Erica Wollman Photography: 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.