Rocking in the Rockies: Day 4 Fort Collins & Cheyenne

[CrispyA]

Friday 29 July - Crazy, crazy nights!

We were checking out today as the road trip part of the trip was beginning. I was glad we had spent a few days in Denver, getting used to the altitude and exploring the city, but we were excited to be getting on the road now. We don't like staying in one place for too long and for us, the journeys are as much a part of the holiday as the destinations.

Breakfast was good with no spillages this morning. There was an amount of hassle checking out as I still hadn't had any confirmation that the refund for the first night had been processed. The woman on the desk this morning was the same unhelpful one that had sent us to the Ramada in the first place and she was equally as unhelpful today. In the end, I left it that she would try to confirm with Expedia and email me. She then told me how stressful that night had been for her (!)

We were soon packed up and all in the car with the satnav set for Fort Collins, a university town on the way to Cheyenne. One of the most exciting moments was being able to play our road trip CD, which we had spent some time planning. It featured plenty of John Denver (obvs) and various other songs, mostly connected with where we were travelling and what we were doing. We also played our usual game of licence plate spotting - would we get them all this year? Stay tuned to find out!

It didn't take long to get to Fort Collins and we enjoyed pottering around the town centre which was very charming. There are plenty of brewpubs and coffee shops, along with bike shops and hipster clothing emporiums. It was all very Colorado!

We stopped for a coffee in a lovely but very hipster coffee shop, where every other guy had a manbun.

After the coffee, we looked at the street art before heading for our first Boot Barn of the holiday.

We didn't buy much in this Boot Barn but managed to get a voucher for 15% future purchases. We did decline the offer of a loyalty card, but considering how much we spent in Boot Barn on subsequent visits, I think we should have done!

It wasn't too far from Fort Collins to Cheyenne in Wyoming, which was our next destination. We were heading there for Frontier Days, a two week festival of the Old West which includes the Professional Cowboys Rodeo Association (PRCA) Outdoor Rodeo, known as the Daddy of the Them All. We were also meeting up with my sister (@katiebaz) and her family for a couple of days which we were all really looking forward to.

We checked into the Staybridge Suites and left a message for Katie to say that we were there. We had booked this hotel last September and it was one of the last places with rooms available as the Frontier Days are really popular. It was a new hotel and we really liked it. The only problem was that there had been some confusion between them and ebookers: we had booked a room for 4 but there was only a double bed and a pull out 3/4 bed. It would have been okay if we had had little kids but it was too small for us. The desk staff, however, couldn't do enough to help us and we got a rollaway bed as well which was fine.

We were all peckish so nipped to a nearby Chipotle for lunch. The staff couldn't quite believe that Hannah really didn't want any meat and nearly added chicken to her quesadilla anyway, but she managed to convince them just in time!

After lunch, we nipped across the road to Boot Barn for our second visit of the day. This time, Paul got a pair of boots in the sale and as they had a 2 for 1 sale on the clothes, he got a shirt and Hannah got the bargain of the holiday - a sheepskin lined denim jacket. The total for both items was $30, making her jacket a bargaintastic $15. We are big fans of Justified and are currently making our way through the box set - the jacket is very "Boyd Crowder" and we were all slightly jealous!

Back at the hotel we had a note from Katie to say that they were in the pool so we nipped down to meet them. It was so cool to see my sister in the USA! We both love our American road trips and enjoy chatting about all our plans so it was brilliant to meet up this time. The pool itself was pretty chilly for an indoor pool, so we hung out in the jacuzzi while Evan enjoyed playing with his cousin Daniel in the big pool. At last both boys had someone equally as crazy to mess about with!

While we were in the pool there was a huge hailstorm outside. The hailstones were hitting the glass with real force and we couldn't work out what the sound was at first! It sounded like lazer blasters from a space movie! It had been forecast and we were a bit worried as we had concert tickets for the evening, but we hoped it would clear up later.

After fooling in the pool, we went to get changed and then met up to drive into Cheyenne. There is a bus that goes from the town centre to the fairground so we parked up to catch it. We were on our way to see Aaron Watson as part of the Frontier Nights concert series. We are all big country music fans and we love Aaron Watson and his Texas country sound. Paul and I had seen him play in Manchester in January and he was fab. He was playing with KISS which some might see as an added bonus . . . We are not KISS fans but thought they might be fun anyway.

The bus driver was playing KISS on the way to the fairground and everyone was in a good mood. We were just excited to be there.

