The Great American Road Trip: Day 24

I feel like I could have easily spent a week in Ft. Collins, clearly I've missed out by not having spent a significant amount of time here in the past! I started my Thursday with a nice leisurely cup of coffee, incidentally it was in an amazingly cute owl mug, but I did also have the choice of a mug with a southern blot image (that DNA fragment gel column for those of you who, like me, only vaguely remember a little college cell bio) – I feel like those two mugs do explain this household very aptly, and both made me smile.

Taking advantage of the beautiful park across the street, I went for a run (well, more like a jog) and discovered lots of things that caught my eye, most of which are documented in photos. I tried to track my progress using an app I have just for such things to figure out how far I got, but I had futzed with my settings on my phone the other day and forgot to turn on the “background refresh” or something like that, so it concluded that I magically floated from place to place every time I turned the app back on to check it, and traveled about 5 miles in only 59 seconds but was somehow away from home for 50 minutes. :p <Insert that adage about technology only being as smart as the programmer here> Despite my iPhone shortcomings, it was a lot of fun to realize that despite not being a runner in any way, shape, or form, I could still demand that of my body and do just fine (well, I got a tiny blister on my toe, but I think it was a fair trade), plus I got to see horses!

I came home and got ready for the day, then poked around a little online to try and find a neighborhood where I could go walk and maybe sit and blog a little. I discovered a coffee shop/bookstore that sounded like a good place to start, and happily wandered around College St and the nearby areas for a few hours. My first choice of the Bean Cycle wasn't a bad one – they clearly encouraged people doing just what I was intending by providing lots of seating, power strips, and 50 cent coffee refills, plus they had a decent used book selection and even a free book bin that I mightily resisted. As someone who doesn't really know much about coffee, I will say that the house blend did seem a little...weak, perfectly drinkable but nothing spectacular considering this place has a 6 foot tall board explaining the various brewing methods they use.

I had to go move my car (and saw lots of cool statues and people playing public pianos along the way), and happened to park right in front of the Choice City Butcher and Deli just as I was trying to decide where to go for lunch. So I went in and had the delight of sampling the “Colorado” ruben sandwich, made with bison instead of beef – in retrospect I should have taken a picture but...it was so tasty I didn't think about that until it was gone. The lemon dill coleslaw was a nice touch as a side dish, with diced cabbage instead of strips that facilitated its delivery in a little plastic to-go cup (they have a number of tables but you still are served everything ready to take away).

Since this parking wasn't time limited I just left the car there, glanced at the menu of the Chocolate Cafe next door (with a dessert list twice as long as the lunch menu, a stop for my next trip for sure!), and then continued my wandering. I did duck into Ace to pick up a bright orange roadside emergency kit, I have a feeling that if I have one I won't need it, but if I didn't I would inevitably be wishing for it later. It's money well spent that I probably should have spent earlier (like when I bought the car) :p I had a lot of fun wandering into stores and shops; I was a little disappointed that the cheese store I read about online seems to have either gone out of business or relocated, but the whole area seemed very friendly and accessible to locals, students, and visitors (maybe student budgets a little less so in general, but I did see a few CSU sweatshirts walking around). Free on street parking was abundant but tended to involve circling around once or twice to find something open, but there were also parking garages available.

And then I came across the Little Bird Bakery! My first coffee shop stop had been more of a dark wood, tall ceiling, quiet contemplation amongst the old books kind of environment. This was bright, charming, and gave the sense that it was experiencing an unusual lull in a normally bustling atmosphere. When I asked about wifi I was told that they don't have one, they're typically so busy that they don't encourage folks to linger, but since it was a slow time of day she might be inclined to tell me that the bar down the street has a strong signal and doesn't require a password ;) I saw that they had a pistachio-cornmeal biscotti right after I'd already requested a pecan sandie to go with my coffee, so I sampled both! The coffee was very tasty (and just the right strength), served in a steel french press that must have had a triple filter because I didn't end up with a single ground even in my last cup (which never happens!). The cookies were both simple and delicious, not overly fancy or full of extra bits and pieces, just two good cookies that tasted exactly how they should. Definitely a good find, I would happily go back, particularly on Sunday when they bake their Earl Grey Apricot bread :D

It was about time to go home and meet Cei to go to yoga at Elan Yoga and Fitness, so I packed myself up and wandered back to the car. I've never done this particular style of “warm” yoga (not to be confused with “hot” yoga). The sequence of moves sometimes moved pretty fast, and there were a few that I was unfamiliar with entirely (hello handstands!), but the whole thing was both energizing and relaxing – I left smiling. The instructor was very good at explaining quickly and accurately what a position involved, so that even if I was unfamiliar with it I could still keep up with everyone else using her descriptions of how to move, without flailing or having to watch my neighbors constantly. She gave a lot of variations for different experience levels and was really encouraging and supportive the whole time while also offering a nice physical challenge. An individual class was a bit pricy but they did have a super deal for two weeks of unlimited gym usage and classes, if I had been staying another day or two I absolutely would have just done that. The studio also offers a work-exchange to cover the cost of attending classes, which I thought was a really neat idea.

When I was at the zoo with Jessie and the kids, she suggested tracking down a particular food truck for lunch. Hey PB&J wasn't out that day, but the menu ideas had stuck with me and when I mentioned them to Jordan and Cei, we all decided that we should absolutely try replicating some of them. So off we went to the store to pick up supplies, and when we got home we started creating! We chose the “Figgy Piggy” - fig jam, almond butter, goat cheese, bacon, and rosemary honey; and the “Thai Basil” - spicy crunchy peanut butter, fresh basil, orange marmalade, and flaked coconut. We made the rosemary honey by heating some honey with a sprig of rosemary from their tree, and the spicy peanut butter was made by mixing regular peanut butter with liberal amounts of cayenne and powdered ginger, with a hint of nutmeg for good measure. The original called for crushed peanuts but we figured chunky PB was the same thing, essentially. The Figgy was decidedly the hit (bacon!) although Jordan and I enjoyed the spicy peanut butter – I would make that again just to use on regular sandwiches. The basil was a surprisingly nice flavor in a PB&J, and although the goat cheese was very strong, it somehow went nicely with all of the competing sweet/salty/savory flavors in that sandwich. We proceeded to stay up way too late talking about science, art, pop culture, life, court cases, and bad first lines of books (again), then tottered ourselves off to bed. What an amazing day!

Pictures!