The Baseball Trip 2012 / Day 6

Tuesday, July 31

There was no diner within a 3000 mile radius of Jackson Lake, so we backtracked east a little to Fort Morgan. There we found a place called Acapulco Bay, believe it or not, that served breakfast all day. On the way into Fort Collins (there's a lot of forts out here) we saw many cattle processing centers. Here's a picture of several cows at feeding time. You know, before they kill them:

They were frightened of me. These were only a handful out of thousands lining those fences.

Also, we saw a drive-in movie theater in the middle of a corn field.

Random observation from Randy:
"I think we just drove into the 50's."

We found our way into the center of Fort Collins and I called my son Evan to bring us in.

Random observation from Randy:
"Just look for the sign that says Evan's House."

So I took a picture of Evan to show you what he looks like and it didn't come out. I'm not sure what happened but I accept all responsibility. In lieu of this faux pas I will show you 2 pictures of his dog, Tank:

He's very photogenic.

Evan manages a kitchen for a guy who owns a nice bar called Tony's. They added a kitchen because they wanted to start serving some decent food so they said,"Hey Evan, run this kitchen." So he does. And now he works every hour of his life. The kitchen is long and narrow, galley style, and it has a serving window right off the sidewalk patio. Here's the kitchen:

(not Evan)

Here's the serving window to the patio:

Okay, so now outside and inside shots of the establishment:

After we scoped out the joint, (the proprietor, gracious enough to introduce himself and offer a beer gratis), Evan gave us a tour of Old Town, a revitalized section of downtown that now includes about a thousand microbreweries, coffee shops, and other craft emporiums. Oh yeah, you have to ride a bike because it is a very eco-friendly town. Really, the traffic is ridiculous. Evan actually rides a longboard to work. A longboard is like a skateboard, only bigger, making it that much easier to kill yourself.


Out near the edge of town is the famous New Belgium Brewery. They are the brewery that makes Fat Tire. We went in to their little micro-pub and tasted a few samples.

New Belgium Microbrewery

On the way to the brewery we crossed the Poudre River and Evan told us an interesting story. His friends went tubing down that river the other day and when they got out of the river they were covered in black sludge. Apparently, it was runoff from the big wildfires. The rain finally put out all the fires but it also ran off all the ash into the river.

Later that night we met up with Evan and his friends at Coors field to see the Rockies take on the St. Louis Cardinals. The Rockies are not good. They lost 11-6. It was 4-0 with nobody out in the first inning. But the park was cool and it was a nice evening in Denver.

Right about here my camera battery died. But not to worry, we would search out a hotel tonight and have a charge-fest. Laptop, camera, phone.

I said goodbye to Evan as he and his friends headed back north to Ft. Collins. Randy and I headed east out of Denver. We would drive as long as we could take it because the next day would be a long one. The northern sky lit up with lightning as we rolled east toward Kansas. The storm never touched us and we sang along with the radio as The Monkees'  "I'm A Believer" blasted through the static crackle of the airwaves.