 |
Red State of Colorado
by Kalarad Bergen
http://www.coloradomountain.com
Colorado is one of the most beautiful states situated in
the Midwest. It has extreme weather, i.e. very cold in the
winters and very hot and arid in the summers. Despite this
it is very beautiful. It has a great reputation for winter
sports. It is ideal for skiing and snowboarding. In summers
too there are a lot of activities like hiking, camping,
rafting, caving and mountaineering. Climbers enjoy the
canyons and revel in the beauty of the diverse rock
formations. It is situated in the middle of seven other
states.
The permanent residents of Colorado do not find the
situation so lovely as the tourists. The reason being that
the extreme climates in the state cause great hardships to
its residents. Such combination of scenic beauty is quite
rare in other places indeed. The winter presents a
difficult time when people have to do a lot of shoveling
outside their homes to be able to drive their cars out
besides the dangerous conditions for driving caused by
incessant snowing. Colorado's people retiring to such
milder climate states as Georgia and Florida are quite
common.
However, those who live in Colorado are proud of their state
and try hard to keep it from being spoiled. In 1976 for
example, Colorado refused to hold the winter Olympics there
because of the likely effects on their state such as
contamination, fears of a population boom and of course the
cost involved.
The rich terra cotta color of the land and rocks is the
reason for the state being called Colorado meaning 'colored
red'. The state has a rich history and a cultural
tradition. Colorado is the confluence of many cultures like
Native Americans, Anglo Europeans and Hispanic Europeans.
The Spanish influence on the state could be gauged by the
names of the places like Pueblo, San Luis and the state's
own name which means 'to blush'.
Colorado was a real frontier state. In the early part of
its history it attracted all sorts of prospectors for gold,
especially in 1800s. There are lots of gold and silver
mining towns that you can visit as well as ghost towns of
settlers from this period. These have a real Wild West
atmosphere and you can really imagine what it must have been
like to live in these small towns - especially with the help
from all the western films we've all seen and that help fill
in the details!
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.
Submit An Article
|
|  |
