“When in doubt, get higher.”
--- Anonymous

是在一本旅游杂志的封面上看到这句话的。那是一幅广角照片，绵延不绝的落基山，残雪映着蓝天，云象大海中的排浪一般从山后涌起， 正中一块突兀的岩石上站着一个小小身影，背着背包凝眸远望。。。 那不正是老杜的名句吗？会当临绝顶，一览众山小。

当身处山中时，种种烦恼，横成岭侧成峰，怎么都看不透。一旦攀到山顶，面对未了青色，胸中阿臜之气顿时被山风荡尽，那是怎一个爽字了得？When in doubt, get higher.。即便doubt 仍在那儿，人的心胸却大不同了， 假如你曾在峰顶远眺并感悟过。

也许这句话更深一层的含义是指学识智慧get higher, 那却是一生一世的事了。趁着年轻，要赶紧呀，让双腿把你带往任何想去的地方。谁知什么时候，一场车祸就会让你永远拄上双拐，就象我妈妈那样，高跟鞋蒙尘，无限好风光只能在记忆中重温。

或者，不必问为什么。就当散个小步吧。地球这个小小花园，用来饭后百步走还是使得的。

上午10点左右汽车到达了Denver 的市中心。市容整洁，不象我朋友描写的那样恐怖。不过他已经20年没去过丹佛了。 这又是一个受《在路上》影响极大的人。在信中他这样描述丹佛：

I first traveled there when I was 17. After I graduated from high school, I decided not to go to college right away and spent a year traveling. I left my home town with two high school buddies, I
had a number of adventures before I even hit Denver, but when I got there I stayed for a few months. Mostly because I had run out of money. I got an apartment with one of my buddies on Colfax Avenue down in the Capitol Hill section. I don't know what that neighborhood is like now but when I was there it was "rough". It seemed everyone in that apartment house was young.

I think the average age was young 20s. The apartments were very cheap. The one we got was supposed to be $90 a month but we made a deal to do some work on it so it was only $30! Our friends and neigbors consisted of runaway teenagers, drug addicts and drug dealers, young male and female prostitutes, scammers, hucksters, and "street people" of one sort or another. There were muggings, and knife fights with Mexicans, craziness of one sort or another almost every night. I worked day jobs and odd jobs, spent some time working in an amusement park outside of town (Lake Side Park - it may not even be there any more). I learned a lot during my first stay in Denver, found a girlfriend there and eventually left town with her and one buddy. The three of us hitch hiked from Denver across the Rocky Mtns., through Utah, up through Yellow Stone Park, and into Montana (where I finally did celebrate my 18th birthday!) and then on to Seattle and down the
west coast to California.

他所描述的是70年代末的丹佛，比 Jack Kerouac 时代晚了20年, 却仍是流浪者心中的天堂。后来这个始终向往远方的人爱上了中国文化，并去哈佛念了个中国历史的博士。他对我最大的影响是在纽约教会了我包饺子。

当然，我也不能忘记1999年的夏天他去北京，在亚运村一家酒吧里，我对他拍案而起，咆哮着说，如果你们克林顿不就轰炸使馆这件事跟中国人道歉，我就不去你们美国！声犹在耳。幸好这件让人脸红的事儿没人再提起。

丹佛市中心有不少租车公司。租好车将行李箱放进去，就可以一身轻松地逛市容和博物馆了。16街有点儿象王府井，是个漂亮的步行商业街，只有免费的巴士在这里穿梭。气氛闲散宜人，轻风，花儿，三三两两的闲人坐着品咖啡。这时候你应该听罗大佑的一首歌：

风儿你在轻轻地吹
吹得那满园的花儿醉
风儿你要轻轻地吹
莫要吹落了我的红蔷薇。。。

在街角一家starbucks 外面的椅子上， 我一边牛饮咖啡，一边跟一个大学教授聊起了我明天要自己一个开车去rocky mountains NP, 领略那著名的trail ridge road 到底是何等美丽。这个老头儿略带惊讶地看了我一眼，嘱咐我千万要小心， 山上会很冷要穿羽绒服，我一一应下。

Denver History Museum 是一座独特的建筑，可惜我拍的照片丢了。以前生活在这片土地的印第安人说：The picture is the rope that ties memory solidly to the state of truth。 他们用他们古朴的图画 —那些简单的线条， 土法制的颜料，记录了他们的哭泣愤怒和挣扎，那些屠杀，鲜血从印第安骑手的头上淌下来，扣动来复枪的“白鸟”(white bird)。。。

去Denver Art Museum 时天已向晚，博物馆关门了。不过我一看宣传画上的展览介绍，又是法国印象派，也就兴味索然了。印象派的作品看得太多太多了，就像汤圆吃到了第35个，那叫一个腻！从纽约到费城到华盛顿，到处是莫奈的waterloo, water lily, 还有梵高的破靴子。印象派这个东西，真是象极了钞票，一样花花绿绿而且两者之间可以容易地相互转换。难怪美国人爱它。当然也不能一棍子打死，高更的作品我还是很喜欢的。