Fort Collins Possibilities

I love living at the beach.  In the past two days, I've spent a total of eight hours laying on the sand with the sound of the ocean in the background, and with the exception of taking a while to find a legitimate parking spot, every moment of those eight hours was perfect.  Today, as I was walking back to the car with my sweet friend, Kinny, covered in sunscreen, sand, and salt, no make up on, ready for a post beach nap, I suddenly realized how seamlessly I seem to have transitioned from my city life in Charlotte, to the beach life in Wilmington.

But, as much as I love the beach life in my "new" (at some point I'm going to have to stop calling it new) town, in just six short days, I'll dig out my Chacos, Camelback, and Mountain Hardware Fleece that have been sorely neglected since I moved here, and will board a plane to Fort Collins, Colorado, where I'll spend six weeks being trained in this position as a Campus Ministry Director. 

In the spirit of the Year of Do, I've been working on list of things I can do in my free time this summer to take advantage of my time in Colorado.  I'm not sure I can actually call this a Colorado Bucket List.  Tackling all of this in one summer might be more ambitious than my free time will allow.  Let's call it more a list of potential adventures for Fort Collins. 

Ahem....without further adu...things I'm looking forward to about a summer in Fort Collins, Colorado...

1) Go to Wyoming (I know it sounds a little crazy, but it won't be that far away and I've never been before)
2) Visit Boulder, CO and hike Flagstaff Mountain
3) Visit Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, CO
4) Wander around the LoDo neighborhood in Denver
5) Hike Quandary Peak (It's the shortest of all of the 14ers at 3 miles one way.  I'm pretty sure I'm not in shape enough to do Longs Peak, but this one is a possibility and hiking a 14er is on my life bucket list.)
6) Run down a sand dune at Great Sand Dunes National Park
7) Hike Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
8) Bike Fort Collins (Officially the most bike friendly city in the U.S.  You can actually rent bikes from the Bike Library for free for the summer.)
9) Swetsville Zoo (a "zoo" where all of the animals are sculptures make out of scrap metal)
10) Eat at Lucille's (boasts best breakfast in Fort Collins, although I think they have some steep competition)
11) Eat at Tasty Harmony (Organic vegetarian food)
12) Eat the best burger in Fort Collins at Study (because as much as I like organic vegetarian food, I love a good burger)
13) Get coffee at Starry Night in downtown Fort Collins (because I'll need somewhere fun to study for these classes I'll be taking)
14) Listen to live music at Lucky Joe's
15) Visit a ghost town
16) See either a movie or concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater, just outside of Denver
17) Watch a baseball game at the Mile High Stadium
18) Visit the Continental Divide
19) Drive Pikes Peak Highway
20) Go to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in late June (although this might might be a stretch.  I'm pretty sure Telluride is on the opposite end of the state.)
21) Eat at Yum Yum, a Lebanese/Mediterranean restaurant in Fort Collins.

That's it...I'm officially ready to take advantage of the weekends in Fort Collins this summer.