Colorado

A state with extreme scerenity, significant sunshine (over 300 days of sunshine a year in Denver) and the best opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. The Rocky Mountains make it the state with the highest average elevation. Denver, its capital and largest city (population 570,000), is called the Mile High City, because its capitol is exactly one mile in elevation. Denver is consistently ranked among the top of Americas fittest, thinnest, and most educated cities. About half of the states 5 million residents live in the Greater Denver Metro area. Other important population centers include Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Fort Collins--all of which are located on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Colorado has extreme variations in climate. People in Denver can get a tan and snow ski in the same day. The enormous flat plains of eastern Colorado get huge thunderstorms in the spring and summer that make for a great lightening show and tornadoes. Colorado is where the song, America the Beautiful was written. "For purple mountains majesty above the fruited plain"€describes Colorado to a tee. Beef cattle and wheat are its two largest agricultural products.