Over the last few weeks, I’ve had the chance to visit some of the most beautiful and unique towns in Colorado.

We’ve been towing the Heidi’s Colorful Colorado podcast trailer, which I affectionately call Betty Jean, after my late adventurous grandma, across the worn out highways, bumpy dirt roads and gorgeous, but steep, mountain passes.

I brought my girls along for a few days in the San Luis Valley (the water was running at the Sand Dunes!), took my team to Greeley (on the day of the flash floods!), spoke at the Barn in Evergreen and ate dinner with a hundred friends on a deck in Gypsum (with deer watching!).

I interviewed Kyle and Michelle, owners of a BBQ restaurant on main street in Alamosa, heard the story of Rattlesnake Kate from Holly, the head of the Greeley History Museum, and talked to Rich at the event in Evergreen about a new franchise he’s building focused on helping firefighters.

Then our family went all out for the fourth of July at the Monument parade, my hometown!

After a night of “glamping” on Monument Creek, the kids rode along in the podcast trailer waving to the thousands along the streets who attended, and busily handing out candy along the way. We then spent hours at our booth visiting with folks from across the state, and old friends stopping by to say Hi, including one of my best friends from high school, and a star CU football player from our town.

Here’s what I saw around Colorado:

Pride in our country, our flag, our traditions. Hard working small-business owners, ranchers and folks just doing their best to get by. Families of all nationalities, all religions, all races, all ages having fun, feeling joy — together. On the Fourth it warmed my heart to see the crowd clapping, saluting, celebrating veterans, police officers, fire fighters louder than ever before.

The pride people felt for their towns, for their neighbors, for our state, was palpable. The beauty of each place we visited, and the people who live there, reminded me again how blessed we are to live in such an awe-inspiring place, a community that cares for each other.

The diversity of the miles we drove was not lost on me. Colorado has the best of ALL worlds. The eastern plains, with our agricultural landscape. The western slope, with the lakes, streams, and wildlife we love. The mountains that spur tourism from all over the world. And our capital city with its skyscrapers that rise up to greet those arriving from the east.

Colorado is a special place, filled with people that come here to pump the spirit of the Wild, Wild West into their veins. People who want to go big! And help their neighbors go big, too.

My young parents wanted that when they moved us to Monument in 1978 in a baby blue pinto station wagon. Back then it was a town of just 3,000 people! I went to middle school, high school there and then college at CU. Colorado is my home, it’s where I’m raising my family.

It’s why I am so passionate about keeping that Wild West spirit alive and well here.

I remember when Colorado was undiscovered; there were no houses from Monument to Denver; I-25 had no traffic, and we could ski in 90 minutes from the Front Range. The focus was on the beautiful streams and forests and a community of people who looked out for each other, and still do.

I wish Colorado’s leaders would trust us to do just that. We know best how to care for each other, how to have fun together, how to help each other heal when things go bad. We don’t need the government constantly coming to our “rescue” or creating more and more bureaucracies, or rules, or taxes, or fees, or politician pet programs to fix things for us. If something’s broken, we can fix it just fine without a new government intervention. We have wonderful charities, social entrepreneurs and community partners doing great work.

In my travels I heard over and over, the people of our beautiful state saying enough is enough. As Reagan said, “the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” It never seems to end when they do help.

Small businesses, families and young people are ringing the alarm bell saying give us back control of our lives! We know what’s best for our families, our businesses, our community. We can fix problems better than bureaucrats. Because this is Colorado. It’s how we roll. It’s who we are.

Heidi Ganahl is a businesswoman, entrepreneur, author and at-large member of the University of Colorado Board of Regents, to which she was elected as a Republican in 2016.