Gunbarrel / Industrial Boulder

Gunbarrel is a neighborhood that is only 10 miles northeast of Boulder and about 10 miles from Longmont. My boyfriend lives in Gunbarrel so I spend about half of my evenings there and I have grown to love Gunbarrel because it gets me out of the bustle of Boulder. The traffic drops off and the quiet starts. There are organic farms, lakes and ponds everywhere giving it a country feeling.

There are a lot of established neighborhoods as well as up and coming neighborhoods, a lot of apartment complexes, parks and walking paths. It seems that everyone has a kid or a dog and likes to jog or bike. It only takes 12 minutes to drive to Boulder from Gunbarrel so if you are looking for a reasonably priced home with a yard the commute into town is very easy.

I am most familiar with the Twin Lakes neighborhood and have walked around the two lakes many nights, it is relaxing and beautiful how the mountains mirror on the lakes. The sunsets over the mountains from Gunbarrel are spectacular and I recommend if you buy or rent a house to check out the view from the back yard, this could be the best part of living there.

There is one shopping center in Gunbarrel that I can think of where there is a King Soopers, liquor store and a few restaurants. There is a little indian food restaurant called Gurkas in the shopping center that while slow of service has delicious food. I think that most people go into Boulder to eat or shop when they need a specialty item or a variety of restaurant choices. Longmont is close by as well and offers more reasonably priced services than Boulder as a rule.

For a student or someone on a serious budget renting in Gunbarrel is the next best thing to living in Boulder. Rent is sometimes half as much as near downtown and like I said the drive is cake.