Mountain State Colorado

Colorado is dear to us, there's no other way to express it. High mountains, vast plains, deep canyons, green meadows, and even snow in early May. It is a beautiful state, and thanks to the Rocky Mountains, it is also the highest elevation in the USA. There are incredibly many high passes that you can cross.

However, Denver, the capital of the state, welcomed us in the rain. Originally, we wanted to take a tour of the state mint - around 13 billion coins are minted here each year. However, the tickets were already sold out when we arrived. So we were left with only the souvenir shop. The alternative came by chance, we visited the Colorado State Capitol, the government building and seat of the Senate. The building is worth seeing both from the outside (golden dome) and from the inside. In the gallery, there are also pictures of all American presidents. Only the current one is missing, they are still collecting money for that. We found that quite amusing. But luckily, it's not our problem 😂. Denver is a pleasant city, despite the rain. There is even a pedestrian street - but shuttle buses run there so that the poor Americans don't have to walk too far 😂😂.

However, the landscape is breathtaking. We treated ourselves to the "luxury" of driving through the expensive ski resorts of Vail, Beaver Creek, and Aspen. There was still snow - it snowed again yesterday - and a few ski lifts were still open. However, they were mostly the small, unknown ones. But since the sun was shining today, it was definitely a perfect skiing day for people who were racing down the slopes. Otherwise, of course, the season is over, and the famous ski resorts are deserted. Good for us, so we could relax and take a look around. It's incredible how many big hotels are there. And in winter, they are guaranteed to be full. A Swiss person who has been living in Aspen for 39 years and whom we met at dinner told us that there used to be more going on in the town itself, even during the peak season. Today, the rich have big houses (oh yes, we could see that) and many employees, why should they go to town in the evenings?

To be continued, as we still have a few more days in Colorado 😊.