Things to do with and without kids around town? (Fort Collins: rentals, buy)

[famlife]

We will be there in June, and would like to know of some places to go with and without our kids.. We would like to stay pretty close to town for the most part, within 10-15 minutes.
Examples:
Skate park
Coffee shop
Interesting restaurant (table side guac anywhere?)
Playground/dog park/picnic area
Library
Ice rink
Geographic or historic points of interest
Walking trails
Race track or sporting event

You know, just bumming around town stuff to do. We will be there for a few days and just want to get a feel for the town.

Thanks

[StealthRabbit]

How old are the kids? (very important to know)

Several local swimming pools and swimming holes.
Poudre and Big Thompson Parks / trails (Maybe you can help repair from Flood damage! My kids loved helping)

Rent some bikes (or buy at Goodwill) lots of bike trails

Swetsville Zoo
Swetsville Zoo - Fort Collins - Reviews of Swetsville Zoo - TripAdvisor

[famlife]

They are 2-15, so pretty much anything and nothing works lol

[Troutfshrmn]

Free bike rental at the Bike Library. DazBog coffee shop north side of Old Town.(Best Chai Latte's ever). Lots of old timey candy/ice cream shops. You shouldn't run out of things to do.

[ELCO5280]

When ever we head to the Fort with our kids they always want to check out the discovery museum which is actually pretty interactive and fun Fort Collins Museum of Discovery.

We also spend most of our time in Old Town walking around, maybe stop by CooperSmith's for a Punjabi and grub or maybe Equinox for a taster and board games. You can pretty much find interesting shops, coffee shops, restaurants, skate shops, etc. in Old Town.

[famlife]

Great, I'll definitely check out that cafe, and look into bike rentals. Maybe we could find a nice park with trails to take the bikes to. And Old town. I love seeing the "old town" of towns

[UltrazGSD]

A great park to bike in/around is Spring Canyon. It's gorgeous, has an amazing playground, lots of bike trails, a splash park, and a mountain biking course for kiddos. You should definitely spend some time there! Edit to add: It also has softball fields, tennis, a skate park, and a really cool dog park. We never utilize that stuff, so forgot to mention it. Nice picnic areas, as well. (big fan of that park!)

[UltrazGSD]

The Wild Boar coffee shop is good, and close to old town. I've been there several times. I also like Dazbog (any of the locations) and Human Bean (for drive through).

Blue Agave Grill in old town just opened and has REALLY good food. It doesn't have tableside guac, but the guac is good. the coconut shrimp are amazing, margs are excellent. We went there just the other night with our two toddlers and had a great time. Afterward we walked around and watched people, took the kiddos to Clothes Pony and Dandelion Toys (great toy store) and listened to a street musician who was actually really good.

In addition to Spring Canyon Park, Fossil Creek Park has a lot of features you mentioned. It's a big park in the south part of town. It has a nice splash park that is right next to a beautiful lake. The playground is fossil themed and pretty cool. I think there's a skate park there, and I know there's a dog park. Also tennis, basketball, picnic areas, and a pretty walking trail that circles the lake.

City Park is also really nice, but we don't go there as often as it's on the other end of town from us. But we want to go do the paddle boats this year, and take the kids to the super cool outdoor pool. The Fort Collins Foxes (baseball) also play there. You might want to check them out since you mentioned sporting events. It looks fun and is very family friendly.

All of the libraries are nice. I prefer Council Tree library, but the one near old town is cool, too. We go to the Harmony library fairly often for story time. It's on the community college campus, but is easy to access.

EPIC has an ice rink as well as an indoor pool. You can check the EPIC website for times/prices. Also, if you want to take the kids to a really nice indoor pool, make the short drive to Loveland's Chilson Rec Center. There's a great shallow pool/splash area for little kids, a basketball bay, lap pools, two hot tubs, and a lazy river. We love it and it is definitely our pool of choice. There's also lots of other rec options such as racquet ball, basketball, weights, etc.

The city is FULL of walking/biking trails. They all connect in some way and you can go all through the city by trail. Spring Canyon trail is a main one, as is Powerline trail. There are also a lot of natural areas that have trails running through them. Just search Fort Collins natural areas and you can get a lot more info.

I don't know a whole lot about historical/geographic points of interest. We have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, so our lives revolve around kid activities. There is so much to do here with kids! Please let me know if you have any questions at all.

[UltrazGSD]

Oh! Another fun restaurant is HuHot. It's a Mongolian grill. You take a bowl (or two) and fill it with your choice of noodles, rice, raw veggies, meats and sauces. Then take it up to the huge grill and they cook it while you stand and watch. There's lots of fire and smoke, and very entertaining. Not to mention good! You can go back as often as you want, too. Afterward we like to order the tabletop smores. Mmm! It's also right in old town, and fun to walk around afterward.

[lucylinus]

Epic pool and skating rink complex is huge
There is also city pool which has lazy river and water slides. You can also pick up trolley down here.