that john denver’s full of shit.

On Friday, totally spur-of-the-moment, Kelsey and I decided to go meet up with some friends in the mountains for the Fourth. I’ve never spent a Fourth of July in the mountains, but I figured it would be a pretty wonderful way to celebrate America’s birthday. (Among the mountains that inspired “America the Beautiful,” no less.) Picture this: two ridiculously happy girls wearing ridiculously large sunglasses, riding top-down in a convertible blasting Paul Simon, driving west toward the mountains. So cliche, and so amazing.

We went to watch the fireworks at this large field/sports complex in Fraser (which is near Winter Park, for those of you non-Coloradans), and got to enjoy a live band and delicious brats and Coors Lights before freezing our asses off for about two hours. (Your mom was right: bring a coat. The mountains are ever so slightly colder than the city, and sundresses do not keep you particularly warm.) The freezing-our-asses-off part was worth it, though, because the fireworks show was amazing. Somehow we picked the best spot on the lawn, and the fireworks ended up being directly over our heads. Fabulous. I love how fireworks amaze and awe people from three to 93. We were a bunch of 21- and 22-year-old boys and girls (by technical standards, adults), and we were ooh-ing and aah-ing and screaming “WOW!” like a group of toddlers who had no idea what those lights up in the sky were. I love that.

If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m completely and totally obsessed with the state of Colorado. I’m not particularly outdoorsy, but I love that my state is, and I love living in a great city that’s only two hours away from some of the most amazing mountains in the world. It doesn’t get much better than that. You know that Baz Luhrmann song about sunscreen? Where he says “Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft”? To that, I’d add: Live in Colorado once. Period. You may never want to leave.

My camera drowned in a Blue Moon shower last weekend, so I didn’t take any photos while I was up in Fraser, but the area basically looks like this:

And the drive up looks something like this:

Pretty great, no?

[Posted by Mallory]