November 22: Downtown Fort Collins, CO . . .
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.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.