Denver, CO
Forget Denver, Retire To An Underrated Utah City Near Gorgeous Canyons Instead (And It’s Affordable) – Islands
If you’ve ever made the scenic drive from Las Vegas to the popular Zion National Park, home to one of the five most beautiful canyons in the American West, you’ve likely passed through the city of St. George, Utah, even if you didn’t realize it at the time. For many travelers, St. George is little more than a smattering of gas stations and fast-food joints visible from Interstate 15. Look closer, though, and you’ll find that tucked into the area’s striking red cliffs is an underrated and historic destination, southern Utah’s largest city, and one of America’s top retirement destinations.
Retirees drawn to Denver’s outdoorsy vibe may want to instead consider the canyon views of St. George. Located near several state and national parks, it offers a smaller and generally more affordable alternative to the Mile High City. Plus, while both St. George and Denver get a lot of sunshine — averaging more than 250 sunny days annually — winters in southern Utah are typically milder than in central Colorado.
What makes St. George such a desirable place for retirees? And how is it more affordable than Denver? Let’s look at that and more in this guide to one of Utah’s most gorgeous yet underrated cities.
Retirees can explore mountains and canyons in St. George
St. George is famous for the red sandstone-ridged cliffs that hug the city’s edges and glow bright fire red at sunset. Outdoor lovers can explore the city’s stunning landscape through the numerous hiking and cycling trails, with nearby Snow Canyon State Park (pictured above) being a popular local spot for adventure. Sometimes called Zion’s “little sibling,” Snow Canyon State Park has soaring sandstone cliffs and 18 hiking trails that wind through black basalt, lava tubes, and a slot canyon. It also has four picnic areas, a campground, and a 4.3-mile scenic drive for those wishing to see the sights without having to hike. Whiptail Trail is paved and fairly level, making it a good choice for those unsteady on their feet or in a wheelchair. Snow Canyon State Park is only a 15-minute drive from St. George, and entrance to the park is affordably priced, costing just $10 per vehicle for Utah residents 65 and older.
St. George offers a number of paved and well-maintained walking and biking trails accessible to those with mobility issues. The 5.2-mile loop trail, Mayor’s Loop, tops AllTrails’ list of wheelchair-friendly trails in St. George. And “Nice paved trail, mostly flat. Great for birding,” one reviewer on AllTrails wrote about the 5.3-mile Virgin River Loop, which links to Mayor’s Loop.
In all, St. George boasts over 72 miles of paved trails, allowing retirees to easily partake in a range of outdoor recreational activities — from walking and jogging to cycling and birdwatching. With 14 golf courses located in and around it, this sunny southern Utah city is also becoming well known among golfers as an affordable year-round golf vacation destination.
A variety of affordable activities and a charming, walkable downtown
While St. George may be a city of more than 100,000 residents, its walkable downtown feels charmingly small-town. From the park fountain and old-timey carousel to the Mormon temple and quaint antique shops, St. George has the vintage shine of a bygone era. However, its location less than two hours from Las Vegas and just 30 minutes from Zion National Park means that, small-town vibe or not, St. George is far from isolated.
The community also offers plenty of free and low-cost activities. The Red Hills Desert Garden has trails that wind through more than 5,000 plants and trees, Town Square Park offers free movie nights and an annual art festival, and the St. George Active Life Center provides seniors with more than 100 activities each month, many of which require only a small donation. Moreover, St. George and the surrounding area have several budget-friendly museums, including the free McQuarrie Memorial Pioneer Museum and the Rosenbruch Wildlife Museum, which charges seniors $6.
Whether you’re looking to live in southern Utah year-round or just visit for a vacation, life in St. George is generally more affordable than in cities like Denver. Expenses are about 15% lower in St. George than in Denver, including things like food costs and public transportation. For example, a 10-ride bus card costs $5 for seniors in St. George and $13.50 in Denver.
Denver, CO
One Invitation Can Change a Life: Called By Name Campaign Inspires Future Priests For a Second Year in Denver
The Archdiocese of Denver’s vocations initiative continues to bear fruit as more men explore a possible call to the priesthood.
Lean in close, dear reader. We’ve got a secret for you. God has a plan for your life.
While this might not be a tremendous surprise to most faithful Denver Catholic readers, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget to ask God what that plan is. We might even have our own ideas of what we want to do with our lives, neglecting input from the divine.
That’s where the Archdiocese of Denver’s Called By Name campaign comes in. In 2025, the inaugural year, over 900 names were submitted during the May campaign, which coincides with Good Shepherd Sunday. Nearly 100 of those men attended an August discernment retreat, and the Archdiocese saw 27 men enter priestly formation for the 2025-2026 academic year, with about another 20 expected to enter for the 2026-2027 year.
The campaign seeks to make vocational discernment more accessible for men, especially in response to a dire need for more priestly vocations in the Archdiocese of Denver. With only 14% of the archdiocesan presbyterate hailing from Colorado, a minority ordained for the Archdiocese and 4,054 Catholics per active archdiocesan priest, Jesus’ own words that “the harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few” ring true (Matthew 9:37).
For the men nominated a year ago, Called By Name presented an opportunity to go deeper in faith and to ask the Lord what his will is for their lives.
“I feel like if I don’t go to seminary, I’m going to be asking the question if I’m called to be a priest for the rest of my life. That’s why I’m going to seminary, to try and get that question answered,” said Jeremy Gillett, an incoming seminarian from Longmont. “I feel like I’ve gone to a couple of discernment retreats at the seminary, and every time it just feels like this place is home. It very much feels like a good place to be.”
