Farther along 16th street, past a barbershop offering Obama look-alike haircuts, Sylveta Hamilton-Gonzales, an African-American minister from Brooklyn, took in the scene from an outdoor cafe outside the Sheraton Hotel where she'd just checked in.

Hamilton-Gonzales is an official delegate, one of 5,000 at the convention. Beyond the things she was finding hard to believe in Denver — beginning with the pending historic nomination of a black person for president — was this: Here she was at 5,280 feet and she wasn't out of breath.

"The altitude hasn't affected me at all," she said, astounded. "I think it must be the adrenaline that is a result of coming to this wonderful place for this wonderful historic moment for the Democratic Party."

But Thursday night, when her vote is mingled with the thousands of others that will combine to officially nominate Obama for the presidency, she plans to be breathless.

I continued up 16th Street until it runs into Broadway just below the state Capitol, where the steps sit at exactly 5,280 feet. I turned left two blocks and arrived at the Warwick Hotel, the rather regal headquarters for the Utah delegation to the convention.

Inside the lobby, Bill Keshlear, director of communications for the Utah Democratic Party, had just taken the same walk I had up 16th Street.

"The Obama thing is contagious, absolutely contagious," he said of the crowds and the enthusiasm on the street. "There are a lot of like-minded people here, people who think more or less the same way. Everybody's definitely excited."

"It's like coming home," added Aaron Thompson, a political blogger from Utah, as he passed by. "There's a sense of comfort being around all these Democrats. We crossed the Continental Divide and found some balance."

Or at least a whole lot of Democrats.

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Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.