[jck_strw]

phreaker--I wish it was that simple. That's been a dream of mine since I read, "The Good Life" by Scott/Helen Nearing. They do exactly that (in VT. in 1932). The book details their successes/failures. A great read. Highly recommended.


Another question--what's gas going for in Co. these days? Regular unleaded is $2.45/gallon here in Raleigh today. I think it was $2.32 yesterday.

[Laytonco]

$2.27 this morning at the Conoco in Parker.

[jck_strw]

I hate to use a term like "political climate", but what's it like there? I was under the impression that Colorado was kinda liberal, but everything I've been reading the past couple of weeks, seems to point to a conservative majority. Rednecky seems to be a term used to describe Colorado. We have rednecks here in NC, so I'm not sure what to think of that. There also seem to be a lot of Christian groups there. Are there a lot of bible thumpers there or what? Is the "Christian right" heavily represented there (or very visible)? The fact that "Focus on the Family" calls Colorado its headquarters is a disturbing thought.

[phpbb]

Colorado is a very red state with some deep blue dots known as Denver, Boulder and ski towns.

[tigerstrat]

Unfortunately, outside perhaps the Northeast, there really are no Blue states, only Blue cities in otherwise Red states.

Sometimes there are enough such cities to move a state's electoral votes into the Blue column.

Prime example would be the entire West Coast: CA, OR and WA are all pretty "rednecky" once you leave the cities and college towns behind.

[amyjared]

Prime example would be the entire West Coast: CA, OR and WA are all pretty "rednecky" once you leave the cities and college towns behind.

So true. OR and WA have nice little havens of radical/liberals but the rest of the state is scary! But it's different than the Rednecks I ran into in the backwoods of NC. They are different somehow. Can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe more "educated" would be a good way to describe it?

[tigerstrat]

Possibly, but there are plenty of highly-educated Southerners with "redneck" social and political values, and plenty of mind-blowing ignorance that runs wild in the NW... or any other region of this great nation.

[Laytonco]

I would say that here in Colorado, when you get out of the city into the rual areas you'll find two type: 1) Very Wealthy Mountain folks, and 2) Hippies. You don't run into the uneducated, backwoods types of folks here as much. Like I said earlier, I have lived in NC, MO, TX, CA and now here and this place still impresses me!

[jck_strw]

Alright, the vacation is booked. We'll be in Denver (the LoDo district) from June 16th through the 25th. If anyone is free that week and would like to get together for a beer or something, drop me a line. I'd like to see _all_ the benefits Colorado has to offer. ;)

Any recommendations on what to do? Skiing isn't an option in the summer, is it? What's some good summer mountain activities? Where's some good places to go hiking?

Any good hole-in-the-wall type restaurants? My wife and I are big fans of eating out (not Hard Rock Cafe, Bennigans, TGIFs, etc.). We like any kind of food, so all types of cuisine are good.

Any bar/club/live-music recommendations? Just poking around I found Sancho's Broken Arrow, Cervantes, the Fillmore, Red Rocks. Most places don't have schedules posted yet for the week we'll be there, but I'll keep checking.

Thanks for any pointers.