Fort Collins and Laramie

Fort Collins, Colorado may be my favorite weekend getaway spot. I can't say enough good things about this wonderful town! We arrived Thursday afternoon and thought we'd check out Old Town for a lunch spot. As soon as we arrived, we found out that we were 10 minutes away from the start a Reading Flash Mob. So much fun - we grabbed a free book (which we got to take home), popped a squat around the fountain, and read for 15 minutes. Simple enough. So I found a great little Meg Cabot paperback for Bridget and read aloud to her. A photographer from the Coloradian even took our picture. Unfortunately, another picture made it's way into the newspaper the next morning...but we still had great fun!


Headed over to Coopersmith's brewery off the main square and I had the most delicious vegetarian burrito and a great ale.
Settled into the hotel, scouted around the town, then dinner at Uncle's Pizza where B slept on my lap would round out nicely our first day in Fort Collins. 

Friday began with a trip to Firehouse Books for B to get a Fancy Nancy book and to pose in front of Ladybug Girl picture. If you remember, we dressed as Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy for our Albuquerque 10k costume race in 2010. Firehouse Books is also interesting because the gentleman who designed Disneyland's Old Town Main Square used this building as well as Fort Collins as his basis for style and design.


After we drug B out of the bookstore, we headed over to Fort Collins Bike Library and rented fixie bikes so we could enjoy Fort Collins on 2-wheels. We somehow managed to pile on 12 miles with those little legs of B's. We stopped at Cheba Hut on the Colorado State University campus for yummy subs where Greg told me the meaning of 420. What rock have I been under all these years? And George, quit laughing!


After completing all those exhausting miles on a bike with no gears, we decided we needed a beer. Off to New Belgium Brewery we pedaled! The tour was all booked up, but we got lucky when someone didn't show up and got in to the tour within 15 minutes of arriving. Awesome tour with great samples of Abbey Ale and my new favorite, Shift beer in a can. I have seriously become a fan of this brewery.

Since B was such a sport, we then treated her to ice cream at the uber expensive Walrus ice cream store. Greg is still in shock with the $9 price tag for 3 small cones! But the girl earned her ice cream today!

Dinner was at Rio Grande, a mexican restaurant. After an hour wait, we ravaged the chips and salsa like we hadn't been fed in 5 days! I inhaled so much salsa that I was barely hungry enough to enjoy my spinach enchiladas. And poor B was almost asleep from her exhausting day and long restaurant wait. Time to go home, set the alarm and get ready to run!

The drive to Laramie on Saturday was interesting. We both commented on how beautiful the West is when driving. We even saw a gazelle running! Race was simply fantastic (except for the searing lungs) and can be read here. 

I had emailed the race director requesting breakfast spot recommendations and she really delivered. At her request, we tried out Turtle Rock coffee for great coffee and delicious breakfast sandwiches. Greg got the chorizo, eggs and potato wrap and I got the peanut butter crunch wrap with PB, granola, bananas and drizzled honey. Mmmm! I'll definitely try to make this sandwich again at home!

After the race at Bridget's request, we went back to Firehouse Books for another Fancy Nancy book. And at Greg's request, we headed over to Odell's brewery for some sampling. Talk about luck. Instead of a brewery tour, we got there just in time to enjoy Wendy Woo performing while enjoying so many wonderful beverages! Since it was now raining outside, a brewery with a band was a perfect place to plant ourselves.
 

Fort Collins was fantastic and very kid-friendly. We were a little nervous at first wondering if we'd have enough to do over the 3 days, but nicely filled the units. The food, entertainment and people are some of the best we've found in our travels. We couldn't believe our luck in stumbling across a reading flash mob. We loved our time at all three breweries. And, most of all, I loved that we got to enjoy family time on 2-wheels. 

Can't wait for the next adventure!