Fort Collins, Colorado is one of those towns that I see listed as "Best" in various ways. Livability.com placed it at number 13 on their list of "Top 100 Places to Live" for 2016. Bestcollegereviews.org ranked it at number 14 on a recent list of 50 Best College Towns." Fort Collins made an appearance on MSN's list of 12 US housing markets where it seems impossible to find a place to live. This means that people like living here, a fact supported by another MSN list that ranked Fort Collins as the 4th "Happiest" city in America. The city gets a lot of positive press.

Heather wanted to show me the downtown area now that it's decorated for the season. From the Anheuser-Busch plant, we headed back into the city to the Old Town area just north of Colorado State University to grab some dinner and wander around a little. The first thing I noticed in this area of downtown was the row of parking spaces in the middle of College Avenue.

I'm not familiar with parking in between the travel lanes. I really like the fact that the streets are wide enough to accommodate parking in the middle.

Downtown Holiday Lights is an annual event that takes place in Fort Collins' Old Town.

Every Holiday Season, the trees and buildings in a 7 block area are illuminated with strings of lights.

There are a lot of trees in that area.

This means there are A LOT of lights !

I've seen plenty of downtown areas decorated for the holidays.

But I've never seen anything on this scale.

The Oak Street Plaza can be seen in the photos above and below.

The Oak Street Plaza, Fort Collins, Colorado.

We kept walking and soon came to the conclusion that the lights seemed to go on forever.

We continued walking on College Avenue checking out the lights, and looking for a place to grab some dinner. The photo above was taken at the intersection of College and Mountain Avenues.

Old Town Square occupies one block of Linden Street that was closed and transformed in the 1980s.

Prior to the renovation, that end of town was rather depressed. Plans were put into place to transform it into a center of activity. The asphalt street was replaced with paver stones. Planters, permanent seating, and a water feature were added. Businesses opened in the abandoned buildings. Today, it is considered the focal point of the Old Town area.

After 30 years, Old Town Square was completely renovated last year. Designers wanted the area seen in the photo above to showcase a second water feature, but also be an open area to accommodate the crowds. The solution was the Vernal Pool, the partial outline of which can be seen in the photo.

This pool features water jets mounted in the ground for people to play in during the summer. When not in use during the winter, the area is available for temporary activities, such as Santa's Workshop seen in the photo above.

The open space not only promotes a smoother flow, but also allows for larger crowds for musical activities at the stage.

Old Town Square ends at Walnut Street on the back side of the stage where we turned left and headed back toward College Avenue. We settled on the Still Whiskey Steaks restaurant for dinner.

I liked the rustic atmosphere, and the food was great !

Here is where I found the perfect way to end a great day of sightseeing – Prime rib !