Building on the inaugural year’s tremendous results, the Archdiocese of Denver sponsored Called By Name for a second year in a row, identifying 405 men that local parishioners prayerfully think could make happy, holy, healthy priests.
“The Called by Name campaign continues to pave the path for Denver’s next generation of men discerning the priesthood,” said Chris Kreslins, senior client manager at Vianney Vocations, who facilitated the campaign. “Building on the momentum of last year’s 955 nominations, the 405 men nominated in the 2026 Called by Name campaign will be invited to a year full of discernment opportunities, beginning with a special event with Archbishop Golka and Father Jason Wallace in August.”
“I’m grateful that our archdiocesan family has put forward 405 young men they’ve discerned could make good and holy priests. It’s a great blessing, and a sign that God is moving in big ways across the Archdiocese of Denver, in the faithful witness of my brother priests especially,” Denver Archbishop James Golka said. “The priesthood is a wonderful, beautiful life and vocation, and I’m so grateful that God has called me to love and serve his people in this way.”
For the 405 men nominated in the 2026 campaign — and many others — the archbishop expressed his hope that God make known his will and give them the courage to follow him.
“God has a plan for each of our lives, and it’s a beautiful plan meant to bring us joy, fulfillment and grace. When we follow Jesus, when we give the Father everything, we are the happiest and holiest we can be because we’re living through him, with him and in him,” Archbishop Golka said. “I pray that these 405 men and many others hear the voice of God calling them to the full, free and fulfilled life he has in store for them as they love and serve his people.”
The Nuggets are facing a lot of problems this offseason with roster building, but we’ve become so used to one of the biggest ones that we barely even mention it anymore: Zeke Nnaji’s contract. For years, the brutal and inexplicable 4-year, $32 million extension that Calvin Booth handed him has been weighing the team down like an anchor, and sadly, it’s not going away any time soon.
Booth thought he was being clever by getting the extension done a year early, thinking he was getting great value on a player who would be a helpful stretch-big for years. But Nnaji immediately fell off a cliff, and the contract quickly became disastrous long before it ever even went into effect.
Nuggets completely botched the Zeke Nnaji contract
He has been unplayable and out of the rotation, and thus, completely untradeable, and the pathetic reality is that nothing about that situation has changed. Unbelievably, Nnaji still has next season fully guaranteed at $7.47 million, and a player option for the same amount the following season.
That’s basically two years and $15 million for a player who doesn’t play. The Nuggets’ front office and coaching staff were never on the same page, and his value has been completely sapped. They desperately need to shed salary, and his deal is a clear albatross, and yet, to do so, they’d almost certainly have to sacrifice draft capital or a rotation player.
It’s pitiful to think they are wasting a roster spot and a salary greater than the taxpayer’s midlevel exception on a 25-year-old who can’t even sniff the court, but that’s exactly where things stand.
The fact that the Nuggets can’t even convince a young, rebuilding team to take a flier on Nnaji is a massive indictment on the organization. Denver needs to free up money badly to keep Peyton Watson and make other moves, and the Nnaji deal is a clear and obvious roadblock. They are probably going to have to salary dump a starter like Cam Johnson or Christian Braun to accomplish their offseason goals, and that’s partly due to Nnaji’s deal.
Nuggets must pay to get off Nnaji deal
That’s brutally bad asset management, but instead of dwelling on the past, the Nuggets should be forward-thinking. They are going to have to trade away a good player anyway, so perhaps instead of seeking a positive return, they should look to dump Nnaji in the deal. It may be the best (and perhaps only) way to move him, after all.
Someone like Johnson should have positive trade value and has appeal for many contending teams. As great as it would be to get back a decent player or some draft picks to refurbish the kitty, it may actually be more valuable for Denver to force that team to take Nnaji as well.
Again, this is a pathetic thought to even be having, but that’s where things stand in Denver. With ownership unwilling to splurge on the roster, and Nnaji’s contract sticking out like a sore thumb, the Nuggets may just have to bite the proverbial bullet and be done with it.
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Trammell Crow Company and PCCP inked a massive lease deal for a suburban Denver industrial complex that just began construction.
The development giants landed an undisclosed tenant for a full building at Crossroads 25, a 76-acre industrial complex in Thornton set to encompass roughly 1.1 million square feet once complete, the Denver Business Journal reported.
At nearly 410,000 square feet, the deal marks the largest industrial lease in the Denver area since 2024.
Trammell Crow and PCCP purchased the land, at the northeast corner of Interstate 25 and E-470, from an affiliate of Omaha, Nebraska-based Noddle Companies for $18.9 million. Noddle purchased it in 2020 as part of a nearly 200-acre land acquisition for $19.5 million.
The development will eventually span 1.1 million square feet of industrial space. The first phase consists of 828,000 square feet across four buildings. The recent lease brings the four-building phase one to 49 percent leased.
CBRE’s Tyler Carner represented Noddle in the land sale.
The Denver metro’s industrial market had a direct vacancy rate of 9.3 percent in the first quarter, according to JLL. More than 4 million square feet was under construction, and absorption was negative after hefty completions last year.
The first four buildings in Crossroads 25 are expected to be delivered in the third quarter of next year. The complex is projected to be fully complete in 2030.
The previous industrial lease record in the Denver metro area was held by Georgia-based third-party logistics company BroadRange Logistics, which signed a long-term lease for more than 1.1 million square feet at the 76 Commerce Center industrial complex in Brighton. That property’s landlord, Hyde Development, filed suit against BroadRange last week, claiming the logistics firm defaulted on its leases, and Hyde is seeking more than $32 million in damages.
— Chris Malone Méndez
Westfield Company lands tenants at new industrial campus in Denver
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