It's Official...

Our town, Castle Rock, Colorado, is now one of the best places to live in the U.S., according to Money Magazine's 2014 poll!

It's not the top one -- that's been awarded to McKinney, Texas --
but Castle Rock's #4. Here's what Money says:

Castle Rock, c.1900...

  
Castle Rock has come a long way from its quarry-town roots. The city is growing at a rapid clip, with a population that has more than tripled in the past 15 years...

Perhaps the biggest recent addition is the Castle Rock Adventist Hospital, which opened a year ago, bringing specialists and nearly 500 jobs to town. This fall the city will unveil a new indoor athletic complex, taking some pressure off the lone recreation center. And there’s more to come, with plans underway for a new mixed-use development. All the building has created congestion, but residents hope that a new two-mile road and freeway on-ramp will ease traffic when it’s finished in 2016.
There are some aspects of Castle Rock that haven’t changed. The downtown remains the heart of the city, lined with locally owned restaurants and spe­cialty stores. The area also hosts community events, including a holiday Starlighting festival, when a giant star is lit on the town’s namesake rock formation.  (That's coming up soon, after Thanksgiving. Learn more about the Star here.)

See the star? It seems to float in the sky at night...orange & blue bulbs when the Broncos are in the Superbowl

The school district here is one of the best in the state [cool to hear them say this -- the Brick works for Douglas County Schools!], and the two charter schools garner rave reviews from parents. Residents are also pleased by the home prices; a three-bedroom starts around $250,000.


Then there’s Colorado’s big selling point: the great outdoors. Castle Rock has 5,000-plus acres of open space, and the Rockies are nearby...

Go here for the full skinny. (More here, too.)But don't plan to move, ok? The same urge that brought people in is also the reason why we live on a hill above Home Depot now.
   (When we moved here some 12-plus years ago, it was a horse pasture. I miss the horses, not the hardware.)


See Castle Rock via live cam here.