2018 Fall Western Trip: Fort Collins, Colorado

Wednesday, 9/19:  180 miles and parked at the Lakeside KOA in Fort Collins, Colorado

Site 32.

We arrived at the KOA right at 1:30 after a pleasant and uneventful drive.  We will park here for 5 nights, with lots of friends and family to visit.   It was sunny and 80 degrees and after set up we sat on the paved patio and had a drink.  The weather forecast was calling for late afternoon thunderstorms.  So I decided to walk the dogs early.  This campground has a gorgeous private lake with about a 3/4 mile walking path that is perfect for dog walking.

At the end of dog walking, I heard thunder rumbling.  I got back just in time!!  About 15 minutes later, all Hell broke loose with a hail storm.  It didn't last long, but it sure was a doozy.

Fortunately, there was no serious damage.  We had shrimp and pasta for dinner, then an evening of TV and reading.

Thursday, 9/20:

After a rainy night, it turned out to be another sunny and 80 degree day today.  This is going to be our slow down day and do a few chores.  First we paid a few bills online, or over the phone.
then we went shopping for supplies.  Groceries, beer and wine were on the list.  After shopping, we we went to the Red Truck Brewery for lunch and a brew.  Red Truck is a new, yet old brewery.  Red Truck bought the former Fort Collins Brewery.  We were at FCB a few years ago, and were not terribly impressed.  Anyway, Red Truck has completely turned the place around.  We had lunch about 1:30 and there was a small crowd there.  The staff is super friendly.  We had a nice time.  Later in the day, after we were home and settled in, Judy discovered she was missing her credit card.  She called Red Truck, and sure enough, they had it.  She had left it in the processing machine when she purchased a T-shirt.  So back we went at about 4:30 to pick it up.  Holy cow!!  There was a huge after work crowd there having a great time.  It looks like Red Truck will make a go of it.

After hitting the Red Truck today, dinner was snacks and popcorn.  We ended the night reading and watching TV

Friday, 9/21:

It was a brisk 52 degrees and sunny this morning.  We decided to do laundry this morning.  The KOA has a great laundromat and not many were using it, so we did three loads in a little over an hour.  For lunch we decided to go to Odells Brewery.  Odells has been one of our regular stops when in Fort Collins.  It was a warm and sunny afternoon, and the place was packed.  They have a gorgeous outdoor patio area, along with a couple of food trucks, and we spent a pleasant couple of hours there. It seems that food trucks are very popular in Fort Collins and almost every brewery has them, usually several different ones during the week.

Then back to the camper for naps.  About 5:30 we headed over to good friends, Tanya and Dean for dinner.  Tanya is the daughter of our Wisconsin friends, Dave and Ann Wright.  We have known her since birth.  In fact, she has the rare distinction of having Gouverneur listed as her birth place on her birth certificate. Years ago, I attended their wedding and made the champagne for the reception.  We spent a wonderful couple of hours catching up with them.  We had so much fun chatting,  I forgot to take a group photo.  Damn!!

I forgot to take a group photo.  :-(  This is from October of 2015.
We're now all a little older and hopefully, little wiser.  :-)

We were back home by 8:00 for some TV and bed.

Saturday, 9/22:

Yep, another crisp and sunny morning.  50 degrees when I woke.   Over the last several days, I discovered some "dead tree art" on the dog walking trail around the lake.  What a cool idea.  Here are just a few of the more than 15 examples I found.

After some dog walking, paying bills online, and reading time, we were off to meet Judy's cousin, Denise, for lunch at the Blue Agave in the Old Town section of Fort Collins.  The lunch was amazing, and we had a wonderful time catching up with Denise.

Judy and Denise

After our 2 hour lunch, we parted ways with promises to meet again.  On the way home, we made a brewery stop at New Belgium.   New Belgium is famous for their Fat Tire beer, but they make dozens of other varities as well.  Our friend Tanya works for New Belgium.  This brewery is one of our regular stops when in Fort Collins.  New Belgium is unique in that it is 100% employee owned.  It was a warm and sunny afternoon and the place was mobbed.  The crowd was young, hip, and everyone had dogs.   We were also the oldest couple there.  :-)

Then it was back to the camper for a campfire and some reading.  Today was another fun day.

Sunday, 9/23:

Yep, this morning was yet agin, another crips and sunny morning.  We met my niece, Jen, and her soon to be husband, Dave at Left Hand Brewing in Longmont.  Longmont is about an hour derive south of Fort Collins.  They live in the Denver area, and are brew pub fans.  Judy and I like craft breweries as well, so it was a great meeting place.  Left Hand turned out to be a fun stop, and it's always great to connect with Jen and Dave.

Judy and I with Jen, Dave and their daughter, Annika.

We were back home by 3:00.  At 6:00 we met Judy's cousin Denise again.  This time for pizzas, and she brought her kids and grandkids for us to meet.  It was a fun gathering.

Tomorrow we leave Fort Collins and toward Boise, Idaho.