Lory State Park

 As we pulled into the park to pay our entrance fee, the ranger told us that Bracco was "the most gorgeous cattle dog ever." I knew immediately that I would like this place.

  M and I got the rare summer opportunity to take off together for the day so see some friends in Fort Collins, as well as some family who were in town. After a leisurely morning and too much time stuck in traffic, we arrived at Lory State Park for a day of swimming and sitting in the sun at Horsetooth Reservoir.

 Wherever our Fort Collins friends go, adventure follows, along with many dogs...which made Bracco a happy mutt. He spent hours running around with his little dog friends and chasing the frisbee into the water. B doesn't like going in the water over his head, which made for some hysterical frisbee retrieval attempts. I can only hope my friend, Lisa, shares the video she got of this.

  We talked, splashed, had a few beers, ate and relaxed. What a great way to spend a Saturday.

 From Lory State Park, you can hike to Arthur's Rock. It's just about a mile and a half away. There are 11 other hiking trails to take in the area ranging from easy to difficult. You can enjoy mountain biking and even some backcountry camping...which I'd love to check out sometime. There's a lot to do here and the place was hopping this weekend. There were times that the East Inlet (where we lounged) looked like an MTV Spring Break event with "party boat" after "party boat" cruising through. A little more traffic than I'd like to have seen but most of that chaos was on the water. There was NO ONE else around on the shore!