Word from the West

Look, Dan and I have no children. We have no pets. Now that we’re in Colorado we don’t have family around and many of our friends here travel home for the holidays or are busy with out-of-town guests. Though we love the break and the time together, Christmas means loooong spans of time that need […]

This past summer, knowing that our move to Colorado was imminent, Dan and I invited both of our families to spend a week together in Outer Banks, North Carolina. The sleeper hit of that trip was a jigsaw puzzle by grandmother purchased — by the end of the week, it had absorbed nearly everyone in […]

I did not want to take a hike. Dan talked me into a walk along the Poudre River Trail, and of course we had a beautiful, chilly day with ideal lighting for photography.

There are many reasons I have trepidation about hiking alone, and most of them stem from knowing myself very well. I have, for instance, the absolute worst sense of direction of anyone you have ever met. Couple that with my lifelong tendency to daydream even at the most critical of times, and — sorry, I […]

Welcome to the family, Yeti SB5. You’re a Reid now. Make us proud. The SB5 is Dan’s first full-suspension mountain bike. Maybe a year ago he rented this same model while on a ride through Pisgah National Forest with his good friend and fellow daredevil Nathan. Dan came home obviously smitten with that mountain bike […]

Toastmasters sure knows how to hook ya. In the past year or so, a few friends began talking about attending about Toastmasters meetings in their respective cities. Since my calendar is a clean slate lately, I’ve been trying to fill my time with new things. Sure, why not? There are multiple Toastmasters groups in Fort Collins […]

I just have to say: I often disagree with the way Colorado names things. For instance, how can a river this beautiful be called the Poudre?! I know, I know. It’s French; trappers once buried gunpowder along the river during a snowstorm. (Powder = poudre.) I don’t have to like it. These shots were taken […]

Lory State Park, about 8 miles from home, checked a major box for me: a place where I can hike while Dan can mountain bike. We have found many places that are good for one or the other, but Lory fits the bill. On this sunny, warm Saturday, Dan and I took a 4-mile hike […]

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 […]