... for a really big "around". If you go west, the nearest city the size of Denver is the Bay Area. (If you consider that multiple cities, then Tokyo.) North, you have to go over the pole. Southwest, LA is bigger. Phoenix is in the same ballpark as Denver. Going east, probably Chicago or St. Louis. Southeast, Dallas. All of those are a really long way from Denver - at least a full day's drive, or a medium-to-long plane ride.
Pros: If you find pleasure in both mountains and farmland, you don't have to pick...
People forget how vast and sparse the interior American West is; the New York City metro area has a larger population than the whole Mountain timezone.
If you're hopping on an airplane, it's easy to forget how far _west_ Denver is--I say it's the middle of the country, but it's really not. LAX and surrounding airports are less than a three-hour flight and roundtrips can frequently be had for under $200.
I think of the country in thirds - east coast to Chicago, Chicago to Denver, and Denver to the west coast. I think that's roughly accurate thirds (if you take the "east coast" to be Maine rather than Georgia).
... for a really big "around". If you go west, the nearest city the size of Denver is the Bay Area. (If you consider that multiple cities, then Tokyo.) North, you have to go over the pole. Southwest, LA is bigger. Phoenix is in the same ballpark as Denver. Going east, probably Chicago or St. Louis. Southeast, Dallas. All of those are a really long way from Denver - at least a full day's drive, or a medium-to-long plane ride.
Pros: If you find pleasure in both mountains and farmland, you don't have to pick...