Southern Wyoming

Today, this semi-adventurous Jersey Girl decided to leave Colorado for the day.  The southern part of Wyoming is too close to pass up the opportunity to see another state and explore.  So, I checked the directions and distances for Cheyenne and Laramie,  checked Tripadvisor for sightseeing and lunch recommendations, and even threw a change of clothes in my backpack in case I loved the area so much that I didn't want to leave after only a few hours.  

In Cheyenne, the annual rodeo event called Frontier Days was underway.  I missed the morning parade, but not the remaining horse droppings which were abundant on the street in front of the capital building.  Once inside the capital, a state trooper behind a desk greeted me, asked me to sign in, and said I was free to take a tour.  No metal detector.  No tour guides.  No closed off areas.  The trooper even suggested I could go into the governor's office and sign his visitor's book, too. I wandered at will through the three floors, admiring the large stuffed bison on the first floor, looking into the portrait gallery, the chambers for the senators and representatives, and other offices.  The trooper commented that this was a building "for the people" and because it didn't attract crowds, the building remained completely accessible.

I didn't walk around the blocks of restaurants and shops in Cheyenne, but instead got back in the car to head to Laramie.  It's a fairly short ride, with the Medicine Row Mountains in the foreground and the Snowy Range in the distance.  Even though Laramie is at an altitude of 7,000 feet, the historic area is flat with no visible mountain ranges.  There's a Union Pacific Railroad Line at one end of town and several blocks of shops, restaurants, banks, and several yarn stores.  I walked and noted the places that were mentioned in my guidebook.  Two great bookstores within two blocks.  An outdoor store.  A western wear store with serious belt buckles and racks of cowboy boots.  A microbrewery, of course, and a recommended coffee shop.

I chose the microbrewery for lunch- Altitude Microbrewery- and enjoyed a burger and Altitude Amber Ale.  When I asked the bartender if it was always this quiet in town, he said it was.  He said he thought about moving to a bigger city such as Denver, but he liked the "small town" feel of Laramie.  After lunch I checked out the Night Heron Used Books and picked out a book and a piece of blueberry coffeecake.  My last stop was the Coal Creek Coffee Co. for a decaf for the road.  After only two hours I was ready to head back to the liveliness and Flatirons of Boulder.  I know I missed some great things, such as the University of Wyoming, but Laramie was not for me.