Sold!

And so it's settled! My mamma has arranged her work schedule so that she can come out the last week of February and help me move. Woohoo! After becoming thoroughly frusterated with trying to find a job, I decided that I should just pick a place and then concentrate on finding a job there. I'd much rather determine the destination and be limited on job choices than the other way around. So I pulled up a United States map and started to look into places I wouldn't mind living.

Option #1:California. Coastal California. But most of the state was eliminated due to high living expenses. Someday I will be able to afford a living space in San Fran.

Option #2:Oregon and Washington. They were quickly eliminated after looking at the weather reports. Straight rain for a couple of weeks. It's no fun to bike in the rain. And I'd probably feel like killing myself after a week of straight rain.

Option #3:The Midwest. Been there done that. Way too cold. Way too many farms.

Option #4:The Southwest. Hot hot hot.

Option #5: The East Coast. Just as cold as the midwest and probably more expensive than California.

Option #6:The South. Absolutly no freaking way! I'd probably end up being brainwashed and flying a confederate flag in my front yard. (No offense to any of my blog readers that fly confederate flags in their front yards)

After looking at the map of the United States for about five minutes, I had successfully eliminated most of it.

But then there was Colorado. I had driven through it a couple years ago and remember being impressed by how beautiful it was. Especially Durango and Colorado Springs. So I looked into Colorado Springs and here's what I found out:

*The city is surprisingly temperate. The average high in January is 42 F and the average high in July is 85 F. Perfect! Although they have cold snaps and get snow, neither tend to last long. The absolute highest temperature it has ever reached was 101 F. Crazy. That'll be quite a lovely change from the hot Utah summers I've been enduring.

*Colorado Springs has a population of 360,890, which means that I'll probably be able to find a job somewhere.

*There are tons of people in Colorado Springs that enjoy biking, running, and the great outdoors. I'll find it easy to make biking friends and there are a couple of triathlons I'm already planning on signing up for. What an excellent opportunity to meet my future cycling husband. Wink wink.

Sold! I don't know a soul that lives there, but I'm excited to get away and make a fresh start. Although I'm sad about leaving some awesome friends, I'm pretty pumped about getting a clean slate to work from. Better to embrace change than to have it dumped upon you.