After zooming through Utah and Wyoming following Las Vegas, we arrived in Fort Collins for a few nights to spend time with some old friends and meet their new baby. We got set up at our campsite just a few miles outside of town and headed to meet them for dinner. They live on the Colorado State University campus and took us to eat at the residence halls.
On vacations as a kid, we’d visit college campuses to explore stadiums and eat at residence halls, so it’s near and dear to my heart to do that sort of thing. College kids at CSU have it GREAT! The new style of dorm eating is to have stations with different foods. On any given meal, you have a choice of at least 6 different meals including a salad bar, soups, and sandwiches if none of the rotating choices suit you. It’s really awesome.
After eating, we headed downtown Fort Collins for “First Friday”. It’s something we’ve come across on our travels where downtowns open up to artists and stuff and gets folks walking downtown. Adelaide enjoyed the art exhibit and we loved the fairly warm Colorado night.
I didn’t mention it in the prior post, but Emerson threw up on our overnight in Utah. Then again in the car to Wyoming. He’d been fine afterwards, so we didn’t think much of it. Well, at the end of the night in Fort Collins, Adelaide threw up. Then threw up again later as we headed home. Karissa also threw up overnight. Adelaide woke up in a great mood and was obviously feeling great. Karissa on the other hand, was a disaster.
Adelaide, Emerson, and I made the most of the day. Emerson and I made a Wal-Mart run. Adelaide and I did laundry and played at the playground, which was by far the largest campground playground we’ve encountered.
As Karissa stayed in bed feeling sick, the kids and I met up with our friends downtown for Merchant Market in Old Town. There were tons of tents with vendors selling crafts, handmade items, typical fair/carnival stuff, and food. It was pretty cool and a great use of downtown. We wandered a bit before heading to New Belgium Brewery to have a beer. We would have done a tour, but tours on Saturday fill up a few weeks in advance. The place was pretty full, but we managed to find a great spot with a stage for Adelaide and enjoyed a great beer.
Karissa was still not feeling well when we got home. She wishes she could have spent more than Friday night with our friends. As they said, we’ll just have to make a return trip!
