Best of a Nine Day Trip Exploring the Best of Colorado

xzmattzx said:

Nice pictures! You really did drive, hike, and drink your way across Colorado!

I like the Flyers fan in Breckenridge!

Comparing the two college towns, what did you like more about Boulder, and what did you like more about Fort Collins?

Which of those other towns out in the mountains did you like most?

What was your favorite brewery out there?

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Avery Brewing Company was my favorite probably followed by Odell and then Breckenridge. Love Avery's beers and the brewing facility there outside Boulder was impressive. Telluride Brewing was also pretty cool.

I really only spent a day in Boulder and Fort Collins split pretty evenly so didn't really have much time to determine which city I prefer and what the cultural differences were. I will say that even though Fort Collins has a more impressive bicycle infrastructure than most anywhere in Virginia, Boulder's bike infrastructure was on a whole nother level. In fact, Boulder probably has the best bike infrastructure of any city in the US I have visited and there was a HUGE culture of cycling there. Both cities seemed to be very young demographically.

I did like that Fort Collins had several great breweries within easy striking distance of downtown while Boulder's seemed to be more spread out and had to drive to. I think I preferred downtown Fort Collins to that of Boulder as it reminded me more of Asheville where my parents live, but really only just barely more so than downtown Boulder. However, I felt that beyond downtown Fort Collins sprawls a lot more than Boulder and I liked the neighborhood urban fabric more in Boulder than Fort Collins. There was much more activity happening by the University of Colorado than Colorado State University by a long shot so it is probably more exciting to be a student in Boulder than Fort Collins I am guessing. The Solarium hostel in Fort Collins was my favorite followed by the Bivvi Hostel in Breckenridge for lodging during my trip.

Telluride was my most favorite small mountain town in Colorado I visited. Incredibly walkable and bikeable place with amazing mountain views and hikes all around it. Lots of independent free-range kids of all age walking and biking around which is pretty amazing as you don't really see that much anymore in American cities sadly. I grew up a free-range kid in downtown Savannah, GA and it was refreshing to see places like that from my childhood still exist. Telluride also packed a lot of great restaurants and bars for such a small town and Bear Creek Falls Trail is breathtaking and easily accessible by foot from downtown Telluride. Breckenridge was also a very nice town with lots going on :cheers: