I have worked places that gave us nice amenities on the grounds: Volleyball nets, jogging tracks, etc.
But nobody does grottos anymore.
People used to get them; for example, if you worked at Fort Collins municipal power plant (420 N. College) around 1930-something, you had one.
Complete with a pool, streambed, and stone gardens. It must have felt like taking every cigarette break right in the middle of a Maxfield Parrish painting.
Here’s a picture of the power plant today (sans smoke stacks):
Photo by PlasticDollHouse (see her Flickr stream at right)
The building is leased from the city by CSU (here’s a pdf of the 1999 application for historic designation, includes a few more factoids on the site)
And here’s the grotto today.
Grotto stream bed
My photo misses its beauty and scale. All the more reason for you to veer off the Poudre River Trail some warm afternoon, sit under one of its trees, and pretend you’re taking a break from a hard day at work.
Good call!
However, don’t overlook the terrific fountain that’s located on the south side of the power plant grounds. The fountain’s a beaut and deserves more respect than it’s current state of neglect suggests it deserves.
And you deserve a grotto, too! What a good idea.