Bingham Hill and Bellvue Video Tour

Here is my first foray into the world of posting video.  My goal is to try and give you a feel for the area and provide some useful background information.  In this first video I ramble about the area you can see from the top of Bingham Hill.  I believe the video was shot in February but I can't remember the exact date. 

I will post some additional footage from this trip and try to keep the videos rolling.  If you have a specific area you would like me to highlight, just let me know.

The video was shot using an Ipad Mini, so pardon the image and sound quality.

Mountain Avenue

If you have been to Old Town Fort Collins then you have heard of Mountain Avenue.  I am going to spend the next few blog posts highlighting streets, businesses, landmarks, really whatever I am riding past just to give a flavor of Fort Collins.  If you want me to cover something in particular, shoot me a message and I will do it.

Mountain Avenue, Old Town, Fort Collins, CO

This is not the most scenic shot of Mountain but remember it is January 24 (I took this today in our 65 degree weather).  Why is Mountain popular?  First, this shot is down one side of Mountain and you will notice how wide the street appears.  From right to left we have (1) a wide parking lane, (2) a wide bike lane with lines on each side, (3) a wide single lane for cars, (4) a wide, tree lined grass median which also has tracks for a trolley car and then the pattern repeats for the other side for traffic, bikes, etc in the other direction. 

There is also a wide grass and tree-lined space between the street and pedestrian sidewalk.  All of the trees in the median and between the street and the sidewalk are owned and maintained by the city.  Each resident is responsible for mowing, planting, maintaining the grass strip between the sidewalk and the street, but the city maintains road and utility easements in that space.  The result is a wide, beautiful tree lined street that connects the business district of Old Town to City Park (a distance of about 2 miles).   

Mountain Avenue also has a great mix of architecture with $250k homes next to $730k homes. 

If you are visiting Fort Collins on a warm day and want to stretch your legs, take a walk down Mountain Ave, you won't be disappointed. 

Best Places to Live and What not...

I really enjoy living in Fort Collins and I know we get lots of national recognition for being a great place to live. I am starting to put together a list of all of these accolades and in using the almighty Google I found out that the City of Fort Collins has already done a pretty good job of keeping track of all the "official" rankings. There is no reason for me to re-invent the wheel here. Check out this link on to find all of The Rankings and Accolades for FC.

I will highlight some of the highlights I personally found interesting:

First, Fort Collins weather and topographic info:

• Fort Collins is nestled against the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and alongside the banks of the Cache La Poudre River.
• The city lies approximately 5,000 feet above sea level.
• Residents enjoy a moderate, four season climate with an average of 300 days of sunshine and 14.5 inches of precipitation a year. (*****I think this 300 days is low. I can count on two hands and a foot the number of days that are completed overcast from dawn to dusk******).
• July is the average warmest month (Avg. High 86°F - Avg. Low 57°F)
• January is the average coolest month (Avg. High 42°F - Avg. Low 14°F)

Bike Related Highlights: ***Remember this is only the City not the County Open Space or State Parks which we have a lot of here.

Gold level Bicycle Friendly Community: League of American Bicyclists - September 2008
***There are only 10 Gold Level in the nation****

The City maintains more than 600 acres of parks, 30,000 acres of natural areas, 20 miles of off-street hike/ bike trails and 200 miles of on-street and off-street trails for pedestrians and bicycles. As a side note, our Bike Path system is awesome with a paved trail running from Fort Collins to Laporte and Bellvue. This trail follows the Poudre River and is very scenic with an amazing bike bridge over the river near Laporte.

OTHER COOL STUFF:

• One the Top 25 Best Places to Retire: CNNMoney.com - September 2010
• One of the Top 10 Best College Towns: Small-Sized Cities Category, USA Today - September 2010
• One of the top six 'Smarter Cities' for Energy: Natural Resources Defense Council, (population 100,000-249,999) - August 2010

And I really like this one:

Named 5th Most Educated City in the country based on education levels of our adult population: Portfolio.com - December 2010. Here is the stat from the Census Bureau via the City website "Approximately 48.2% of the population has completed four or more years of college (2006 US Census)." I think we are probably above that 48.2% number by now.

There is lots more, so check out the city website I link to above or shoot me an email.

Off for a ride.....Be Well.