The big news yesterday?
I can legitimately be called a Wyoming resident again! My new Wyoming drivers license came in the mail.
After months of switching addresses and license plates I have finally sealed the deal.
It was weird and fun to see my face by a bucking bronco and not to have the District of Columbia seal hanging over my head.
AND...Wyoming doesn't put your weight on there.
I showed it to everyone.
October 10, 2008
October 8, 2008
Shackin' Up
My office was showing a European Union representative and two British Consul Generals around yesterday. To show them a kitschy Wyoming good time we took them to The Bunkhouse.
The Bunkhouse is on Happy Jack Road between Cheyenne and Laramie. I had heard about this little gem of a hole in the wall before, but hadn't been there.
The Europeans (and me) got a kick out of the saddles, wildlife mounts, farm tools, and other junk on the walls. They have great steak, sentiments the Brits reiterated, and apparently there is a band at 7 p.m. every Friday and Saturday night. Talk about hook, line and sinker... I'm caught.
I've heard people like to stop here on their way back from Cowboys games in Laramie, which I will definitely now have to do.
I ended up talking to the owner for a bit and learned the Bunkhouse first opened in 1959. The owner told me the place gets an eclectic crowd and sometimes there'll even be horses hitched out front.
I *do* love places like this!
And...just 'cause. A pretty Wyoming sunset taken from the parking lot of the 'Bunk:
The Bunkhouse is on Happy Jack Road between Cheyenne and Laramie. I had heard about this little gem of a hole in the wall before, but hadn't been there.
The Europeans (and me) got a kick out of the saddles, wildlife mounts, farm tools, and other junk on the walls. They have great steak, sentiments the Brits reiterated, and apparently there is a band at 7 p.m. every Friday and Saturday night. Talk about hook, line and sinker... I'm caught.
I've heard people like to stop here on their way back from Cowboys games in Laramie, which I will definitely now have to do.
I ended up talking to the owner for a bit and learned the Bunkhouse first opened in 1959. The owner told me the place gets an eclectic crowd and sometimes there'll even be horses hitched out front.
I *do* love places like this!
And...just 'cause. A pretty Wyoming sunset taken from the parking lot of the 'Bunk:
October 5, 2008
Fall Outing
Every fall in D.C., I would drag people out to a Virginia apple orchard for a day of country fun.
Yesterday, a few friends here helped me keep the tradition alive at a nearby pumpkin patch.
After swinging by the Cheyenne Farmer's Market we set off for a patch just over the Colorado border. It was a simple place - no hayrides, pumpkin cannons, mazes, or merchandise. Just pumpkins. And lots of them!
I didn't go too crazy - sticking with only three orange pumpkins and two white ones.
But from the looks of the back of my car, you'd wonder if we left any for other pickers...
A big draw at the farmer's market are the freshly roasted chili peppers. They cook them in what looks like an old lottery ball machine and you can smell them smokin' all through downtown...
The finished product. A bag of these babies is tucked away in my freezer...
Um...I'm not real sure what saloon girls and cowboys have to do with farmer's markets...but sure!
Me with my bounty...
Yesterday, a few friends here helped me keep the tradition alive at a nearby pumpkin patch.
After swinging by the Cheyenne Farmer's Market we set off for a patch just over the Colorado border. It was a simple place - no hayrides, pumpkin cannons, mazes, or merchandise. Just pumpkins. And lots of them!
I didn't go too crazy - sticking with only three orange pumpkins and two white ones.
But from the looks of the back of my car, you'd wonder if we left any for other pickers...
A big draw at the farmer's market are the freshly roasted chili peppers. They cook them in what looks like an old lottery ball machine and you can smell them smokin' all through downtown...
The finished product. A bag of these babies is tucked away in my freezer...
Um...I'm not real sure what saloon girls and cowboys have to do with farmer's markets...but sure!
Me with my bounty...
October 3, 2008
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (Explore Evanston, Wyo.)
That pretty much sums up my day on Thursday.
My day started before sunrise at a hangar at Cheyenne's airport. I was being sent to Evanston, Wyo., with some folks from work and the governor to take pictures of an event one of our programs was having there.
I hadn't been to Evanston in many, many years, and I must say: I was impressed.
The town has been very progressive in making improvements to its community - particularly in restoring old buildings to preserve their history and open them up for modern use.
The downtown was quaint, the people enthusiastic and nice, and the surrounding environment was pretty. Like I said, I was impressed.
We spent a lot of time at the old rail park, which they are revamping and turning into a community center of sorts with lots of space for a variety of functions.
One of the completed buildings is the old machine shop, which was awesome, and they are currently working on restoring the rail yard's old roundhouse. Train cars used to be loaded onto a giant wheel in the middle of the roundhouse which would spin to move the cars from one track to another. Their vision for the old building is pretty cool, and I definitely want to see it when it's done.
