wrote:
Thinking of movnig out there. What are local skies like? Milky way
seen near the city at all? Thx.

I live in Salida now, about 80 miles west of the Springs, but I grew up
there and became interested in astronomy there (even worked for an
astronomer-another story). In the early 80s the Milky Way could be seen
from the east side of town. There's been *A Lot* of growth since then,
so that area is no longer "the east side of town" and the Milky Way
isn't as obvious.
IIRC the Springs area has a half million or so people and all the light
pollution that goes with them. On the plus side, 20 miles to the east
(plains) or west (mountains) will get you to fairly dark skies. 50
miles out its even better. The further you get from Colorado's heavily
populated Front Range, the darker. Also, the weather is conducive to
astronomy, clear many nights, and not as brutally cold in the winter as
the Midwest for example. On the down side, lots of convection in the
summer and turbulence related to the jet stream in winter does have its
way with seeing quality.
On a completely off topic subject regarding The Springs. The politics
and "religious" persuasion of some of the population is pretty over the
edge. Just be aware of these sideshow freaks. They're loud and mean
spirited in intent, but not representative of the community at large.

Shawn