Last Belgian in Fort Collins

My bags were packed and ready to go on time, except for popping my MacBook laptop into the back pocket of the Kata camera backpack that I've been using as luggage so I can bring my computer along. (I carry my camera, on the other hand, in the purse you see here.)

Even though it was another very hot day in Fort Collins, we went out for a short walk before lunch, checking out streets we hadn't explored earlier. We discovered that one of the local breweries was just a five minute stroll from our hotel, and Phil cheered up when I noted that we could make it our first stop the next time we come to Fort Collins. I liked their creative thinking around art and beer -- I'd love to try this!

We returned to the Armstrong Hotel for the last time on this trip, and went to Choice City Butcher & Deli, in the same building as the hotel, for a late breakfast/early lunch (eggs benedict with smoked salmon for Phil, with portobella mushrooms and roasted red peppers for me) and a really delicious sour Belgian beer (only 5% alcohol, so appropriate for lunch).

Our Green Ride shuttle van delivered us to Denver International Airport in plenty of time for our flight to Seattle, but our flight was delayed by almost an hour late, due to weather, and we missed our connecting flight to Bellingham. I'm sitting in Seattle-Tacoma Airport, writing this while we wait for the 10:45pm boarding for the 11:15pm flight to Bellingham -- the last one out.

The actual flight takes only about 35 minutes, so we should be out of that last airport and in our car shortly after midnight -- a longer day than we'd expected, but we are grateful to be safely back in cooler weather and green everywhere.

My heart is with the people of Colorado and several other western states where wildfires are raging and people are having to evacuate on short notice. Yesterday, 33,000 people in Colorado Springs, second in size only to Denver, were under mandatory immediate evacuation orders. I wish we could send some of the Pacific Northwest rain their way!