It never seemed like a difficult to decision to quit my job and move away from all my friends and family. I had always felt as though I needed to move away from the east coast and see what else was out there. College took me to South Carolina, but I never felt connected to the state itself and figured that if I could live in South Carolina for six years, Colorado would be a treat.
My first visit to Colorado came when I was five years old. Vague memories of riding on a train, walking by snow in the summer time, and sifting through dirt looking for cool rocks were lodged in my brain. What I remember most of all was how wild everything looked. I just remember thinking that Colorado was unlike any place I had ever seen.
That feeling was buried deep down within me until I returned to Colorado when I was 22 years old. Some hometown friends and I decided to come out for a snowboard trip and stayed in Breckenridge. It was my first time snowboarding out west so I was pumped for that experience and was excited just to return to the state that I had found so mesmerizing when I was young.
The trip was so much fun that we decided to do it again the following year. We planned a trip out to Snowmass/Aspen thinking we could try some different mountains and travel a bit more through the state. My friends and I had another great trip and I knew at that point that I wanted to experience living out here.
I had just graduated from college (took me longer than most!) and accepted a job in my hometown of Richmond, Virginia. Having interned with them, I knew I could learn a lot from those guys. It was a great experience but I knew I wanted to try living somewhere completely different and the only place I really thought about was Denver.
It wasn’t hard to sell my girlfriend on the idea after bringing her out here for her first time. She actually ended up finding a job that sparked the move! Being unemployed for the first time in a while, I took full advantage of the mountains. I was then fortunate enough to find a landscape architecture job with DHM!
It has been a great first year out here. From hiking all over the place, to rafting down the Colorado River, snowboarding as many places as possible, and of course meeting new friends to share experiences with. It’s funny how some things you dream about come true, even if takes a journey.
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu
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