Summer Daze

Hop on a road bike. Cast for giant trout. Hike a new trail. Catch a baseball game. Relax on a sunny patio. Colorado calls to us in the summer and draws us outside to play in its spectacular landscape. Here, we present nine itineraries that promise to get you outdoors—and loving every minute of the hot days of June, July, and August.

Cruising Around Old Town

There’s no better time to visit Old Town Fort Collins than the summer, when students are scarce and locals frolic.
By Vanessa Martinez

Smart Start Get your blood circulating first thing with a few holes of sunrise disc golf at Fort Collins’ 18-hole Edora Park. The dewy morning hours all but ensure a crowd-free course; just don’t forget to bring your own discs.

Eat Up Stow your car in one of two city-run parking garages in Old Town, and then head to Café Ardour for a house-baked snack made from locally sourced, seasonal, and organic ingredients. Don’t miss the lemon verbena sage biscuit or double-chocolate scone.

Tour de Old Town After breakfast, make your way to Café Bicyclette, a bike-lending kiosk that will loan you a cruiser, dispense helpful maps, and help you with directions. Pedal down Remington Street to the University Center for the Arts, the latest addition to the Colorado State University campus and the city’s visual arts scene. The freshly renovated historic building houses four galleries that feature works from the school’s collections as well as touring exhibits. Across the street, stroll among the thousands of colorful flowers in the Annual Flower Trial Garden—an outdoor “laboratory” for CSU’s horticultural department—before gliding under the College Avenue underpass to Mason Street, a north-south corridor that stretches across the entire city, transporting cars, bicycles, and coal trains.

Refuel Eat lunch on Choice City Butcher & Deli’s patio, where the Colorado Reuben (corned buffalo substitutes for corned beef) is a must-try. But don’t overindulge—at least not yet—because you’ll want room to enjoy the suds at Odell Brewing Company, where tours run on the hour at 1, 2, and 3 p.m., and the taps pour with award-winning suds until 6 p.m.

Back in the Saddle Drop onto the Poudre River Trail for a short and scenic ride along the tranquil waterway. Exit the trail at Lee Martinez Park, then take Cherry Street across College Avenue and dismount at the Center for Fine Art Photography in the Poudre River Arts Center for a peek at the latest exhibit.

Sweet Stuff As the sun begins to drop behind the foothills, cruise back to Old Town for a cone of Dutch dark chocolate at Walrus Ice Cream. If it’s a Thursday night, grab a blanket and bike to the front lawn of New Belgium Brewery to join the locals for what’s quickly becoming a summertime tradition in the Fort: Bike-in Cinema. The program features pop-culture and cult classics, best viewed for a second or third time in the twilight with a Skinny Dip in hand.

If You Go
Edora Park: 1420 E. Stuart St., 970-221-6660; Café Ardour: 255 Linden St., 970-493-9683; Café Bicyclette: 19 Old Town Square, 970-419-1050; University Center for the Arts: 1400 Remington St., 970-491-1989; Annual Flower Trial Garden: 1401 Remington St.; Choice City Butcher & Deli: 104 W. Olive St., 970-490-2489; Odell Brewing Company: 800 E. Lincoln Ave., 970-498-9070; Center for Fine Art Photography: 400 N. College Ave., 970-224-1010; Walrus Ice Cream: 125 W. Mountain Ave., 970-482-5919; New Belgium Brewery: 500 Linden St., 970-221-0524.