It rained and it rained some more, and it began to look like the Folks Festival was going to be a bust. But we dug out our rain gear and warmer clothes and walked to the festival grounds (about 15 minutes from where we were parked) to check out the scene. Once we arrived, we knew that we wanted to be there. Jim, Beanie, Macy and her boyfriend Cody met us there for a late afternoon and evening of good music. The sound quality at Planet Bluegrass made Greg Brown sound as good as we always wanted him to when we heard him in Santa Cruz County.
A side note about our wonderful hosts. Brian and Liz Erley are a wonderful, fun-loving, generous couple that we had the good fortune of meeting while camped with Mike and Westi outside Zion early on in our Journey. They live in Lyons and run an optical shop in Boulder called Wink. They opened their home to us and welcomed us as if we were family. A full post could easily have been dedicated just to their beautiful landscaping and whimsical and charming lawn art. The life-size abstract metal burro really upset Dottie!
After Sunday breakfast with Brian and Liz, we made our way to Fort Collins, setting up on the curb in front of Jim and Beanie’s. Little Feat was playing a concert at the New West Festival downtown, so we all walked down to listen (and enjoy a margarita). Braden came up from Denver to join us. Monday, Braden and Macy took us up to the site of the infamous April Fool’s tragedy of 2004, when their home burned as a result of a neighbor’s backyard-burn-gone-bad. It was the first time Macy had seen it since the fire. Over the course of the next 5 days, we fell in love with Fort Collins, at least “Old Town”, the section of town where we stayed. Walking distance to downtown, biking distance to most everything else and the most bike-friendly, dog-friendly place we have ever been. Fort Collins City government, as well as the community, seem to have truly embraced bicycling as an alternative transportation option. The City has a dedicated staff position (bicycle coordinator), there are bike paths, in addition to bike lanes and even a bicycle library (where anyone with a valid ID and a credit card can check out a bike and accessories for free). On Jim and Beanie’s street, it seemed as if as many bikes went by as cars. When Braden’s friends came by to pick him up to check out the bars, they showed up on bikes! Did I mention dog-friendly? The city has two off leash parks, and for a community just under 130,000, that’s pretty good. The city has an annual event, the Pooch Plunge, which we were lucky enough to attend. The last two days of the season, the pool at City Park goes to the dogs, literally! Somewhere between 100 and 200 dogs swimming, using the slides, fetching toys, and generally frolicking together! Noche and Zoe (the cutest ever Doberman!) had a great time, not to mention how much fun it was for Laura and Beanie. (Laura couldn’t watch dogs and handle a camera simultaneously so we don’t have photos but you can watch video of 2006 and 2007 Pooch Plunges.)
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves visiting with Jim and Beanie, getting a glimpse into their lives, seeing Macy growing into a lovely young woman, and hanging out in their neighborhood, where everybody seems to know everybody, and people are warm and friendly. We supported Fort Collins local economy too. We were able to find a number of products that we’d been looking for along the way: a specialty replacement lock for the bike rack, a wind screen for the campstove and new navigational software, as well as stocking up at Whole Foods (aka Whole Paycheck) before leaving town.
We stayed a couple of days longer than originally planned in order to repair the damage to the rack holding the solar array. The replacement parts were originally sent to the wrong address, so it took an extra day for them to come, and by the time they did arrive, it was really too late in the day to make sense pulling out. Oh well, another night with the Grieser’s, and a yummy breakfast compliments of Jim, made the delay a welcome one.
Beanie called and said you had left. Sounds like you had
a great visit. WE had good one with Michele and Shaun.
We actually got to see Shaun more than we thought we would.
We worked in her room and she and dad finished the 10 mile
CRIM. She was sore on Sun but by Mon she was fine. WE are
proud of her! Now it is back to work at home. We get egress
window tomorrow so dad is getting basement ready. I have
lots of things to catch up on at church and bookwork at home. Hope your trip continues to be good. Diesel here
has gone done a lot. Gas some. We saw diesel for $4.19
recently. love you guys
“Lifesize abstract metal burro”?….and where’s the picture? I think I need one! Do you think they would miss it?
You WOULD love the burro. Dang it though… I didn’t take a picture. I do have one of a cute little frog piece though. I intended to add some pictures to the post yesterday but we got “fapped” by Hughes Net for using too much bandwidth and today our connection is worse than dial-up. No cell signal of any kind here in Yellowstone so we’re just going to have to get out of the trailer and look at wildlife and geysers. Imagine that! Post “Summer of Fire” Yellowstone is not as beautiful as it once was, but it is still fascinating and amazing. It is cold though. We used the heat this morning for the first time in I can’t remember when! And today might be the first day I don’t wear shorts in months. We need our blood to thicken up a bit after being hot all summer.
Seeing I have never made it to Yellowstone, I would think it’s beautiful anyway.
Get ready…the further north you go, the more you will appreciate the heater! I still remember going to protest a visit by James Watt in Glacier in August and being caught in a blizzard.
As soon as Hughes lets you out of the dog house, I’d love to see more pictures!
It is beautiful. Where we are camped, and where we hiked yesterday, along the rim of “Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, are not burned and the scenery rivals, maybe surpasses, anywhere I have ever been. You would love the geothermal features here too. They are strange and fascinating. So far, we have only seen bison (lots!), elk and deer. No bears or wolves. We didn’t even see a moose in Grand Teton. I saw Moose there a lifetime ago and wanted to see more this time so I was a bit disappointed.
Yesterday I took lots of photos(wholly inadequate, I’m sure) . We’re not “fapped” anymore but today is our last day here so probably won’t spend much time at the computer.
I’ve been reading the Sentinel this morning and it sounds like P&R will be devastated by cuts. I’m thinking about everyone there, even as I sit in this amazing place.
I was disappointed that I didn’t really see a moose except
in the zoo in Anchorage. This is not time of year for them.
They eat willow there and can hide in it in the park. They
are not around town in summer like in winter either. We did
see a couple running from the train but couldn’t see them
at all. I can remember Yellowstone pretty well. We saw
every animal that was there. Dude was afraid and she picked
them out a long way away. Grandma got out to take a photo
of a bear and had to get in car fast! Dude was on the floor
of the car at that time! I did have my usual fever that I
had at that time and was sick while there. I can remember
being in the cabin sick! It is a beautiful area. Dad has
not been through the area above CO anywhere. I saw a lot
in winter when I moved there after dad and I married.
I did not see Glacier anytime. We are having beautiful
weather here right now. The Grand Prix is run this weekend and everyone is happy about weather. They run
on Bell ISle. Dad and I are invited to sail on Sunday
so that should be fun. We have a wedding on Sat that dad
is doing. love you both
I think it is cool that you came here with your grandparents, Mom. Steve and I have been fantasizing (and it could happen) about working a season here and having our grandchildren come visit for a couple of weeks while we’re here. Yellowstone is arguably the most amazing place I have ever been. Still no bear or wolves or moose but tonight we did get quite a wildlife experience. Steve and I were busy looking at our photos of geysers when Dottie and Noche, who were outside the trailer in our little dog yard, started to bark. Thinking they were barking about someone walking a dog past us, we called “Quiet”. They kept on barking. We called “Quiet”
again. They still didn’t stop. I got up to shush them only to find our trailer surrounded by buffalo! No wonder they were barking!! Inside went those dogs so fast! The trick was taking pictures standing in the doorway without the cat getting out! Hopefully we’ll get a post done about Flaming Gorge and Tetons soon. Then Yellowstone. It is hard to keep up!