Photo credit: Josh Montague via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

It’s a fantastic city, Boulder, but the longer you live here, the more accustomed you’ll become to mountains, sunshine, craft beer, and socially liberal ideas. You run the risk of forgetting that not every city is environmentally conscious and dog-friendly all the time. Here are some things to keep in mind if you leave town:

1. Not everyone is ultra-fit. Boulder has consistently been ranked as one of the fittest cities in the country. It is a hotbed of marathoners, bikers, runners, hikers, skiers, snowboarders, unicyclers, hoola-hoopers, etc. As soon as you get out of town though, you’ll realize how high the bar is set for physical fitness, and even just general attractiveness. A Boulder 6 is like an Anywhere-Else 8.
2. Cannabis isn’t a widely accepted industry. In fact, a lot of people in Colorado really resent it, whether it be for the stereotype surrounding the industry or just the swarms of tourists that disrupt normal flow of business. Like … weed isn’t even legal in a lot of states. Woah dude, just ponder that.
3. Drivers don’t yield for pedestrians all the time. Pedestrians represent a strong force in the Boulder community. Flashing crosswalk lights and neon yield signs every two feet make sure of that. Still, car beats human every time and people outside of the Pleasantville of Boulder County have a self-declared right of way in their shiny SUVs made of cold, hard steel. Look both ways, Boulderites.
4. It’s hard to find places that serve kale in so many things. Almost anywhere you go to eat in Boulder, you can find an item that includes a superfood. Be it kale, chia seeds, Brussel sprouts, acai berries, flaxseed, or what have you. Boulder restaurants certainly cater to a special, earthy taste. As soon as you leave town, this kind of stuff is definitely less common. They don’t exactly serve superfood organic kale and seasonal vegetable salads at the Golden Corral.
5. Not everyone in the world is between the ages of 18 and 23. The University of Colorado is a huge anchor in the city of Boulder. This means there is a large population of college-aged kids swarming around for months at a time. For most, it can seem like the student population is the majority of the population, but as soon as you leave the comfort of the Boulder Bubble, you’ll realize that people in their 30s are not so different than you, high-schoolers are basically you a couple years ago, and “old age” is really a loose term. Stay gold, Ponyboy.
6. It’s acceptable for places not to have recycling. Actually, a majority of people you encounter are surprisingly chill with not recycling at all. This means that that piece of cardboard that could have been a greeting card or a kite or even a box of wine in its next life is tossed in with the rest of the waste with no potential. RIP Earth.

So take a moment and appreciate this great, granola-abundant city, folks. It’s a tough world out there.

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