Arthur's Rock

  Despite my role as a blogger, I am terrible at remembering to take pictures of my various adventures. I was forced to hijack a few of these from the State Park website.

This weekend, M and I drove over to Fort Collins for a weekend of fun and frolic with friends. Friday night we went to see 127 Hours (review to follow later) with RC Lindsay. Saturday, we kicked M out of the house to hit the REI member garage sale with the guys while good friend, Lisa and I scurried to prepare a big breakfast for 15!

 The guests, all good friends of Marty's (and becoming good friends of mine) came, each bringing at least 1 dog and something to share for breakfast. We laughed, we cooked, we talked. These are things M and I don't seem to get enough of in Grand County. We have a great community in Winter Park but it's very different than our FoCo community and doesn't often lend itself to large group gatherings, just for fun. By contrast, the FoCo crew almost always has a long list of events and activities planned for any given day. They are active, outdoorsy and spontaneous and it's fun for us to enfold ourselves in that for a few days.

After breakfast, we piled 9 people and 4 dogs into 2 cars and drove over to Lory State Park for a 3.5 mile hike up to Arthur's Rock, boasting an incredible overview of Fort Collins. On this hike, you gain over 1100 feet of elevation which allows for these views from 6780 ft. The trail was in good condition and well marked, although a bit icy. We ran into very few people and our well behaved mountain dogs had a great time scrambling up rocks with us and watching for wildlife. For those with more time, look into the campsites in the area. There were also some mountain bikers cruising around, although I don't know just how many bike trails they have at Lory.

  We finished off our weekend exploring Old Town Fort Collins and I am excited that I was able to find a few great local/fair trade Christmas gifts. I always struggle with holiday shopping at Big Boxes.

Thanks for a GREAT weekend Lisa, JV, Christa, Dave, Greg, Amy, Molly, Rob, James, Mike, Trinity, Elliott and Drew (and dogs: Emma, Lola, Bodie, Fiona, Mia, Roxie)

(Bodie and Bracco WORN out after our hike)