The first Friday of the month is a gallery walk in downtown Fort Collins. We visited the Otter Shop again — hi Sean! — where they were selling small works by artist Jon Guendrum. I fell in love with a tiny turtle, which we brought home — only to realize that we already own a piece by the same artist.

We had picked up Guendrum’s chili dog at the Colorado Room a few months ago, to celebrate the last time we visited Fort Collins before moving here. (We celebrate everything.)

On our ramble downtown, on a impulse we stopped at a newsstand… which happened to feature the widest selection of poetry magazines I had ever seen in one place.

Dan also found a great selection of bike mags, less surprising in Colorado. Fun fact: when I took this photo, I didn’t realize the right-hand side was dominated by pornography. Al’s Newsstand carries a healthy selection of that as well.

It doesn’t usually occur to me to snap a picture on our 2-mile walk down College Avenue to get home. It’s a long, straight drag past auto shops and dispensaries, past our grocery store and our movie theater and our favorite food truck. It is well-lit and impossible for me to get lost, and connects me to a downtown full of art and cider and root beer milk. College Avenue is basically the unsung hero of our Fort Collins adventure.