, like getting a suite at a Rockies game right now is actually very affordable. and such a great experience in that post game

everyone that's in a suite can go down onto the field and watch the fireworks show which I think will be really fun and and cool. And again, another thing I love about what's I love cheap anything. And so like living here isn't super cheap, but thanks to the Rockies and they're still fun, you know, to watch. It's still a good baseball game. But you're you're you're right. It's there are advantages to being dead last.

Kenda Ruck (16:43)
Yeah. That's right.

That's right. You don't have

a lot of high expectations. You don't get let down. You're always encouraged. You do bring up a really good topic that is pretty hot in Colorado right now. you know, we have the 250th anniversary of the United States and today is when we're recording this, you know, it's the beginning of July. And everybody is thinking fireworks and

John Wilkinson (17:00)
It's yeah.

Kenda Ruck (17:25)
just celebrating this this huge anniversary for our country. But the problem here in Colorado is we had a very mild winter with very low snowpack. And so we are in an extreme drought. And one of the topics I'm seeing a lot on social media is this argument of should we, you know, have

Fireworks, should we allow sparklers? Should we allow these things, or should there be rules against them? Because of the huge threat, there's also high winds right now. So the huge threat of massive wildfires. I think we already have six wildfires going pretty actively in Colorado right now. And that's kind of a hard debate. but I do know that different counties have different rules. I know Littleton, everything is banned, even like sparklers, it's banned.

John Wilkinson (18:03)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

I would err on the side of caution, you know, even in in Texas, which notoriously is in a drought. luckily Austin has had a lot of rain over the last month. But having been through that, right, it's it's here it's especially dangerous. You know, one of the things that you know when you when when we were driving up you know the mountains, there are a lot of dead trees, dead dead conifers, and not because of drought conditions necessarily, but there's this beetle that

that is infesting these trees and and killing them and so now they're just like

you know, tinder for a a fire, right? If something goes up, I mean you could I thousands of acres we had you know, thousands of acres on fire now. and if we could celebrate, you know, with balloons or like bubbles or I don't know, like Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I think y yeah, these people that that will go I I the professionals I'm not too worried about. I think it's it's the homeowners that, you know, backyard, you know, kind of fireworks shows are

Kenda Ruck (18:54)
Yeah. It's their tender.

Or a drone show. Like, why aren't we doing drone shows? You know, that

John Wilkinson (19:23)
are dangerous, especially closer to the foothills and obviously in the foothills. yeah, I can see how, you know, that that would be dangerous. In Denver, I think, you know, there's there's I don't see the chance for a wildfire. Obviously there's not many there's trees, obviously, but it's like not like it is up in the foothills, where it's dangerous. And and we had unfortunately there's lost, you know, three firefighters who lost their lives, you know. So I think it is, you know, something when you know moving here, you know, that's one

I had to get used to also is that there is I mean there is a drought and you think of Colorado as being you know f just water everywhere and there's not water is an issue right that you have to watch for and and obviously these these you know wildfire season is a real thing.

Kenda Ruck (20:12)
we've talked in the past about what surprised you. And that surprised me. I came came from Georgia and I always thought that Colorado was green and rolling hills and you know, river the Colorado River and snow and but it's it's very different than that. It's very dry and there are a lot of areas where it's just brush and the wind

John Wilkinson (20:31)
Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (20:36)
can just carry buy so quickly. I don't know if you saw on our good friend Chris Bianchi's social media last week. He posted a little message like, please, y'all, please don't do he didn't use the word y'all, but he said, please, let's not do fireworks. And he got a lot of heat on his in his comment section because people were like, This is our 250th anniversary. And but he was, I think he's right. Like let's let's just use caution. Let's

Go to fireworks shows like you just said. consider the area that you're in. And just if if you don't have to, just don't use balloons. Like you said, I love that idea of Fourth of July balloons. That that works. It works. Yeah, absolutely.

John Wilkinson (21:07)
Right.

Yeah. Yeah, something. Let the kids run around with that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, listen,

it's it's it is very American, right, to have the fireworks shows and want to do that, been there, done that. But you know, there's a time and a place and right now it's it is dry and you know, I think that moving here, the one of the things that there's not a lot I don't like about Colorado. the dryness is definitely one thing that

It's like a love-hate relationship. I love it because in the evening it gets cool, right? If you get in the shade, you can be you know, it dramatically changes how you feel because exactly that humidity in Austin or in Georgia, you know, in Cabo in the summer. my gosh, sorry about humidity. It's it's awful. Yeah. And so like, you know, you complain about that and then you come you know come here and it's dry and you complain, but like my sister, you know, she they're here and when you're when you're just visiting and you're here for you know a week or more, that dryness really starts.

Kenda Ruck (21:54)
Ten degrees.

Okay.

John Wilkinson (22:15)
impact your your nose, your nasal. So it's like learning how to deal with that and then you have to become acclimated to it. And you know, I think that's that's something that's that's obviously bad for wildfires, you know, and then also tough to personally, you know you gotta put lotion on and drink lots of water and Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (22:31)
Yeah, constantly. I would

agree. I think that's i if there's a downside to to Colorado, I think that's for me probably the biggest downside. And like you said, it is a love-hate relationship because I could not stand all that humidity. I couldn't stand when I felt like my face was melting off and now

It's dry and cracky, you know, and I'm constantly putting lotion on multiple times a day and I have it everywhere. And so I think for me that would probably be the biggest surprise. And I think the thing that I don't really love about Colorado, I wish I wish it rained more. I love rain.

