Fort Collins, Colorado

Kyle and I lived in Fort Collins for a year after our adventures in Alaska in Hawaii. We loved it! There is so much to do thereJ

●57 miles North of Denver

●population of 143,986 in 2010 census

●home to Colorado State University

1.       Horsetooth Reservoir: Six and one-half miles of water, surrounded by 1,900 acres of public lands, fishing, boating, camping, rock climbing, swimming, etc.

2.       Anheuser-Busch: take a free brewery tour, free samples and pretzels, see the World Famous Budweiser Clydesdales West Coast Team

3.       Greyrock: Greyrock trail is 19 miles from Fort Collins along the Poudre River. There are two loops you can take. One is 4.47 miles and the other is 3.16 miles.

 4.       New West Fest: Northern Colorado’s largest free community and music festival. More than 60 Colorado bands and three national music headliners perform on 6 stages!

5.       University gardens

6.       Gardens at Spring Creek: 18 acre community botanic garden of Fort Collins

7.       Odell Brewing Company

a.       Founded in 1989

b.      Second microbrewery to open in Colorado

c.       Take a free tour. There is also live music at times.

8.       Swetsville Zoo: A zoo full of animals built from car parts, farm machinery and scrap metal.

9.       Dixon Reservoir

 10.   Fort Collins Brewery

11.   Lory State Park

12.   The Raptor Center

13.   New Belgium Brewery:

a.       Regional brewery that opened in 1991

b.      As of 2010, it was the third-largest craft brewery and seventh-largest overall brewery in the United States.

c.       Fat Tire, an amber ale, is the company’s flagship beer. The Fat Tire recipe originates from a co-founder’s bicycle trip through Belgium from brewery to brewery.

d.      Opening their East Coast brewery in Asheville, N.C.!

e.      Take a free tour and sample some free beer. You get to go on a spiral slide and see their bottling operation.

14.   Old Town

15.   Lucky Joe’s: A great bar with live music and free peanuts!



Biloxi, Mississippi

I went to Biloxi for an alternative spring break trip in college. We worked with Hands On to help with hurricane relief from Hurricane Katrina. We helped with the rebuilding of homes, gardens, and parks.

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast with high winds, heavy rains and a 27-foot storm surge, causing massive damage to the area.

1.       The Shed: rib chandeliers, sweet tea, barbeque, bonfires...

2.       New Orleans

   Holocaust Memorial: The sculpture is composed of nine panels, each with different designs. As you view the sculpture from different angles, the designs on the panels meld to form distinct images.  

3.       A boat that was washed onshore from Hurricane Camille in ’69.

4.       Hurricane Camille Memorial: A memorial to those who lost their lives in the most devastating storm to hit the Biloxi area in 1969. The Mississippi Coast was devastated by winds clocked at more than 200 mph and tidal waves surging up to 30 feet.

5.       Gulf Coast: man-made! They ship in new sand every five years. If they would have left the coast the way it was, the hurricane would not have been so devastating.

Rocky Mountain National Park

As a kid, my parents took me to Rocky Mountain National Park. We enjoyed camping, hiking, seeing the beautiful mountain sights and viewing wildlife. As an adult I continued visiting the park. When I lived in Fort Collins I took my boyfriend there. Kyle and I decided that we wanted to get married in August. At first we wanted to get married in Yosemite but Rocky Mountain National Park was a special place for me. In Colorado, you can solemnize your own marriage where you don’t need to have any witnesses or presiding authority. We signed our marriage certificate at Lake Haiyaha on August 21, 2011.

●over 300 miles of hiking trails, 150 lakes, and 450 miles of streams

●The park contains over 60 named peaks higher than 12,000 feet.

●The highest point of the park is Longs Peak, which rises to 14,259 feet above sea level.

1.       Sprague Lake: located on the south side of Glacier Creek, half mile walk around the lake

2.       Bierstadt Lake: lies on a large moraine near Bear Lake Road on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park, 1.4 miles one way, 9,416 feet

3.       Bear Lake: is in the heart of the park; the lake lies below Hallett Peak and the Continental Divide.

4.       Nymph Lake: a lake of beautiful yellow lilies, views of Longs Peak and Hallett Peak, at the end of Bear Lake Road, .5 miles one-way, 9700 feet

5.       Dream Lake: high alpine lake east of the continental divide, accessed via the Bear Lake trail, at the base of Hallett Peak

6.       Emerald Lake: in the valley between Hallett Peak and Flattop Mountain, 1.8 miles one-way, 10,080 feet

7.       Lake Haiyaha: 3.9 miles round-trip, Haiyaha is an indigenous Indian word meaning rock, Hallet Peak and Otis Peak stand over Lake Haiyaha

8.       Trail Ridge Road: crests over 12,000 feet including many overlooks, connects Estes Park and Grand Lake.

9.       Moraine Park: wide-open plain carved out by glaciers thousands of years ago