Fort Collins
Dec 11-19, 2021
Saturday, Dec 11 - Travel Day
Weather: Good weather for traveling. Sunny, not too cold for December.
Took limo to airport, flew American to Denver, rented a Malibu from Trifty and drove to Airbnd in Fort Collins (516 W Mountain Ave) just blocks from Old town and City Park. Travel all went smooth and on time.
Airbnb is nice. Newly renovated. Two bedrooms with super comfortable beds, nice living room area and an ok Kitchen. Hosts provided a bunch of snacks and even a bottle of wine.
Went to Lucky's and Target to pick up groceries. Then just relaxed and watched a couple of movies and had a pizza for dinner.
Sunday, Dec 12
Weather: Sunny warm 40 in am then got to near 60 in the afternoon. Nice!
I took a walk to City Park and walked around the ball fields and the lake for a nice morning hike (~5 miles). Took a few pictures. Saw lots of red squirrels chomping on seeds.
City Park
We drove back to the Denver airport to pick up Brittany. She is returning from a week (all expenses paid!) in Maui with Josh and his family. Josh and his family are staying longer so Brit took the long journey back by herself. Flight was on time and we headed back to Fort Collins.
It has been a year since we have seen Brit so it was really nice seeing her again and catching up.
We came back to the Airbnb and had a late lunch with Brit (Culvers) and hung around for awhile and watched some TV. Let in the afternoon we took Brit back to her apartment and she showed us her nice digs. Really nice place! Two bed/two bath that she shares with one roommate (Claire). The place is nearly brand new with a really nice kitchen with granite counters and nice cabinets. Claire and her have their own spaces and they have decorated the place really nice. Has a small balcony too. Very nice.
Kathryn and I came back to the airbnb relaxed and in the evening watched the Packers destroy the Bears on Sunday night football. Had yummy salads for dinner.
Monday, Dec 13
Weather: Another great day for December with a high of 52 partly sunny and light winds.
Brit is back to work today so we picked up Jimmy John's and met her for lunch. She only has a 1/2 hour so, we just ate in the car. It was nice.
Over Look Trail via Foothills Trail
After lunch we did a hike a few miles away. Over Look Trail via Foothills Trail (5 miles/593 elev/mod/O&B,Heavy Traffic). This was a great hike in great weather. The trail is used a lot by mountain bikers which is pretty amazing because there is a lot of elevation gain, steep sections and hairpin turns. In addition to the pictures I took a couple of short videos.
Dinner with Brit
In the evening Brit came over after work and Kathryn made tasty ruebens for dinner and we watched one of our Christmas favorites, Christmas with the Cranks. Fun.
Tuesday, Dec 14
Weather: Another great weather day in the mid fifties.
Kathryn had some work to do so we just hung out in the airbnd. I did do another walk to City Park (5 miles) while she was busy at work. Took a few pictures of some amazing cloud formations.
City Park
Dinner with Brit and Josh
We met Brit and Josh at The Farm House at Jessup Farms for dinner. We had an excellent meal and good company. For appetizers we had Pork Belly and Brussel Sprouts both delicious. For entrees Brit and Josh had Brit's go to dinner of Fried Chicken, Kathryn had a Pork Chop and I had Salmon. For dessert we shared bread pudding and bacon maple glazed donuts. All the food was outstanding, YUM.
Wednesday, Dec 15
Weather: Bad weather day today, rain in the morning and winds 20-30 gusting to 50 mph in the afternoon.
This changed our plans of going to Lory State Park. So, instead we hung out in the airbnd, did some travel planning for next year, wrapped presents and binged some TV.
Later in the afternoon when the wind calmed down Kathryn and I took another walk to City Park. The wind was still strong and cold.
Brittany came over for dinner and Kathryn made one of Brittany's favorites, Rigatoni and garlic bread! It was tasty! We watched another one of our annual Christmas movies, Home Alone, and had a quite night with Brit.
Thursday, Dec 16
Weather: has turned cold. 28 in the am getting to a high of 44 later. However, no rain and winds are light.
Lory State Park
We got here later in the afternoon so we just had time for one hike. This was challenging hike. Arthur's Rock (3.9/1100/O&B/Light Traffic) is not a very long hike but has an elevation gain of 1100 ft in 1.7miles. Excellent hike. Great views and good exercise.
Friday, Dec 17
Weather: A little cooler in the upper 30s and low 40s with winds at 10-20 mph.
Lory State Park
We went back to Lory State Park. Only about 25 minutes from our airbnb and has a lot of good hikes.
Shoreline and Quarry Ridge Trails
We hiked down to the Horsetooth Resevoir on Shoreline Trail (2/213/O&B/Light Traffic). The wind was pretty raw but it was a nice hike. Connecting to the shoreline trail was the Quarry Ridge Trail (1.4/240/Loop/No Traffic). When we were up on the ridge the wind was really blowing. Rather chilly but another nice hike.
Well Gulch Nature Trail
We drove back to the same picnic area we had lunch yesterday (Eltuck picnic area) and had our lunch in the car. This was also the trail head for Well Gulch Nature Trail (2.2/600/Loop/Light Traffic). This was a really cool hike up the gulch, up onto a ridge and then back down to the parking area. We extended the hike a little hiking up part of the way to the Timber trail head to get a little extra distance. Excellent hike and this one was nicely sheltered from the wind.
Christmas Presents!
In the evening, Brittany came back to open Christmas presents,
have dinner (burger and onion rings)
and watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Fun!
Saturday, Dec 18
Weather: Cold! 10deg at 8am but, sunny, no wind and low humidity so not too bad.
City Park
Final walk to and around City Park for this trip. Air was cool and crisp. Took a few more pictures just to show the lake getting more of a hard freeze with the recent colder weather. Not a cloud in the sky.
Brunch with Brit and Josh at the Waffle Lab
Kathryn and I walked to the restaurant and met Brit and Josh for a Christmas brunch at their favorite breakfast place the Waffle Lab. We all had good meals and were all ready for naps! Took a couple of pictures outside the restaurant.
This was our final visit with Brittany and Josh for this trip. We hugged and said our goodbyes. Always a bit sad as it will be awhile until we see each other again.
Sunday, Dec 19 - Travel Day
Weather: Cold and Clear no snow forecast for Denver or Chicago so should be good traveling weather.
Headed back to the Denver airport, flew to Ohare, limo home. Easy.
We got home in time to pick up Cutter at the dog day care. He was one happy Dog! We were two happy humans! We missed our Cutter.
This was a really good trip. We got to spend lots of time with Brit, celebrated an early Christmas with her and got to know Josh better. Kathryn thanked Josh for taking care of Brit. I told him he better keep taking care of Brit (I'm a Dad). He promised.
We also did a lot of really good hiking and had time to relax and binge a few movies as well. Great trip!
Home Sweet Home.