Shadowed by the Flatirons, two steps from reality on the path less traveled, Boulder combines big town sophistication and college town smarts with extreme sports. Home to the renowned Pearl Street Mall, Boulder is a slice of Rocky Mountain heaven.

The Denver Post once described Boulder as "the little town nestled between the mountains and reality." Surrounded by more than 31,000 acres of recreational open space and nature preserves, the community is 28 square miles of outdoor heaven.

Named after the mammoth rocks scattered across the terrain, Boulder brims with technology and research firms such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, Storage Technology and Ball Aerospace keep the business economy booming. Of course, the 25,000 students enrolled at the University of Colorado (called CU in local tongue) keep the town feeling young. Plus, the student crowd adds a worldly edge to the chiefly white and wealthy population residing in the city limits.

Wanderers from all over the world converge on the valley each year. Some for school, others for the renowned rock-climbing, mountain biking, hiking and skiing. Some even come searching for enlightenment or new age ideals, or simply just for the mountain solitude. Whether disgruntled with East Coast congestion or the West Coast bustle, in search of spiritual freedom or simply on an exploratory mission from abroad, people find a reason to call Boulder home—it might be easier to find a nugget of gold up in the hills than to find an actual Boulder native. In this hodgepodge of cultures and beliefs is a collective community rallying around the preservation of a natural landscape and a quality of life. Residents have banned together to fight off rapid growth and unruly developers. They managed to pass a law forbidding smoking in public spaces, including bars and nightclubs, and the town is currently battling chain stores from taking over the city. The community's aggressive nature in the political arena and fierce attitudes toward uncurbed growth has earned the city the nickname "Peoples Republic of Boulder."

Although it resides a mere 30 miles northwest of Denver and is lumped into the sprawling metroplex for statistical reasons, the town moves to its own funky vibe and might as well be 3,000 miles down the road. Living in Boulder is like living in a different state of mind, in a place where time somehow moves slower, the paths seem a little less traveled and reality always seems a step away.