We collected our concert and rodeo tickets and went into the fairground to have a look around. There are plenty of merchandise and food stalls, so we did some browsing and then got something to eat. The food was typical festival food - overpriced and somewhat disappointing - but we soon got over it and got into the queue for the arena.

We had to wait quite a while as the storm had delayed them setting the stage up. There were more KISS fans than Aaron Watson fans and we were amused to see lots of people with full KISS make up, including one with a cowboy hat. There was a guy dressed up in full KISS gear, including platform boots and he was doing a sterling job of striding around in the mud.

When we finally got into the arena, we were glad to have seats and not to be down in the "Party Zone". The mud and puddles were substantial and I imagine quite a few people ended up decking it as the night went on.

We got a photo of both families

Me and my sister - you can see the mud in the background

Paul in his Aaron Watson t-shirt that he bought in Texas

It wasn't too long before Aaron Watson and his band, the Orphans of the Brazos, hit the stage. His sound is a complete contrast to KISS and their glam rock, and it was a very strange combination of music, but he told the crowd that KISS were coming but first they were getting some Honky Tonk.

We were all singing along and jiggling in our seats. His band are fantastic and they each got a chance to shine, with the bass player doing a solo version of "Uptown Funk" and the fiddle player getting a volunteer to hold the bow while he moved the fiddle up and down it to play the notes.

One of the most moving songs was "" which is a homage to Lane Frost, a champion bull rider who was killed in the arena at Cheyenne in 1989. The next day would be the anniversary of his death and Aaron told us that Lane's mother had texted him to wish him well at his show.

We loved the show and it was such a treat to see a musician we love in a place like this. It was slightly unnerving to see storm clouds and lightning in the distance, but we were reassured that this wouldn't have been their first storm and that the organisers would stop the show if there was any danger to the crowd.

After Aaron's show, it was time for KISS.There was quite a spectacle as they arrive in golf buggies at the back of the stage, ready for their grand entrance. When they appeared on stage, there were plenty of pyrotechnics and the crowd went wild.

We did try but none of us are KISS fans and after about 5 songs, we'd had enough. We were hoping for more of their hits but when they started playing album tracks from the 1970s, we decided hit the road! I'm sure it was a great show if you're a fan and they would have played Crazy Crazy Nights eventually, but it was getting late and we didn't fancy a long wait for the bus back at the end of the night. We'd seen Aaron Watson, which is what we wanted, so we were happy to go back.

He posted this photo to his Facebook page - love that he got a photo with KISS!

[katiebaz]

A great write up of the day and we LOVED meeting up with you, great pictures too x

[CrispyA]

Originally Posted by katiebaz

A great write up of the day and we LOVED meeting up with you, great pictures too x

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Thank you - we had so much fun with you all!

[Melbatb]

What a fab day! Boot Barn sounds like a shop my DD would love

The concert seems to have been fun - not sure I would know many KISS songs though!

[Loopylooloo]

Love the photo of you and your sister in your hats! Brilliant. Looks like a great place! I love anything western themed.

[CrispyA]

Originally Posted by Loopylooloo

Love the photo of you and your sister in your hats! Brilliant. Looks like a great place! I love anything western themed.

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Thank you!

[CrispyA]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

What a fab day! Boot Barn sounds like a shop my DD would love

The concert seems to have been fun - not sure I would know many KISS songs though!

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Us neither!

Boot Barn was great - they do have some really good sales

[Guest]

Was in Cheyenne in July. Lovely place and that wonderful Wrangler store (not to be confused with Wrangler jeans - although they sold them too. Over 3,500 pairs of cowboy boots. And that wonderful Cheyenne Depot museum - a tribute to Union Pacific railroads. We skipped Fort Collins so good to read your views about it.

[CrispyA]

Originally Posted by geoffa

Was in Cheyenne in July. Lovely place and that wonderful Wrangler store (not to be confused with Wrangler jeans - although they sold them too. Over 3,500 pairs of cowboy boots. And that wonderful Cheyenne Depot museum - a tribute to Union Pacific railroads. We skipped Fort Collins so good to read your views about it.

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We didn't make it to the Wrangler store - sounds like it was great! We were originally going to stay in Fort Collins but added another night in Denver instead. It would have made a nice stop though - lovely place.

[Pussycat Doll]

Sounds like a fun day, we love meeting people (friends usually) when we are away! Pussycat