The Fort Collins Trolley

One of the things we had to do on our trip back to Fort Collins was take a ride on the trolley.  We rode on it once or twice when we lived in Fort Collins, and since it's so unique and fun we had to ride it again. 

The Trolley is open on Saturdays and Sundays, as well as holidays during the summer months.  It runs from City Park along Mountain Avenue to Howes Street, just west of Old Town Fort Collins.

The trolley is a huge hit with most kids.  Ours was a little nervous, but ended up enjoying the ride right at the end.

After everyone got off, I lingered a little longer to take pictures of the inside.  They've done a wonderful job restoring the trolley.  One cool thing is the seat backs slide so they change direction, depending on what direction the trolley is going. 

The trolley is at the top of the list of things to see and do in Fort Collins.  If you visit in the summer months over a weekend take a trolley ride! 

Nearest City: Fort Collins, CO
Location: City Park, Fort Collins and along Mountain Avenue
Time Needed: 30 minutes- 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Kid Friendly: Yes
Additional Info:  www.fortnet.org/trolley  Cost $2/Adult  $1/Kids & Seniors  The tickets are round-trip.
The trolley runs from noon -5 PM, so if you're riding from the downtown end, it's best to catch your ride before 4-4:30.  One even better thing we heard was that the Trolley can be chartered for special groups or occasions.  It costs $45/hour and can hold 28 people at one time.  This would be awesome for a family reunion or other large group activity!

The Gardens on Spring Creek

Yesterday we went for a visit to the Gardens on Spring Creek. It's a city owned garden, about half a mile south of the CSU Campus.


They have a flower garden, kids garden, fruit trees, and gardens with a sampling of crops grown in different areas of the world.


The fruit trees are all small right now, but in a few years will be quite impressive.
There is also a nature walk area with a small pond, native vegetation, etc. The lillys in the pond were really pretty.

Nearest City:Fort Collins, CO

Address: 2145 Centre Avenue, Fort Collins

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Time Needed: 1 hour

Difficulty: Easy

Kid Friendly: Yes

Additional Info: Free* (Suggested donation $2 each, or $5/family) Gardens on Spring Creek

They have a pickup spot for free mulch/woodchips at the back of the parking lot. 1 Free load per day for homeowners.

The Cozy Cow Dairy

We had a little trip out to the Cozy Cow Dairy to watch the cows get milked. Unfortunately, we were too late. We'll have to go earlier next time.


There is also a little store where you can buy dairy treats such as ice cream, cheese, milk, eggs, etc.

There's a farm animal petting zoo on site as well.
Nearest City: Windsor, CO

Address: 28607 CR 17, Windsor, CO 80550
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Time Needed: 30 minutes - 1 hour

Difficulty: Easy

Kid Friendly: Yes

Additional Info: The Cosy Cow Dairy Website

The Farm at Lee Martinez Park

We finally made it to the farm at Lee Martinez park. It's a farm/petting zoo here in Fort Collins. They have all sorts of farm animals and a collection of old farm machinery. It was fun seeing the animals and petting a few of them.

The calf was one of our favorites. We just missed watching momma cow get milked, but they took the milk bucket and fed it to the calf. It was pretty cool. The farm closes about 5, so if you're there right about that time, you might be able to see the cow get milked too.

We liked the old tractor

The kids were running around in their pen as well.

This cow is extremely friendly.

The animals we saw were: horses, cows, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, and a goose.

Nearest City: Fort Collins, CO
GPS Coordinates: N 40° 35.695 W 105° 05.120
Time Needed: 2 hours or so
Difficulty: Easy
Kid Friendly: Yes
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Cost: $2.50/person

Snow Boats on Lovers Day

So it was Ashley's turn to post something, but she doesn't know what to say. Bah- humbug I say! She has a lot to say, but doesn't know how to quite say it. If I were Ashley and writing this post, I would start out by saying how flirty my husband is and how much I love him. Then I would proceed to tell everyone how he had made me breakfast in bed on Valentine's Day- pink pancakes kindof shaped like hearts (then I'd say in parenthesis like this: nice try honey!) with strawberries and whipped cream. Then I would say how tasty everything was- even the strawberry milk that was a little too sweet.

Ben has been telling me how fun snowshoeing is for a long time, but we never had gone. Last week we decided that this was the weekend for it. Since Ben has a pair of snowshoes, we borrowed a pair from some of our friends for me, and headed up the canyon to go snowshoeing! We drove up and up and up. Then we drove some more up. Where is the snow? Where is the beautiful Colorado snow I say? It is not here, it is not there, I wonder if it's anywhere! We had to drive for over an hour to get to snow. That's the first and last time we will go snowshoeing this winter- it was really fun, but it's too far of a drive.


