Take Me To Post Comment Form The National Geographic Channel is doing an excellent series right now on the "biography" of Earth, and they aired a special recently about the Rocky Mountains.

The Rockies are the highest and youngest mountain range in North America, shoved up out of the ground by massive tectonic plates colliding. Someday, erosion will wear them down and they'll look just like the Appalachians, the oldest mountain chain in the United States.

I will soon be going out West, as I do every summer. Even though I have been to Colorado many times, I always marvel at the stark contrast between the Western and Eastern ecosystems. Having grown up in the Southeast, I love how lush and green it is here. I'm grateful for our dense deciduous forests that are havens for biodiversity.

Colorado is dry, dry, dry. If you think the drought in Georgia looks bad, try going out West. The only areas that are moist and green are those fed by snowmelt. And you won't see a great variety of trees; everything is pretty much some type of pine, or else it's an aspen.

Yet the West has its own charms: the wide open range, the meadows filled with wildflowers, the canyons and mesas and sharp 14,000-foot peaks. There is magic there, and ample room for solitude and contemplation.

Though I am always happy to come back to Georgia, I love my time out West as well. I'll have much more to tell you when I get back.