Tag Archives: Colorado

A Stop In Fort Collins

June 11, 2024 Tom Dills 4 Comments

Prairie Dogs at Pine Ridge Natural Area in Fort Collins, Colorado

After our two weeks exploring Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, we started our journey home with a quick stop in Fort Collins, CO to see our buddy Monte. We packed a lot into a little over a day!

Pine Ridge Natural Area in Fort Collins, Colorado

Monte photographing at Pine Ridge Natural Area in Fort Collins, Colorado

Monte met us at our motel and we had fun catching up over a nice dinner. The next morning while Kathy slept in, I met Monte at Pine Ridge Natural Area, one of his usual haunts. After an hour or so of burning pixels, we retreated to Cups, one of Monte’s regular coffee shops.

Salsify blossom. Pine Ridge Natural Area in Fort Collins, Colorado

We went our separate ways for the rest of the morning, then met up after lunch for a drive out to the Pawnee National Grassland just east of Fort Collins. High winds from an approaching storm system made for challenging conditions on the ground but gifted us with some very interesting skies.

Interesting clouds over Pawnee National Grassland, east of Fort Collins, Colorado

Monte photographing the interesting clouds over Pawnee National Grassland, east of Fort Collins, Colorado

We had a second dinner before signing off and getting packed up for the rest of the journey home. It was great to see Monte again and catch up in person instead of just virtually through our blogs!

Travel

Hangin’ With Monte

September 25, 2020 Tom Dills 4 Comments

Breakfast with Monte at The Chicken Coop Restaurant in Fort Collins, Colorado

One of the highlights of our recent road trip (yes, we’re home now!) was a nice albeit too-short visit with our friend Monte Stevens in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Monte strikes a contemplative pose in his “office” on the Foothills Trail at the Reservoir Ridge Natural Area in Fort Collins, Colorado

Monte taking Kathy’s picture sitting on “his” rock along the Foothills Trail at the Reservoir Ridge Natural Area in Fort Collins, Colorado

We ordinarily would have planned on spending more time in Fort Collins, as we really like the town and Monte is a swell guy to hang out with, but between the fires and our growing get-home-itis we decided to make a quick overnight stop. But that didn’t prevent us from getting out and burning a few pixels.

Firefighting helicopters carrying water to fight the Cameron Peak and Williams Fork fires in
Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, Colorado near Fort Collins. Seen from the Foothills Trail at the Reservoir Ridge Natural Area in Fort Collins, Colorado

Foothills Trail at the Reservoir Ridge Natural Area in Fort Collins, Colorado

Kathy & I joined Monte on a walk through the Reservoir Ridge Natural Area, where we saw his “office” and were able to see a few of the firefighting helicopters coming and going from a nearby airfield. We had a nice pizza dinner at a local pizza joint followed by a yummy breakfast at a local “American-Mexican Breakfast and Lunch” spot.

Any time with Monte is time well spent, and we look forward to getting back to Fort Collins at at time where the weather and conditions are better!

Photography

A Little Taste of Fall?

August 16, 2020 Tom Dills 4 Comments

No, this is from last year! From Colorado….

Kathy & I woke this morning to a temperature of 68 degrees and a noticeable drop in humidity. We had our morning coffee & tea on the screened porch and almost needed our sleeves! 🙂

Kathy & I met our friend Paul for lunch today, and on the way home Kathy said that the shadows and colors on the houses looked like fall. The air is crispy clear and it does have that fall look. But we’re not fooled! This will only last a few days before the heat and humidity return. In the meantime we’ll enjoy it!

Photography

Blurry Aspen 2.0

November 23, 2019 Tom Dills 8 Comments

Fall colors along the Poudre Canyon Road through Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests

Long-time readers of this blog may recall a series of Aspen motion-blur photos that I shot during our first visit to Colorado in June 2015. Because it was springtime, the vertical trunks of the Aspen trees made for great subject matter when combined with the fresh spring green.

Since our most recent visit to Colorado was in the fall, I hoped to add to my Aspen Blur collection with some photos of trees with the golden yellow of fall. A lot of the trees we saw in the first few days of our visit were on the mountainsides, too far away to effectively get the results I wanted. On our final day, a drive through the Poudre Canyon with my pal Monte, we came across several excellent stands of trees.

It sometimes takes a lot of “misses” to come up with a handful of keepers. In this case I shot a relatively light 200 photos, and came up with a few that I’m really happy with. A couple have some really funky looks to them as a result of a happy accident or two.

I suppose the next step will be to get out there in the winter and make some photos of Aspen with snow. I’m not sure I’m up for that yet, but it may make it on to the to-do list, you never know! 🙂

Travel

Umbrellas

October 27, 2019 Tom Dills 2 Comments

Old Town, Fort Collins, Colorado. The black stones are part of a public art installation titled “Confluence” by Lawrence Argent

One day when passing through the Oak Street Plaza Park in Fort Collins, I spotted the reflections that these umbrellas were making in the black stone and stopped to take a few photos. I didn’t spend enough time on this idea, but otherwise think I captured what I saw.

The black stones are part of a public art installation titled “Confluence” by Lawrence Argent. More public art!

Travel

Art On The Line

October 27, 2019 Tom Dills 5 Comments

One of the things that has impressed me about Fort Collins, CO is the amount of public art, especially in Old Town. They even publish maps and have a walking tour telling people where to find it. Sometimes the art is sculpture, pavers on the sidewalk, plaques or other displays. Two of the most prevalent forms seem to be painted pianos placed around town that anyone can play, and painted utility box covers. A very clever way to disguise what is usually seen as big, green, ugly boxes.

It’s evidently brand new, as it isn’t shown in Google Street View and I couldn’t find out anything about it in the published information. But this structure is almost certainly art. If not, I have no idea what its purpose would be! I had a little fun with it while walking around on a beautiful, sunshiny day!

If anyone wants to check it out, it is located in an alleyway in an area bordered by Oak Street, Mason Street, Mountain Ave. and College Ave. Right behind Walrus Ice Cream! 🙂

Photography

Elvis Sighting

October 22, 2019 Tom Dills 2 Comments

He turns up in the most unexpected places. This time in Old Town Fort Collins! 😉

Photo Project: 50 States

Our Visit to Rocky Mountains National Park

October 7, 2019 Tom Dills 2 Comments

Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountains National Park, Colorado

I sent a postcard earlier but have now processed a few of my photos from our visit to RMNP. We were only there for a day, it was a Saturday, happened to be a free admission day and the colors were starting to get good. So we were a little “over-peopled” but had a great time regardless. As much as I love our Smoky Mountains, there is something about this vast Colorado landscape that keeps calling me back. That, and a chance to hang with our good buddy Monte! 😉

Longs Peak from Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountains National Park, Colorado

Elk along Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountains National Park, Colorado

Coyote along Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountains National Park, Colorado

Photo Project: 50 States

Chasing Fall Colors

September 30, 2019 Tom Dills 2 Comments

One of the things I had been hoping for during our visit to Colorado was a glimpse of some of the legendary “Gold Rush” of Aspen trees in their fall splendour. While there are parts of the state that are “better” for Aspen, I knew that there should be enough of them around Fort Collins to make the effort worthwhile.

We spent today along the Cache La Poudre River in the Poudre Canyon. The Aspen were starting to turn, and there were a number of places where the color had just about reached their peak. Combined with our visit to RMNP, I’m very happy with the returns from our efforts.

Tomorrow it’s on to northern Wyoming and some drastically cooler weather. After seeing 70s and 80s here in Colorado, we’re looking at 40s in Wyoming and Montana.