I’m headin out to Colorado next week to stay with a friend and have never been there… any suggestions, opinions, etc. on Fort Collins??
It’s beautiful foothills country.
This is more of an MPSIMS thing, so I’ll move it.
Take a drive up to Estes Park nice little town, kind of touristy. Shop, people watch, have a drink at The Wheel Bar . Go up through Rocky Mountain National Park. Awesome scenery
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Mr. Pug and I drove through there about three years ago when we were toying with the idea of moving to Boulder. We liked Fort Collins WAY better than Boulder. It was just the right size for a town, and hadn’t gotten carried totally away with being hip and quaint. We stopped at CooperSmith’s Brewery & Pub, where we had one of the best burgers I ever ate (high plains beef, you know). Another good and interesting brewery was the New Belgium Brewing Co., brewers of Fat Tire Ale.
Use FC as a base of operations and see Rocky Mountain National Park, like Sn-man suggested; it’s gorgeous. Another fun road trip is to Cheyenne, Wyoming, a sho-nuff dyed in the wool cowboy town. Boulder has a lot of nice restaurants and shops, and there’s always Denver if you want to see a game at Coors Field.
Fort Collins is a very cool town. I live about 20 miles south. I agree with pugluvr, it’s got a lot of the good things that Boulder has, only it’s based in the real world.
Check out the downtown pedestrian mall area, and have a chili beer at Coopersmiths. Drive up Poudre Canyon to the Michiwaka (sp?) Inn for good hippy music, and a gorgeous mountain drive - one of the best, IMO. Also check out New Belgium. If you’re into beer, drive down to Longmont and check out the Lefthand Brewery. Between the two, you’ll have sampled some of the best Colorado beers.
Ft. Collins is what Boulder pretends to be.
It’s a cool college town surrounded by mostly farming stuff. People are totally laid back and fun. Can’t give you too many specifics, since I have never lived there, just a fair amount of visiting. For Bars, Washington’s is good, as are most of the ones around old town. Old town in general is a good hanging out, restaurant, bar, shopping, meeting people kind of area.
See if there are any good shows at Mishawaka (It’s a medium size concert place about 15 miles out of town up the Poudre canyon that’s a blast. Camping and fishing are great around there too if your kind of thing, but out of state licenses are kind of expensive. The town also has lots of frisbee golf courses, which is a fun way to spend a lazy summer weekend afternoon before hitting the bar.
Yes, I went to CSU and lived in Ft. Collins for 5 years. (Graduated in '96) LOVE that town! It has been growing quickly but still has that nice small-town collegey feel to it. I go back when I can, at least for some football games.
Definitely stroll around Old Town. Lots of neat little bars and shops and stuff. Washington’s Bar is also a good place to eat–VERY casual, great burgers, and it turns into an interesting dance club (downstairs) later at night. Maybe you can still get a picher of beer for 25 cents if you go on the right night.
If you want a great bagel, go to Rocky Mountain Bagels. It’s on Elizabeth street, just West of the campus. Best bagels I ever had.
Oh, and Mishawaka is really fun too. Beautiful! It has an amphitheater and concerts all summer so you might want to see if there’s anyone playing that you’re interested in.
Don’t forget to honk and wave when you go by the Kappa Delta house!
[oops…I see on preview that wolfman has beat me to some of my suggestions…oh well, this is reinforcement]
Grew up there. Lovely town, not spoiled by tourists and pretension. Other than Estes Park (Which I heartly second as great place to go), there are recreation areas around Horsetooth resevior, lots of college-hangout type places in town, including a microbrewery that brews jalepeno-flavored beer (It’s better than it sounds!), there’s Grand Junction not too far up into the mountains, there’s also Rocky Mountain National Park, and lots of other good hiking/camping spots.
Mrs. Tranq and I honeymooned there, and I got to show her the story of my life. She understands me very well, and can relate to my childhood stories. Hell, she got to know the town so well that she sometimes corrects my memory.
The last time I was there was in '95, when my sister got her DVM from CSU. It was the same as I remembered, except there were a few more people, a couple of new B&Bs in town, and a massive new library.
I strongly Ft. Collins for a good place to visit.
Lived there for a couple of years. Everyone else said what I was going to say, so I’ll leave it at that. Think of Boulder without the utter proliferation of pretentiousness, uberjocks or folks who think of leftism and Tibetan liberation as a fashion statement, and you’ll have Fort Collins. Crime is virtually nonexistent, the streets and parks are clean, and the development south of Old Town takes on a form of “kinder, gentler sprawl” - no billboards, gaudy signs or tacky franchise architecture. The city’s largest industries are technology and craft brewing; you WILL drink mass quantities of Fat Tire and 90 Shilling. Tell the folks at Starry Night and Coopersmith’s I said “hi!”
Shortcomings – very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very Caucasian. We’re talking a paler shade of white, folks – lots of folks who relocated to the Fort from the Lutheran Midwest (oof-da!), with few blacks among the general population. You’re not going to get arrested if you’re “driving while black,” nor subject to racial slurs, though, if you’re African-American. As residents say, “it’s a nice place to raise a family or go to college,” meaning “if you’re single, good luck!” There’s not too many Gen X-aged single folks living in Fort Fun, excepting grad students. If you move there, prepare for sticker shock with real estate prices; it’s expensive, although not quite as bad as Boulder or Denver. Lots of folks commute from Loveland or Weld County, which are still pricey but not yet out of reach.