Loveland, CO
I spent a few hours and about 30 miles cycling around Loveland and discovered it was… lovely, with lots of lakes, golf courses, mountain and valley views, and a closer proximity to the Rocky Mountains than Fort Collins. Yet, housing costs there are hardly more than those in Fort Collins, which are already a lot less than, say, Boulder or Estes Park.
One thing this town of 55,000 people did lack was a downtown like Fort Collins or Boulder, and hence felt a lot more suburban and residential. [Amendment 10/13/05: I absolutely mistaken that there is no downtown in Loveland. According to this article, there is one that draws off of the large colony of local artists.]