John Wilkinson (22:54)
Yeah, right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

man, yeah, when we get those storms, it's so great. Like you I I mentioned going up a clear lake yesterday and one of the things, you know, when also that I you know I love about Colorado and and learned about is in in the summertime in the mountains, around two o'clock, there will be a storm, right? And you've gotta be off the mountain. But it was like you know, we were at ninety eight hundred feet, this great alpine lake, but then all of a sudden you start feeling little raindrops in the clouds, you hear thunder and you're like, Okay, it's time to go. Yeah, yeah, it's time to wanna

Kenda Ruck (23:38)
Let's go. Yeah. Did you

struggle with the altitude when you were up there yesterday? Did you feel the effects?

John Wilkinson (23:40)
Okay.

You know, I did not I think

I think I think because we live a mile high, you know, going from here to nine thousand feet wasn't a big change, but my I know my sister and brother in law did feel the altitude, you know more than I more more than I do.

Kenda Ruck (23:59)
Mm-hmm. I'll never forget

more than you. I'll never forget the we had just moved here, you know, and this is in my video yesterday also, but not to plug my video, but

John Wilkinson (24:12)
Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (24:13)
W I came right, you know, from sea level, cabo. Like you can't get any more sea level. Our feet were in the sand, you know. And then went came here and I was here just a few days. And then we went up to Vale with our friends, Mike and Mel. And we went to the wine festival up there in Vale, and we were at 8,000 feet. And I th thought I was dying, but I didn't at first put it together that it was altitude.

John Wilkinson (24:38)
Mm-hmm.

Kenda Ruck (24:39)
I just

thought, my gosh, there's something seriously wrong with me. I was dizzy. I couldn't think straight. My head was killing me. My chest, I felt like I was having a panic attack because my chest, my heart was pounding and I couldn't catch my breath. And fortunately I mentioned, you know, like, yo, I don't I don't feel well. I don't feel something's wrong. And they're like, it's altitude, like grab grab a can of oxygen and what you know, I was like, This is what altitude, you know.

John Wilkinson (25:00)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Kenda Ruck (25:07)
affects

me like it's it's real.

John Wilkinson (25:10)
It is, yeah. And that is definitely you know, one of the things I think we should, you know, think about with clients that are moving here is maybe creating a a a kit for them with chapstick and eye drops and lotion and oxygen cans and all that so that you know, 'cause those are yeah, when you that's it is like when you move here, it it's it's that way. We used to go to Telly Ride before we moved here for Telluride all the time and and it would hit me for sure going from Austin, which is about you know

Kenda Ruck (25:21)
It's a great idea. Little kid.

John Wilkinson (25:40)
700 feet or whatever and getting going to to Mountain Village, which is like around 9,000 feet, it is it there's there is definitely an impact, right? It's you gotta watch your alcohol intake, right? Because it can it definitely will hit you differently and harder. Yeah, yeah, it's it is insane. but also it's just staying you know hydrated and and you know it's like the nagging, I became the nagging parent with Hayden, you know, my son, like you gotta drink more water, you gotta drink more water.

Kenda Ruck (25:56)
It like triples it, doesn't it, or doubles it? Yeah.

Drink your water.

John Wilkinson (26:10)
Why

is my nose bleeding? Because you're not drinking enough water. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kenda Ruck (26:13)
Right. Yeah. Well you

heard you heard it first here when you decide to move to Denver and you work with Living Colorado, we're gonna get you a we're gonna get you a little welcome package that has an oxygen can hit it and some lotion. So that's all the I can't think of any better reason to wanna move here.

John Wilkinson (26:24)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I know, exactly. Yeah, I know it's it's I I know you know you or you feel this way. It's a great place to live. We love Colorado. we're still discovering new places, meeting new people. I know that we've introduced some great folks on the podcast and we're gonna continue to do that, and just really stay real about what it's like to live here. You know, not the f the just the fluff that most people wanna provide. You know, this is not a tourism you know, podcast. It's it's

Kenda Ruck (27:00)
Right.

John Wilkinson (27:00)
It's about what what it's really like to live here, you know, and and what the really like just in general, what what life can be like here.

Kenda Ruck (27:08)
Yeah. I hope that we provide some real value for people because I think the most important thing you said is that we are being completely real. Like we're getting real with you. We're not just always gonna say everything's perfect because it's not perfect anywhere. But we, you know, we wanna be a resource for

John Wilkinson (27:23)
Right.

Kenda Ruck (27:27)
The good, the bad, the real, the ugly, the great, the amazing, the fantastic, the scary, all of it. And we want to be a team that will be there to help walk you through all of that. So having said that, please make sure to like and follow our podcast so that you get updated. We have some very, very exciting guests coming up in the next few weeks and some great topics. And we want you to be a part of the conversation. We would love to hear from you.

John Wilkinson (27:32)
Yeah, yeah.

Kenda Ruck (27:56)
What questions do you have or what number one thing are you most afraid of about moving to Colorado? We would love to answer that question for you. So follow along as we go on this journey together.

John Wilkinson (28:07)
Absolutely. Thanks everybody.

Kenda Ruck (28:09)
Have a great day.
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