Sporadic flashes of intense blue light

We were driving to Steamboat springs late in the evening (xmas eve) and im not certain of the year but it was either 89 or 90. We were south of steamboat x number of miles.  Way up in the Rocky mountains of Colorado. The highway was deserted, no other cars in sight, very clear night, all of the stars were visible. Suddenly a big male deer, a buck with a huge rack, was slowly walking onto the road directly in the path we were traveling. I was in the passenger seat. The driver of the car put the breaks on and started steering into the other lane so we wouldn’t hit the deer. That scared me a lot but we barley missed it. Just a few seconds, maybe 5 seconds, later the entire area all around us lit up with blue colored flashes of light.  The flashes were very bright, lighting up everything, I remember the shadows that were casting from trees and rocks and stuff as very noticeable.  There was not a pattern in the timing of the flashes of the lights. The flashes were a few quick ones, a 1 second delay then another flash, then another delay something like 2 more flashes then another delay and then an abundance intense flashes and so on. It seemed to be coming from above car and to the left and high enough to light up everything in the area very well and way out in front of us 1000’s of yards and all directions (front left and right from where I sat).  I was yelling at my roommate, the driver to stop because I knew there was something awesome outside and really wanted to see it.  My roommate was scared and sped up, running away from whatever it was. We argued for a few minutes, then started trying to figure out what it could have been.