A Busy Saturday

Today was much busier than I expected.

Before we even left Berthoud we realized that today was the dedication ceremony for our lovely new streetscaping. We stopped to watch the mayor and the public works administrator and other luminaries give speeches; They had cake and confetti. Most importantly, they had firetrucks.



Alex got another chance to sit in the cab of two of our fire trucks. We walked around each of them several times to see where all the hoses are attached, how the ladders work, where the firemen sit, etc., etc. One of the firemen let Alex try on his fire jacket.

Firemen lower the flag after the dedication ceremony at 4th and Mountain

Once we finished our cake, we decided it was probably time to start the day. So we hopped back in the car, but we hadn't gone even a block when we saw about a dozen beautiful vintage cars on display by the fire station. So we just HAD to stop and check them out too!

Alex isn't sure about the Buick, but he really liked the Ford Fairlane and the vintage trucks, including Berthoud's own fully-restored Model-T pickup truck.

So after another 20 minutes of looking at cars, we decided now it was high time to start our day. Remember, our original plan was to go feed the geese and ride the trolley.

So up we went to Daddy's work to try and find some geese to feed our extra bread to. We didn't have to look far, we just followed the loud honking noises to the ponds on the southeast corner of the plant.

C'mon Daddy, over here!

Mmmmmm... more stale bread please.... honk honk!

I remembered that we actually have a really nice little play area at work too, so we stopped over there for another 20-30 minutes to run around and play on the slides and whatnot. Finally we decided to pick up where we'd left off on our quest to ride the trolley.

On our way up, we called our friends Kim & Tom & Dean to see if they would like to join us for a trolley ride. Dean was in the middle of one of his naps, but they said once he woke up they'd love to join us.

Meanwhile we had to stop at the new library branch and return a book.

Once all that was over, we decided it would be a good time for lunch. So we ducked into McDonalds for some chicken nuggets.

Then, finally we made our way to Old Town and found parking very near the trolley stop at Mountain and Howe.

As we got out of the car, we heard loud music and cheering. A party? Oh yes. It was the big Cinco de Mayo festival over at the municipal building. Well, we would be remiss if we did not stop to investigate. So we walked over to the park and made the rounds of booths, vendors, performance stages, fire safety exhibits, and so forth. We ran into my coworker Paul's wife Zoe and chatted about the big frog count going on. We watched some amazing machete dancers.

And finally, at long last, we decided ti was high time to resume our trolley plans. We sat at the station for about 5 minutes and lo, there was the trolley.

Ding! ding!

#21 is a 1919 electric trolley bought in that year by the City of Fort Collins for $6,200. It was in regular passenger service in the city until the 1950s. The trolley line runs on 600 volds DC. The non-profit volunteer Fort Collins Municipal Railway runs the trolleys every weekend from May to September. Adult fare is $1, kids are $0.50. The 3-mile round trip takes about 1/2 hour, running from Old Town to City Park.

Alex enjoys the scenic trip along Mountain Avenue

The present-day tourist attraction is a mere shadow of the 4-line municipal railway that once criss-crossed Fort Collins, starting with horse-drawn carriages before the turn of the century and quickly moving to electric cars that ran through the 1950s, before the railway was dismantled.

#21 is the only car currently in service, but the Railway is in the process of restoring a second car from Fort Collins' past, #25, that will eventually join the route. There is talk of someday expanding the line farther west and north, but the chances of it ever returning to regular passenger service are slim-to-none.

After one round-trip on the line we got the call that Dean was awake and ready to roll, so we arranged to meet Kim and Tom over at Gelazzi for some gelato, and then ride the trolley again with them.



Gelato is wonderful stuff. A bit expensive though - our medium serving was upwards of $8. Ah well, a rare treat, and they do give you all the free samples you want before making your decision.

Alex and I shared a cup of strawberry-banana and chocolate-chocolate chip.

Dean is getting big! I guess that's the natural course of things, but it always amazes me when I go several weeks or months between seeing otherwise-familliar babies. It seems Kim & Tom are adjusting well to life in Colorado. They close on their first house in a couple of weeks, a beautiful newer home on a half acre on the very south-west corner of town adjacent to a big natural area. I can't wait for the housewarming party.

Tom also recently helped Dana make the connections to secure a legal internship at CSU this summer. Kim is allllmost done with her doctoral dissertation in fluid mechanics. I think. Or hydrodynamics, or nuke-you-lur power, or something insanely technical and messy. Between his two engineer Ph.D professor parents, Dean is going to be one smart cookie.

So after we ate gelato and started to catch up a bit, it was time to return to the trolley. C'mon people, let's stay focused.



This time we rode to City Park and had a stopover so we could play at the park and walk around the lake. Despite the grey weather, the temperature was pleasantly cool and it did not rain on us. Our timing was perfect, too, as the return trolley was rolling to a stop just as we arrived back at the station in City Park.


Tom, Dean, Kim, Alex and Dan in front of Old # 21 at City Park

At this point, Alex was beyond exhausted. He was running on ice cream and trains, but fading fast. As soon as we got back to the car and changed a diaper, around 4:45, it started raining and Alex fell asleep.

We drove home through the rain and I carried Alex upstairs to finish his nap. By 6:30pm we had picked up a hasty dinner of stuffed sopapillas from Santiago's (in honor of Cinco de Mayo and our completely lack of energy to do anything in the kitchen), and Alex was slowly waking up on the couch watching a video.

The aftermath of the day's vigorous activities

Daddy, stop pestering me!