Goodbye, Fort Collins

Au revoir might be more appropriate, since we'll probably go back.

The last day of vacation is seldom much fun -- typically involving an early morning dash to catch a plane or train. This time it was different, and enjoyable -- at least for the first half of the day.

We got up at a reasonable hour and took a short walk near the hotel after packing our bags. We didn't go very far, but explored streets and alleys we hadn't walked before. One of the interesting places we discovered was a fly fishing store located in an historic castellated sandstone structure built in 1889. The sign is quite beautiful, although I was puzzled by the name -- C thought it might be a biblical reference to the disciple Peter.

We checked out of the Armstrong Hotel, and had a very relaxed brunch in a restaurant in the same building, while we waited for our ride to the Denver airport. See Cynthia's blip for details of our meal, and a photo of me enjoying a great Belgian sour beer.

On the way to the airport, we noticed ominous black clouds forming, portending the thunderstorm that deluged the airport, and delayed the arrival of the plane taking us to Seattle. We left Denver an hour late, and missed our connection to the Bellingham puddle jumper flight. We caught the next flight, and arrived home just after midnight -- three hours late.