Colorado
Where you never stop climbing.
Denver · Colorado Springs · Boulder · Cañon City · Aspen
The Journey
Colorado is different. As soon as we landed in Denver, the atmosphere felt different.
We visited the State Capitol, where even the building reminds you where you are. On its western steps is the marker for exactly 5,280 feet above sea level, one mile high, while above it rises the gold covered dome, a tribute to the mining history that helped build the state.
But Denver was only the beginning. Once we entered the Rockies, it felt as though every turn revealed another view. At Pikes Peak, we climbed toward a summit 14,115 feet above sea level. You could actually feel the ascent. The air became thinner, the trees disappeared, and snow that had seemed distant suddenly became something we could reach out and touch. Even the drive became part of the experience.
Then there was Garden of the Gods. With its enormous red rock formations rising almost impossibly out of the landscape, it became one of those places we returned to more than once during the trip.
At Royal Gorge, we looked nearly a thousand feet down toward the Arkansas River, with the famous bridge stretched across the canyon.
Colorado felt like nature refused to stay in the background. Wherever we drove, the mountains, rocks, snow, and sky became part of whatever we were doing. The scenery did not surround the trip. It was the trip.
Jewish Colorado
Our Jewish Colorado experience was, in many ways, about simply living Jewishly in a place far from home.
In Denver, we stopped at a local kosher deli for good pastrami and black and white cookies. Sitting there with the family, more than a mile above sea level, I was struck by how established Jewish life felt. This was no tiny Jewish outpost. Denver has a thriving community, in a state currently led by Jared Polis, Colorado’s first Jewish governor.
Standing outside Temple Emanuel in Pueblo gave us another glimpse into those deeper roots. And high in the Rockies, in the old mining town of Leadville, still stands Temple Israel, built in 1884, the oldest surviving synagogue building in Colorado.
Denver also became a destination for Jewish tuberculosis patients who traveled west hoping Colorado’s climate would help them heal, eventually giving rise to institutions including National Jewish Hospital.
From pastrami and black and white cookies in modern Denver to old synagogues tucked into Colorado towns and mountains, Jewish life here felt both unexpected and deeply rooted.
What Stayed With Me
One of my most memorable Colorado moments happened somewhere I least expected. We arrived at Garden of the Gods after already experiencing the Rockies, Pikes Peak, and Royal Gorge. Compared with those places, I had heard much less hype about the red rocks.
The girls immediately wanted to run around and climb, so I found a comfortable spot, lay down, and watched the sunset while they explored around me. At some point, they asked me to put on peaceful flute meditation music. We decided to sit quietly for a few minutes and simply take it all in.
While I was lying there, Rachel and Leah collected little stones and placed them on me in the shape of a heart.
Just the four of us, the red rocks, the setting sun, music playing softly, and a little heart made of stones. They have asked many times since then if we can go back. I hope we do.
For me, that was the moment when the soul of Colorado truly came across.
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