FORT COLLINS, COLORADO

Left Casper, Wyoming, intending to go to Cheyenne, Wyoming.  The month of July is their "Frontier Days".  However, no campgrounds available near there.  We travel another hour and get to a small college town called Fort Collins, and stay at the Koa.  There is a pretty downtown very historical area and I call and make a date for a guided tour in the "Magic Bus".  We come in on a Monday and I can't get the tour till Thurs. so we hang around and  take in some of the sights ourselves.  We go to the area downtown known as town square.  It is a pretty area and all the buildings are the originals, some from the 1800's and have been turned into really pretty shops and restaurants.  We have thai food and then walk around the area.  There are beautiful pianos painted in all different designs all around the area out in the open for people to play, also parks for the kids, really nice place.  There is a supermarket called King Soopers and we shop there.  Diesel is going down in price and we have paid as little as $3.64 for it.  It is a college town and the campus areas are really nice.  Not far from town is the suburban area and all the houses have lots of land, acreage with horses and such.  Well, we finally get to go on our tour.  It is a rainy day but the weather clears by the time we go out for the 3pm tour.  The guide takes us on a 90 minute tour and explained the history of the city and took up all through the town, then to the state park area, the college, and then to a lovely recreation area, the Horsetooth Reservoir.  We end up back in the downtown area and we go out for some bbq.  Then we walk off our meal and find a candy store, a real candy store.  It has all the old candies I remember when I was a kid.  I buy Turkish taffy, licorice wheels, small chocolate truffles called ice cubes, and then some sesame seed candy dipped in honey.  Oh my, eating this brings back so many memories.  A great end to a nice day.  We never did get to go to the Frontier Days in Wyoming, the traffic and parking are horrendous and the crowds too exhausting.  This Koa is nice and about 6 miles from the highway, so nice and quiet, away from the noise.  A nice place to spend the week.