let us be calm and wise

As someone who was born and raised where your family is from and recently lived in the Front Range, I think you're right. Frankly, the first summer I visited Colorado it made me cry because the land seemed so dry and brown and just plain sad. (New Mexico did the same thing to me, on an even grander scale. I just couldn't get over the feeling that this is where we sent people to die as we drove through the state. I did like the Los Alamos area, but the desert just devastates me.) I got used to it after a while, but I still feel MUCH happier and more at home in green rolling hills with lakes and rivers every 5-10 miles.)