Car Culture in Colorado
A brief glimpse at the cars, trucks,
roads, and society in the Denver/Boulder region
[Note: my business-and-play vacation to
Colorado spanned four days, enough to get a taste and enough to leave
me wanting more. Though the following observations are limited to
Denver, Boulder, Golden and the surrounding mountains, it was pretty
easy to get a sense of the area's car culture from these few places.
Things may be different elsewhere (and if they are someone should
tell me otherwise) but the following is what I gathered from my
far-too-short stay.]
4Runners. 4Runners everywhere. I must
have laid eyes on more of these Toyota SUVs in ninety-six hours than
the rest of my life combined. Colorado is teeming with them, and the
best part is that about half are lightly modified and sit on fairly
aggressive tires, the kind best suited to the mountains and less so
to basic civilian chores. A fairly clear representation of the vehicular
populous in itself, the dirt-covered, not-washed-in-a-while 4Runner
handily describes the function over form mentality maintained by most
drivers. People out in the Denver/Boulder region thoroughly enjoy outdoors
activities and vehicles are the means to their madness. And while I
expected so much, it was something that struck an entirely different
chord in person rather than in my feeble little imagination. I'm
being too narrow-scoped though: this doesn't start and end with the
4Runner, it's just the tip of the iceberg and what I'm using as a
symbol for car culture as a whole.
Continue reading after the jump...
