Bush tours heartland extolling character, values

Bush: "We can teach our children values that'll make an enormous difference for our country as a whole."

ESTES PARK, Colorado (CNN) -- President Bush began a two-day trip to Colorado and New Mexico on Tuesday, making his first stop at a YMCA day camp in the Rocky Mountains where he picnicked with parents and children and extolled the virtues of family values and character education.

"The spirit of America is found in the character of our citizens, the value base that makes America, I think, such a different kind of place," Bush said in his remarks at the picnic. America, he said, is "... a country that values family and friendship, a place where people learn values and character."

The trip to Colorado offered the president a respite from the arid heat of his ranch in Texas, where he is on vacation through August, and it offered him an opportunity to refocus the themes of inclusiveness he sounded when he ran for office on last year.

VIDEO Watch President Bush's speech at YMCA camp in Colorado - Part 1 (August 14) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Bush's speech - Part 2 (August 14) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

On Wednesday, Bush will attend a back-to-school event at an Albuquerque, New Mexico, school before returning to Texas.

"We can teach our children values that'll make an enormous difference for our country as a whole," he said.

"The values of respect -- respect the land, respect somebody with whom you may not agree, respect your neighbor regardless of where they were raised or where they were born, respect somebody else's religious views. Be willing to listen."

Before his stop at the YMCA camp, Bush visited nearby Rocky Mountain National Park where he helped workers making trails and cutting low-hanging branches as part of a fire prevention effort.

Later in the day, he was scheduled to fly to Denver to attend a fund raiser for GOP Sen. Wayne Allard, whose seat has been targeted by Democrats, and for Gov. Bill Owens.

Bush was then scheduled to go see the Colorado Rockies play the Atlanta Braves.