Anyway, I think that's a good start and Ashley can know what to say now.


Hmmm... okay. Thanks for the good start Ben. Well, first off, the pancakes were really tasty and cute. I especially liked being woken up with them since the night before we had been on a hot date down in Denver and gone to a fancy restaurant then gotten home super late. So, he let me sleep in :). I have the best husband ever! I love you Ben!


Then as Ben said, we went snowshoeing! It was a lot of fun... but a lot harder than it looks! I kept making Ben stop to let me rest... it is crazy how far down you still sink even with the snowshoes on. Although it isn't nearly as far as you would sink without them on. Ben was cute and brought Hot Chocolate and snacks for our wanderings in the snow. And they sure did give us energy and keep us warm. It was a great day!

There is nothing like Hot Chocolate to warm you from the inside out!

Elken- notice- no snow

Nearest City: Laporte, CO
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Corn Maze!

On Friday night we went to a corn maze with some of our friends kids. Corn Mazes are the best-- they definitely help to bring the fall spirit. We went when it was still light out so we didn't have scary people and clowns jumping out at us and scaring us out of our skins. Everyone else was waiting until dusk to go through, but we didn't want to have some scared kids on our hands. A few points throughout the maze there were tunnels. We wandered around lost and found lots of dead ends, a few loops, and eventually found our way out. The kids were ready to be done as we approached the end. It was a lot of fun!



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Rocky Mountain National Park

On Saturday we went up to Rocky Mountain National Park. We'd thought about going up there for a while, but decided to wait until fall when the leaves were changing and the crowds were less. We were wrong about the crowds- it was free admission, so a few more people than ususal were swarming the park. Grandma & Grandpa Nygaard came on their honeymoon to Estes Park, so they've also been asking if we've been up yet. Now we have!

We drove up the Trail Ridge Road first. It's the highest paved road in the U.S- topping out at over 12,000 feet. We got out and walked around up on the high-altitude tundra for a while before dropping down to lower elevations.

Along the way we enjoyed the aspens in their many shades of color- everything from lush green, to light green, bright yellow, and brilliant orange (my personal favorite).

We went for a hike to a waterfall, and then hiked around a bit. The chipmunks are well tamed up there. We sat down for a break/snack and two chipmunks ran over and started begging for food and crawling all over. We laughed at their antics and kindof enjoyed them until they started crawling up Ashley's jacket- what aggressive little beggars!

Chipmunk looking for a nut.
Elk! They are kinda hard to see in this picture, but they are there... look closely.

Look at the leaves.
Help -I can't breathe up here!

Alberta Falls

Yeah for National Public Lands Day!!!

Nearest City: Estes Park, CO
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Vedauwoo

On August 1 we headed up to Vedauwoo in Wyoming with some friends from our ward. They are experienced rock climbers and Ben wanted to learn how to climb, and I was scared! Friday night we got up there and just wandered around a bit, fixed up dinner, and told stories at our campsite... and Saturday we learned how to climb....

Cool rock formations behind us

Kevin and Cata cooking dinner at the campsite

The sunrise view from our tent

Ben's first rappel down the clam shell

Ben climbing the crack

Ben smearing up the rock

The experts. Susan belaying with Dale coaching

Almost there

Starting out

Getting over the bump on my first climb... Scary!!

Me climbing the crack

Ben's last rappel

Me rappeling down

We did it, and we are alive to tell about it! Even though I was really scared it was a blast. Now we are thinking about going again :)

Nearest City: Laramie, WY
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Fort Collins Municipal Railway

We found out that the Fort Collins Trolley was giving free rides today, so we walked up to the closest stop and waited for 3 minutes before we heard the "Clang Clang" of the bell announcing that it was coming. WOOT WOOT! We totally rode on the way cool trolley! It's over 100 years old and since being restored has had over 200,000 riders. Normal fare is $1 for adults, and we decided that it would be well worth it. It was just cool to go out for a ride! We had the trip to and from City Park to ourselves (except for our 2 conductors). We even got to ring the trolley bell- it's a foot pedal that you have to stand on. There's probably 2 miles of track. If you want to know more, let us know. If any of you come and visit us in the summer we'll totally go out for a ride.

HOTTIE!
Outside

The"dogcatcher" will swing up if the front boards are tripped- giving someone a ride on the front of the trolley.

The inside. The backs of the benches can alternate, changing the way people are facing.


Nearest City: Fort Collins, CO
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