More Retirement Activities in Fort Collins, CO.

I took the weekend off from blogging to spend it with my husband who has joined me here in Fort Collins, CO. Friday night was FC’s First Friday Gallery Walk and we went to a couple of galleries in the Old Town area. It’s nice to see so many people of all ages walking around town in the evenings. There are a surprising number of bicycles parked in bike racks, too, even in the winter. Of course, there’s no snow on the ground, but it is chilly, especially riding a bike. Fort Collins is a bike friendly town and the residents seem to be less car dependent here.

On Saturday, we walked across town to look at a home on the west side of Colorado State University, about 2.2 miles from where we are staying. We stopped along the way for coffee and on the return trip, we stopped for lunch. Walking across campus, we passed by a CSU women’s fastpitch softball game, which was a trip down memory lane for us. Our daughter used to play in high school. We love the game. We could picture ourselves attending college sporting events here... 

Back downtown, we walked around a bit and decided to check out a local brewery. We had promised our friends back in Atlanta that we’d go to Odell Brewing Co. and send them a picture from the brewery. It didn’t look too far on the map, so we decided to walk. After sampling all of Odell’s beers, we walked a little further up the road to Fort Collins Brewery for more beer. Having walked off our lunch by this time, we were in the mood for some food. Unfortunately, neither of these breweries offers food. FCB had some bagged snacks, but we were looking for something a little more substantial to fill our stomachs and absorb some of the alcohol. We talked about all the local food producers I’d met at the farmer’s market and all the ready made products… buffalo sausage and cheese, fresh tortilla chips and salsa, a burrito or tamale… that could be available to those like us (and we were not alone) who were doing the beer crawl out Lincoln Avenue. We mentioned food to the man sitting next to us at the bar, Reed, who had actually written a restaurant business plan for the owners of FCB. Clearly, we were not the only ones thinking about food. A restaurant is a big leap into the food business, however. Maybe the owners could start small by offering locally prepared items, so they don’t have to have a prep kitchen. Perhaps another innovative partnership between businesses... capture the tourist market with not only the local breweries, but with the local foods, too. Just a thought…

My husband and I did not make it to the next brewery on the road: Funkwerks. It was getting late and that was much further. Besides, we’d caught sight of a bus earlier and a ride back to town sounded pretty good after a day of walking and an afternoon of beer tasting. Having transit available on this route by the local breweries is an outstanding idea. With all that beer and no food, we certainly did not want to get behind the wheel!

Thumbs up for all the local beers available in Fort Collins and for transit that takes you to most, if not all, of the breweries. Many are located downtown and the bus that we caught back into town, route 14, would’ve taken us out to Funkwerks, but we didn’t know it. Even New Belgium Brewing is an easy walk from Old Town. So, if you’re in FC and want to visit the local breweries, consider taking transit or walking. Park the car and leave the driving to someone else. You’ll be glad you did and others will, too.



My husband, Mark, enjoying Odell beers.