Red is the colour

I don't quite understand that Colorado is supposed to be named after how the Spanish described it. Colour Red. From my jumbled Spanish knowledge I was of the belief that it should be named 'Colorojo' with the 'j' pronounced like a 'h'. Maybe someone misheard, or maybe I'm wrong, but one thing that is correct is the description. Of course not the whole state is red. Half of it is flat green plains and the other half is large sharp pointed mountains. But there's plenty of red rock thrown in for good measure and the state slogan, 'Colorful Colorado', continues to ring true.
First stop is the university town of Fort Collins. A long main street of brick fronted shops with local stores offering goods from student fashions to high price bicycles. A short pedestrianised section includes the dull chain stores, and wandering hoboes, until it all peters out near the university. There's a strong youthful energy about the place with cool kids abound. This is a rarity in the US. The opposite of the trendy and fashionable people of American TV and film applies. This is one of the least trendy and attractive nations we've visited. TV and film is packed with the image of the beautiful people of America but in reality around 95% of people look as if cruel experiments have been taken upon them whilst single-handedly robbing them of any sense of style. Ok so this isn't the most important thing one can note about a nation but until this trip I didn't realise how different people in Europe can be to the rest of the world. At times it often feels like a step back in time, as it did in Australia, to see how we used to live but have now moved on.
This is why Fort Collins is a decent place. Pockets of hip youthfulness help give energy to a place and keep it bouncing along rather than stagnate into another one of many flat lining American town.
We have another reason to like Colorado. It's the home of what has now become our favourite cheap food haunt and that has saved us from the depths of fast food depravity we've been locked in for months. Chipotle Mexican Grill started here and offers us huge burrittos of, as they declare it, gourmet quality for only slightly more than a limp slice of questionable meat slapped between fake cheese and a couple of dough based products they like to call buns. If this type of food was readily available in England someone would make an absolute fortune and its the cool kids of Colorado that helped the success of the chain that was originally located near to universities. The bad skin I am trying to fight off here from all the corn syrup in everything we consume has cleared. It's no wonder that all the countries we've visited most people look 10 times healthier than that of the American people. Bad skin here is endemic to bad diet and huge amounts of people into their late 30's and 40's still seem to be struggling with acne. Maybe if everything didn't come with melted cheese on it they'd be a lot nearer a solution.
Fort Collins is also home to many micro-breweries that carefully create wide varieties of good tasting beer. The towns of Colorado keep impressing.
This run of cool towns had to end but I didn't think it would end at the oddly named place we pass through, Loveland. I heard on the news that this place gets huge amounts of post redirected though it's office at Valentine's just so it can get the 'Loveland' stamp. And that's all I remember. Oh, it did have a great shop named 'Loveland Pawn' which tickled me but that's about your lot. It also has the honour of being an 'All American City', which I gather is an award of sorts handed out to a different town each year. We've passed through a few already. I'm not sure what the criteria for becoming an 'All American City' are but from what I've seen I think your town must have one fairly long dull main street. One or maybe two hanging baskets. Plenty of Amenities; Walmart, KFC, Burger King etc. and be a place you go to die(or want to die in).These plainly mediocre towns seem only to be inhabited by white folk, but maybe that's just what we saw passing through and not a true reflection of the societies living in these lifeless blocks of uniformity.
Colorado Springs is the next town, it's probably a city, that we spend a couple of days at. The downtown area is like many others and does include some nice looking establishments and a couple of grand museums. The real draw here is out of town. Just on the edge of town is a free park that is full of red rock formations that just seem like they're growing out of the green landscape around the area. The obligatory overnight snowfall shows the park in it's best light and the sun is out making for a great stroll around. A decent loop road also takes you around the sights, the large balanced rock being a favourite. With snow still on the nearby mountains these rocks stand out even more, no wonder it's a popular visitors spot. We'd had a quick look round the park the previous afternoon as the light rain became snow. It wasn't the best conditions for a stroll but today with the luminescent blue sky and dazzling sun coupled with the snow still laying about waiting to melt it couldn't have been better. What a difference a day makes.
Colorado Springs has another trick up it's sleeve. Pike's Peak that looms high over the town is a famous timed rally spot. The road leading to the top hosts a gruelling event annually but anyone can drive up it for a fee. As the fee was over $35 it was something we'd have to miss but we did get up to the small village at the foot of the famous peak. At this point I was glad we didn't attempt the drive up the peak once the snow got had begin to get thicker and thicker.
The village of Manitou Springs is the point from which a cog train takes tourists to the top of Pikes Peak but we can't even see it now due to snow. The place itself seems quaint and has a bit of a wizard and fairy sort of theme about, we walk around for 15 minutes or so before the snow gets even heavier.

We grab a burritto before we go and scoff it outside the decent looking Pioneer Museum downtown. We sit in the car gorging on the Mexican delight whilst traffic builds up at the nearby lights. A woman decides this is the opportunity she's been waiting for and gets out of her car to flash her bra at her friends following behind. They find this even more hilarious when they spot us two right next to them. There must be something in the air around here as in the ice cold Rocky Mountains I spot a girl in her early twenties wearing a skimpy black top and just her knickers.....in the snow!! Someone is taking photos of her while she poses but it's not even in a discreet place, it's right next to a car park!
It's time again to head on and we've got one last National Park to visit before heading east. It'll be the last park we'll see for a while as the excellent run of parks in the west has come to an end. Thankfully this one is a corker.