[at-l] Greeley, CO

[pmags at yahoo.com (Paul Magnanti)]

Ah..Greeley.

Greeley is (was?) a mainly a argicultural town a bit
more into the plains than Boulder and a little further
north.
http://snipurl.com/m2ss 

It is maybe half an hour from Ft. Collins.

For you James Michener fans, the fictional town of
Centennial (from the novel  and mini-series of the
same name) was not too far from Greeley. That may help
you locate Greeley a bit better.

Greely has University of Northern Colorado. The area
near the university looks like something out of Nomran
Rockwell painting. Old (by Colorado standards) housse,
wide avenues. A big wide lawn in front of the college.

In 2000, my girlfriend at the time was a grad-student
at CU. Her friend's family lived in Greeley. The
family invited all of us "orphans" over for
Thanksgiving. After the meal, we played touch football
on the lawn of the college.  Brisk fall air, touch
football, and pumpkin pie afterwards. Never mind
looking like a Norman Rockwell painting... I lived in
one for a few hours. :)

Greeley is about 2 hrs from Rocky Mountain National
Park, 2 hrs from Poudre Canyon (white water rafting)
and the Rawahs (mountains). Maybe a little less than
two hours from the Medicine Bows of southern Wyo. (And
1 hr from Sierra Trading Post).

Not too far from Greeley is the Pawnee National
Grassland. Though the bison are gone, it is as close
as people today can get to what the high plains must
have looked like not really that long ago. (Pre-1860
lets say). The most famouse landmark in the PNGL are
the Pawnee Buttes. Again, if you are familiar with
Michener's "CENTENNIAL", they were the model for the
Rattlesname Buttes depicted in the book (and the
miniseries I assume - which I never saw).

http://www.trailsandgrasslands.org/pawnee.html
http://gorp.away.com/gorp/publishers/fulcrum/hik_gra2.htm


Never been, but I hope to go this spring when the
prarie is starting to bloom.

There's a thumbnail sketch. Hope it helps.


************************************************************
The true harvest of my life is intangible.... a little stardust 
caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
--Thoreau
http://www.magnanti.com