A Whole State That Could Be A National Park. Review on Colorado

I have lived in or around Colorado for 40 of my 60 years and I still love the state and I still have a lot of it that I haven't seen yet. It would be very easy to spend six months travelling around the state and seeing things. I have often commented that the WHole state of Colorado could easily be a national park. It is a very big state and has a lot of people and is growing everyday. It is a very diverse state both as far as ethnicity and jobs. We have our homeless but we have several billionaires too. The ''Front Range'', from Fort Collins to Pueblo is really growing and has a lot of hi-tech industries. Colorado is 103,7809 square miles and Dever is the capital.

Although not exactly equal in land mass, you can roughly divide Colorado into four quarters along east to west Interstate 70 and north to south Interstate 25. Interstate 70 runs from Kansas on the eat to Utah on the west through some of the most beautiful mountain scenery anywhere. Interstate runs from Wyoming to New Mexico and also has some pretty scenery and al ot of traffic.

The Northeast part of the state is primarily devoted to ranching and farming. The alo feed a lot of cattle and sheep in hugh feed yards. Greeley is the fastest growing metropolitan area in the U.S. at the present time. Greeley is the home to University of Northern Colorado which is a very highly regarded University. My youngest daughter (Monnie1976) will receive her Masters Degree from there on December 10th. Her grandmother (my mother) got her Masters there in 1936. Kinds neat.

The Southeastern part of the state also has a lot of farming and ranching but also has a lot of truck garden type farms that raise a lot of vegetables and fruit around Fowler, Rocky Ford, and Olney Springs. Rocky Ford Cantelope are some of the best in the world. They also raise a lot of turkeys in the area. My mother's cousin raided turkeys and I remember one time we were down there and he had almost 4,000 turkeys.

The Northwest part of the state is dotted with small farms and some ranching but the front range is mostly housing projects and a lot of people. But anywhere from Fort Collins to Pueblo you can look to the West and see the beautiful Rocky Mountains. Fort Collins is the home to Colorado State University which is one of the leading Veterinary Medicine Schools in the US. Loveland is the Gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. Don't miss Trail Ridge Road which is the highest paved highway in the US. Beautiful.

Denver is the capital city of our beautiful state and is a very big and diverse city with lots of people and terrible traffic. But despite the traffic it is a neat city where you can do or get about anything you could ever want. Denver University is a prestigous University and very expensive. We have five professional sports teams, a great city park and zoo, many other cultural activities. Denver is known as :The Mile High City'' because it is 5,280 feet above sea level

Also west along I-70 are a lot of ski resorts and some of the neatest Dude ranches ever. On West in the Palisade area there are several wineries that make some good wine. In the extreme northwest corner there are some coal mines.

Although, as I have said, the whole state is beautiful, I think my favorite part is the area west of I-25 and south of I-70. At Colorado Springs is the United States Air Force Academy which has to be one of the most beautiful college campuses in the world. The Air Force academy Chapel is known and recognized around the world. Aspen and Vail ski resorts are in this quadrant and are very expensive. Many houses in excess of 5 million dollars. To the southwest is the ''Black Canyon of the Gunnison'' which some say is more spectacular than Grand Canyon because it is very deep but narrow. The area around Durango and north to Silverton and Durango is known as the Alps of the USA. Pretty rugged country and the road between Silverton and Ouray is known as the ''Million Dollar Highway'' because it cost a million dolllars a mile to build 50 years ago. Can you imagine what it would cost today? Every July Silverton hosts The International Rhubarb Festival. Heaven for somebody who loves rhubarb as much as I do.

On to the very Southwest Corner is Mesa Verde Nation Park which is very interesting cliff dwellings of the early American Indians. And at Four Corners you can get down on your hands and knees and be in four states at the same time. Colorado, Utah, New Mexico., and Arizona.

It would take way more than the allowed number of words to describe all the things to see in Colorado but hopefully I have given you enough to make you want to come and visit. Like I said you could spend several months seeing Colorado.