21 Things You Need to Know to Look, Act, and Speak Like an Evergreen and Conifer Native
1. Evergreen Lake is 7,072 feet above sea level.
2. If Evergreen address numbers seem long, it’s because they are figured on the same grid as Denver’s: 6500 S Cedar is 65 blocks south of Denver’s First Avenue, 29700 W Pine Road is 297 blocks west of Broadway.
3. Now that you live in Evergreen, all your relatives and friends will visit you this summer. Even casual acquaintances you haven’t seen in 15 years will show up.
4. Evergreen has more than 300 sunny days a year – more than Honolulu, Miami or San Diego. And the average daily temperature in February is a balmy 45 degrees.
5. The other 65 days occur when you have out-of-town house guests who’ve heard about the 300 days of sunshine.
6. If you’re hot and sticky in Denver during the summer, remember it’s 10 degrees cooler in Evergreen. If you’re cold and your eyes water in Denver during the winter, it’s because Denver suffers from wintertime temperature inversions where frigid and polluted air settles over the city. Evergreen’s air is clear and mild.
7. Enjoy the outdoors in Evergreen – there are practically no mosquitoes and very few bugs in general.
8. Ten international ski areas are within a 60-minute drive of Evergreen.
9. People who don’t live in Evergreen think that everyone who does is an expert skier. Humor them.
10. Get a large dog. Wear a down vest, jeans and hiking boots.
11. At 7,000 feet altitude, the sun feels stronger and your lungs weaker. You’ll get less mileage from a gallon of gas and more fun from a glass of wine. Go easy.
12. At this altitude, water takes longer to boil, hard boiled eggs take longer to cook, and you need more flour when you bake.
13. If you’re a golfer, your drive will carry farther. So will your slice.
14. Take all weather forecasts with a grain of salt.
15. Get comfortable with the elk and deer in your garden. They will eat what they want no matter how long it took you to grow it.
16. Climb all of Colorado’s “14-ers”, there are 54 of them and all but two are a day hike.
17. Our roads are meticulously maintained, but you may want to buy a Jeep or 4-wheel drive pickup to take skiing or to negotiate Denver streets on snowy days.
18. Visit Denver to see upscale Cherry Creek Mall (now Denver’s top tourist attraction), 16th Street Mall (a mile-long pedestrian-only mall that slices through the heart of downtown), the Denver Art Museum, Museum of Natural History, Botanic Gardens, State Capitol, Denver Mint, Gart Brothers Sports Castle (world’s largest sporting goods store with its own ski mountain and tennis court) and any of the many micro-breweries (more beer is produced in Colorado than any other state). Coors in nearby Golden is the world’s largest single brewery.
20. Remember not to leave your garbage out overnight if you plan to get to work on time. The bear and coyote love leftovers.
21. Evergreen is known as the “Blue Spruce Capitol of the World” because of the profusion of these stately trees in our area.
Colorado symbols:
flower – Rocky Mountain Columbine
bird – Lark Bunting
animal – Bighorn Sheep
tree – Colorado Blue Spruce