Just back from Colorado. You know what one of the best things about Oregon is?

Oxygen.

Seriously. I just returned from a week in Colorado. I was SO happy to get away from that hot, dusty, thin, dehydrating air and back to sea level, foliage, greenery and fresh, wonderful OXYGEN.

Every time I go to Colorado (about once or twice a year) I have a renewed appreciation for beautiful Oregon. :loveya:

I have to say, after the not-so-beautiful stripmalls-and-few-trees sprawl of Denver (which is actually a high plains city instead of a mountain city), wonderful Portland nestling up against hills and river looked better than ever! :toast:

we can't help it that we're a mile high.

(That's why I posted this in the Oregon forum.) :hide:

Colorado has a lot to offer. Some of the scenery I've seen there (particularly in the Ouray/Silverton/Durango area) is just breathtaking. Most of our family members that live there really like it.

It's just, well, I likes me some Northwest air and ocean breezes and greenery and I wanted to express my affection for my adopted state... :hi:

being a second generation native, a rare commodity nowadays, I have a lot of pride in my state.

You're right, though- the air is so dry (but it's a DRY HEAT!) but I love our sunshine. And yeah, the Million Dollar Highway area is spectacular. My oldest bro lives in Ridgway, not too far from Ouray.

I have never had the pleasure of visiting Oregon, but one of my best friends moved to Washington a few years ago and I have been to see her several times. It is so gorgous, but I do find myself feeling quite melancholy and depressed by about day three with the lack of sun.

All I can say is that we live on a beautiful planet with much to offer all over.

Peace.

Dawn

it was being ruined, and every time I go back it is twice as bad as the last time. Denver has turned into a gigantic cesspool and the mountains are overwhelmed by unregulated growth.

Now it's just Houston with snow and no air. I was depressed for a week the last time I was there.

I was 7 years old. My mom was busy working for a couple of the local businesses, and I was busy running wild.

I was hooked then, and have been hooked ever since. To mountains, not just Colorado or the Rockies. You see, I was born and raised in Kansas City.

I next visited the Rockies in '71, and spent a summer in Estes Park. I remember tears running down my 11 yo face driving to EP from the airport in Denver. I didn't realize how much I'd missed the mountains until that point.

I haven't been back, and I don't want to know what overgrowth and development have done to the beautiful Rockies. I'll keep my memory pristine. Meanwhile, I live in beautiful Oregon, with the Cascades to soothe my soul.

but don't worry- not all of CO is overgrown and spoiled.
And Estes Park is still pretty sweet. In fact, I went there to view the firework show for the 4th of July. They still have those days in the fall, where the elk control the speed of traffic.

But the Front Range, from Colorado Springs to Fort Collins is indeed booming with new housing developments- all in the name of progress. :sarcasm:

What are you going to do? We had a huge influx of people from California- and most of us almost looked at them as illegal immigrants. They were able to come in and buy a really nice house with their money from the sales of their overpriced homes.

Our poor planet is just getting overcrowded and people have to live somewhere.

is to quit overpopulating. I expect the overcrowding will have to get quite a bit worse before enough people become willing to limit their reproductive capacities.

Oregon, too, has been invaded by people from out of state, all arriving to enjoy the quiet, rural beauty. And, in the process, making "rural" a thing of the past. My area, now, is so overpriced that working people can't afford to live here anymore. Affordable housing for the "service" people who keep things going for the wealthy is non-existent.