Things I miss about...

Living in Denver... We lived there for the first two years we were married. Hubby was in the air force, I worked for a hair salon.

• Being close to the mountains was magical for me. I loved that we could be there in 30 minutes.
• There was a really good salad bar restaurant.
  
• Our second & third apartments were really nice. High ceilings with skylights, fireplaces, good sized bedrooms, laundry room etc. I'd move into that exact floor plan again in a minute. Even for the time, the rent was really low.
  

Living in Red State... We lived there after Denver -- for a long time. Hubby also just got back from being there. We're trying not to say we're done with Red State, because as soon as you say that, it sucks you back. As Hubby said yesterday, "I've now left Red State for good, twice".

• Friends, family and my good friend/hairdresser.
• Really good restaurants -- amazing Indian food, good Asian food, great barbecue and fun innovative food.
• The Air Show at the base we lived on for several years.
• Not having to think about traffic -- and a metro area you can cross pretty easily. I used to commute diagonally across the whole thing and it took me no more than 35 minutes.
• College football Saturdays -- if only because it was fun to see everyone getting excited about the game -- so we could mock them.
• "event" weekends - two of which would immediately remove all doubt about where Red State is-- The fun thing about these events is that people from across the country would come to Red State for a long weekend. While in the state, they'd go out and have a good time... and the Red State folks are very hospitable.
• The people in Red State are much more well-traveled than the people in BN state. It's kind of common for people here to say "I've never left the state" or "I've only been to neighbor state"... I almost NEVER had someone in Red State say that to me. At a minimum, they've been to the Mall of America (only 6 hours away), Vegas and Disney World... Many of them take a winter trip to Mexico, spring trips to New York and an occasional work trip to Atlanta or Los Angeles.
  

I would live in either place again -- but, I'd also be happy to stay in BNstate. I can't imagine having never left -- especially not on trips - but, it's a good place to live.