We had a late start on our journey to Fort Collins yesterday, but it was a really nice drive with no traffic. We were thinking that if we had spent an hour and a half driving out of Orange County we wouldn't have gotten very far. It was a beautiful drive, but we didn't get any pictures because we were on the freeway with no good place to pull off.
What we saw of Fort Collins was nice, though we didn't see much. The main purpose for our drive up there was to do some beer tasting (Matt, not me, so nobody freak out). We had wanted to take a tour of the New Belgium brewery, but the tours were all booked up by the time we got there. We'll have to make it up early next time. Matt did get to taste 4 different beers for free though. Then we decided to go over to O'dell's Brewery which was fun also. They don't give you free beer, but you get to sample 4 or 6 different kinds (depending on which tray you chose) for $3. Matt ended up getting both trays. We prefer the New Belgium beers better, but O'dell's has some good ones too. Yes, I took a small sip of each, don't worry, I've read if you have a glass of wine while your pregnant it's no big deal, and beer has less alcohol than wine.
For those of you who might go to Fort Collins to visit the breweries, one word of advice...don't eat at the Mexican restaurant just down the street from the New Belgium Brewery. Our opinion is that El Burrito (which has been around since the early 60's and supposedly has a loyal following) is the worst "Mexican" restaurant food we've ever eaten. We've eaten at lots of Mexican restaurants in our lives, and I can honestly say that none of them served food like El Burrito (lucky for them). First off the salsa tasted like canned tomato sauce with some chili and hot sauce and the chips tasted like they were store bought, but that wasn't the worst. When we got our meal, every thing tasted like it had been dumped out of a can. The cheese was that fake American cheese that melts very easily but tastes like vegetable oil. There was some unidentified chunks of meat sitting in the chili cheese sauce and the rice tasted bland. I think I've eaten better frozen dinners. This restaurant is supposed to be the best Mexican place in Fort Collins, so if it really is, then steer clear of any other Mexican restaurants there (if there are any). To give the people of Fort Collins the benefit of the doubt, maybe they just don't know what good Mexican food tastes like, or good restaurant food for that matter. I can honestly say though, that we weren't upset at all about this experience, if the food had been just a little better I probably wouldn't have had such a good laugh about it. All that being said, I must add, that the service was very good which counts for something, so go enjoy a soda and steer clear from the food.
Here's the view from the back. If you click on the picture
Here are Chico's paw prints in the snow. 
