Colorado, the Red State

Colorado is the mid west state of the United States. The state, surrounded by seven other states, has some of the worlds most beautiful and scenic places. The state is replete with mountains, lakes and forests with considerable wild life population. It has extreme climatic conditions with cold winters and hot summers. The heavy snowfall during winters attracts lots of adventure tourists who come for winter sports like skiing and snow boarding. The beautiful city of Aspen is their most liked destination. Summer season offers tourists adventures like hiking, camping, rafting and mountaineering.

However those who live in Colorado have to deal day to day with the often cruel climate. It is a place of contrasts - a place of beauty and fantasy but often cruel reality. In the winter especially, the daily shoveling of snow from your driveway and treacherous conditions on the roads can be a real chore. Not surprisingly people often retire south to the milder climates found in Georgia or Florida.

Nevertheless, the people of Colorado are very proud of their state and love it very much. They have the well being of their state close to their heart. Due to this reason, they refused to host the 1976 winter Olympics. Other reasons they did so was because of fear of contamination and a suspected population boom in their state.

Colorado means 'colored red' and indeed the land and many of the rock formations are a rich terra cotta color. It has a rich history and mixture of cultural influences - from the original native Americans to the Anglo-Europeans who settled in the north of the state to the Hispanic Europeans who settled in southern Colorado. Indeed many of the place names are Spanish - Pueblo, San Luis and the name of the state itself Colorado, which means to blush in Spanish.

This state has been the locale for many Western films. In the 1800s it attracted a lot of prospectors who came here in the hope of striking it rich in the fabled gold mines. The ghost towns of the settlers can still be seen there. There are still quite a few gold and silver mining towns. The atmosphere is very romantic and one can relive the excitement of the people who lived here with dreams in their heart and emotions on their sleeve. It still has the Wild West atmosphere.

But it is not all mountains cowboys and wild west. The Rocky mountains are located in the west of the state. In the North-west there is cattle country, and the east is more urban - Denver, the state capital is situated here. Denver is a city of some 500,000 people (within city limits) but more than 2.1 million people in the metropolitan area. It's a relatively young city being established as a result of the gold strike but is known for its great restaurants and museums. Denver is home to the longest street in America - Colfax Avenue and Denver also claims that one of its citizens, Louis Bellast, invented the cheeseburger in 1935.

A visit to Colorado gladdens everyone as it appeals to the sophisticated people as well as the adventurous ones who cannot resist the call of the Wild West. One cannot forget the haunting beauty of the big open skies and the wild craggy mountains.

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