Sometimes it’s hard to put into words what keeps you in a place.
What initially comes to mind are family and friends. Maybe it’s the house that requires frequent trips to Home Depot. Perhaps it’s the dream job that eluded you until you moved to Colorado.
Dig deeper.
What is it about Colorado that keeps us from high-tailing it to Los Angeles, New York or somewhere else?
The beauty of the state’s natural landscape, sunlight, open views and horizons comforts us with the knowledge that something is out there greater than ourselves, says Patty Limerick, board chairman of the Center of the American West, a CU-Boulder bipartisan public-policy think tank.
“There’s a magic here, a sense of possibility that you can’t feel anywhere else,” she says.
To discover what our collective fascinations are with this state, we asked several residents to tell us five things in Colorado they couldn’t live without. When they took time to consider it, some themes emerged.
We identify with the physical beauty of the state. But at the same time, Colorado offers a variety of entry points for people to connect with it. A treasured bike path. A signature cocktail at a club in LoDo. Even a canopy of trees in Park Hill.
“There is a kind of intimacy we experience here where we can create our own special Colorado,” says Allan Wallis, an associate professor of public policy at the University of Colorado at Denver. “There is the grand landscape we all identify with collectively, but at the same time, everyone can have their own special set of places within it.
“If you ask people in Colorado if there was another place they’d rather be living, a high percentage would say they are already in the place where they want to be,” Wallis adds. “It’s not a stopping-off point. We aren’t looking for the next preferred watering hole. We are at the place where we say, I can add to this and make it better.’
“That mentality adds power to a place over time.”
Staff writer Sheba R. Wheeler can be
reached at 303-820-1283 or swheeler@denverpost.com.
