I moved to Fort Collins, a small city in Colorado last Fall (2014) for my senior year in college. The school I go to is Colorado State University, or, like we refer to ourselves, The Rams.
There are thousand of reasons to not like Fort Collins, but there are also billion reasons to fall in love with Fort Collins. The city has a pretty high living standard; people are nice, and where there are college kids, there are bars and night life, you bet.
Things you need to do in Fort Collins:
1. Spend a day in Old Town.
Old Town is where all of the best stuffs are! They have the best food and coffee, and when the weather is beautiful it is the place to get to know people and make friends! Go to Old Town on a sunny day, walk around, window-shop, drink coffee, eat good food and enjoy yourself. I fall in love with Fort Collins more and more everyday simply just by spending time in Old Town. And when the sun goes down, kick-off a couple bars (if you’re 21+, of course). I fall in love with Fort Collins simply by spending a day like that. (More information about coffee places, food, and bars in Old Town)
2. Go on a brewery tour.
Beers are what Fort Collins famous for! Brewery tours are available to be booked in advance here. Tours are approximately 2 hours and it takes you behind-the-scenes of some best beer places in town.
3. Bohemian Night at New West Fest.
This was the very first event me and my friends went to when we first moved here. It is a free, three-day music festivals that showcase Colorado Music Scene. It is one of the most exciting thing in town, and besides music, there are also vendors, food, beers and kids’ entertainment. You can find more information here, but I assure you, you’ll never regret going to New West Fest. And it’s FREE, I mean, music festival and FREE!
4. Tour de Fat at Fort Collins.
One of the most awesome parades in town! Sure enough, every parade in Fort Collins is worth going to, but this one brings excitement to every part of the city. You can find more information and sign up for free here to be a part of this bike-ride-in-a-costume, and enjoy a beer or two (or more, for sure). Here are some photos I took last year, had SO much fun!
5. St. Patrick Parade.
If you’re in Fort Collins, you’ll see how much people love parade here! St. Patrick is sure a big enough occasion for everyone to go on a parade, then enjoy some Irish music before ending the night (or begin a new day, depending on how you define it) in an Irish bar! I was not on the parade this year so I didn’t have photos of it, but I do have some photos of the music stage after the parade.
6. Go hiking
It’s not even a recommendation; if you’re in Fort Collins, you HAVE to go hiking. I mean, that’s the whole point of being here, isn’t it? And if you’re here for CSU, dude, you HAVE to go hiking. If you ask your college friends who are from here, they will tell you they have been hiking since elementary or so. Anyway, GO HIKING.
One of the favorite CSU spots to go is The A. It is right above Horsetooth Reservoir, looking down to the beautiful Reservoir and Hughes Stadium. It is an easy hike, you probably can do it alone in about 2 hours or so. And it is a CSU tradition to hike up to the A at the beginning of school year with the hope of a straight-A year. CSU also offers a free “Paint the A” trip, which you get to hike up and paint the beautiful “A” letter on the mountain, then receive a nice green T-Shirt. It is fun, and you totally should do it.
Some other popular spots to go hiking include Rockies Mountain, Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, not that far from CO but you will need to hitchhike or carpool with someone)
7. FoCo Music Experiment (FOCOMX)
Another music festival, but this one is so lovely and so awesome at the same time. I was a volunteer for FOCOMX last year, being their MC for 2 nights at 2 different venues, and MC-ing for about 7-8 performances. FOCOMX is a festival that lasts for 2 days at several different venues around Fort Collins. There were around 200 bands and artists participating last year, from all over Colorado. They could be high school students, CSU kids, working adults, or middle-aged citizens. They could be a rock band, an orchestra, a pop band, a country singer, any genre of music you could possibly think of. Seriously, you should check it out.
The ticket price was around $25 or $30 maybe, I did not remember because I got it for free. Yes, if you want free ticket, VOLUNTEER. You can be an MC (it was great and not scary at all), you can be a door guard, helping with checking the wristbands and letting people in and out, or you can be a floater, fill in anywhere that need you.
(to be continued. Photos coming soon)
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