Colorado

I have tall mountains with snowy tops that look like they are tickling the clouds. My grassy plains are so wide that big, fluffy bison used to run across them for days. I wear a beautiful coat made of green forests, bright red rocks, and rivers that sparkle like blue jewels in the sun. All year long, the sunshine makes me feel warm and happy. I am a big, beautiful land full of wonder. I am Colorado, the Centennial State.

For thousands and thousands of years, my first friends lived here. The Ute, Arapaho, and Cheyenne people knew all my secret paths and cared for me very much. They hunted on my plains and fished in my rivers, living with the seasons. They knew which plants were good for medicine and which berries were sweet to eat. Long, long ago, around the year 1200, another group called the Ancestral Puebloans built amazing homes right into my cliffs. You can still see them today. They look like little towns tucked safely into the rock at a special place called Mesa Verde.

One day, new visitors started to arrive. In 1806, an explorer named Zebulon Pike saw one of my tallest mountains. He tried very hard to climb it, but there was too much deep snow. He thought he would never get to the top. But today, that mountain is named Pikes Peak, just for him. A little later, in 1858, something shiny was found in my streams. It was gold. People got so excited. Soon, they were rushing here from all over, shouting, “Gold. We found gold.”. They built new towns that grew very fast, like the city of Denver. It was a very exciting and busy time for me.

All those new towns and people helped me grow up. On August 1st, 1876, I officially became the 38th state in the United States. That was exactly 100 years after the country was born. That’s why people call me 'The Centennial State.' Centennial is a big word for a 100th birthday. Today, I am a place for adventure. People come to ski down my snowy mountains in the winter and hike through my green forests in the summer. I love watching everyone have fun and dream big. Come visit me and reach for the sky.