Colorado: Rocky Mountain Empire Longtime Colorado resident and author Hunter S. Thompson once remarked “Freedom is something that dies unless it’s used.” It seemed to us that most Coloradans live that sentiment.
The first state in the nation to legalize marijuana and a population that seems to possess an autonomous view of life, it was logical that if we were going to experience a sense of raw freedom, it would be here.
Sweet relief from the oppressive swelter of the Utah desert swept over us as we headed east and began to climb the Colorado Plateau. The temperature cooled. Green plant life punctuated the landscape. For cold-blooded northerners, it was indeed a touch of freedom.
Up ahead lay the high peaks of Telluride, Monarch Pass and Rocky Mountain National Park.…