We also checked out the Evanston Hotel built in 1912. Our tour guide told us how it used to be the place to eat a nice dinner in town. Then it became the place to avoid when gambling moved in. The place got really rundown, but they are in the process of cleaning it up. It's nothing but a construction zone now, but you can see how it used to be nice. Their newest addition to the place is two pretty skylights, which I bet will look amazing in the renovated space.
Later we strolled down the Bear Parkway, the scenic recreation trail through town. The trail follows a river, and again the work they did was astounding. They apparently pulled mounds of trash from the river, then hauled I don't know how many tons of river rock in to shore up the banks and create waterfalls and eddies that are now used for recreational purposes. The trail runs about three miles one way and it isn't unusual to see moose in the path before you. It was really nice and very pretty, and in better shoes I would have been happy to walk the whole thing.
But I wasn't in good shoes at all. I was completely unprepared for the amount of walking we did. I thought we'd mostly be strolling around downtown, but no. After construction sites, tours of museums, about two miles down a recreation path, and yes, some stolling, my feet were on fire. Lesson learned: Bring something besides heels - even though they were low ones - on my next trip.
Fortunately, we also did some driving around, which me and my feet couldn't have been happier about.
After a long day we finally boarded the jet again for the 50 minute flight home.
Did I mention this is totally the way to go?
An old caboose (such a fun word to look at) at the rail park...
An old dining car at the rail park they want to maybe turn in to a diner...
Evanston's tribute to 9-11...
A gazebo and park they are working on to celebrate the history of the Asian culture that settled there...
The gazebo roof...
On the Bear Parkway recreation trail...
A fire pit on the Parkway. Oh, the social outings I would have here!
On the plane...
After the plane...exhausted, sore and happily at home...
My day started before sunrise at a hangar at Cheyenne's airport. I was being sent to Evanston, Wyo., with some folks from work and the governor to take pictures of an event one of our programs was having there.
I hadn't been to Evanston in many, many years, and I must say: I was impressed.
The town has been very progressive in making improvements to its community - particularly in restoring old buildings to preserve their history and open them up for modern use.
The downtown was quaint, the people enthusiastic and nice, and the surrounding environment was pretty. Like I said, I was impressed.
We spent a lot of time at the old rail park, which they are revamping and turning into a community center of sorts with lots of space for a variety of functions.
One of the completed buildings is the old machine shop, which was awesome, and they are currently working on restoring the rail yard's old roundhouse. Train cars used to be loaded onto a giant wheel in the middle of the roundhouse which would spin to move the cars from one track to another. Their vision for the old building is pretty cool, and I definitely want to see it when it's done.We also checked out the Evanston Hotel built in 1912. Our tour guide told us how it used to be the place to eat a nice dinner in town. Then it became the place to avoid when gambling moved in. The place got really rundown, but they are in the process of cleaning it up. It's nothing but a construction zone now, but you can see how it used to be nice. Their newest addition to the place is two pretty skylights, which I bet will look amazing in the renovated space.
Later we strolled down the Bear Parkway, the scenic recreation trail through town. The trail follows a river, and again the work they did was astounding. They apparently pulled mounds of trash from the river, then hauled I don't know how many tons of river rock in to shore up the banks and create waterfalls and eddies that are now used for recreational purposes. The trail runs about three miles one way and it isn't unusual to see moose in the path before you. It was really nice and very pretty, and in better shoes I would have been happy to walk the whole thing.
But I wasn't in good shoes at all. I was completely unprepared for the amount of walking we did. I thought we'd mostly be strolling around downtown, but no. After construction sites, tours of museums, about two miles down a recreation path, and yes, some stolling, my feet were on fire. Lesson learned: Bring something besides heels - even though they were low ones - on my next trip.
Fortunately, we also did some driving around, which me and my feet couldn't have been happier about.
After a long day we finally boarded the jet again for the 50 minute flight home.
Did I mention this is totally the way to go?
An old caboose (such a fun word to look at) at the rail park...
An old dining car at the rail park they want to maybe turn in to a diner...
Evanston's tribute to 9-11...
A gazebo and park they are working on to celebrate the history of the Asian culture that settled there...
The gazebo roof...
On the Bear Parkway recreation trail...
A fire pit on the Parkway. Oh, the social outings I would have here!
On the plane...
After the plane...exhausted, sore and happily at home...
October 1, 2008
Speaking of Worlds...
Yesterday was a whole new one.
A colleague and I had to meet up with K2 News, a Casper t.v. outlet, for work yesterday, and it just so happens their Cheyenne office is in the capitol building.
My coworker and I walked up the stairs to the front of the building, walked through the big front doors and, interestingly, kept right on walking to the K2 office without having to stop once for security purposes.
There were no metal detectors, no "capitol police," no getting wanded because your high heels set the detectors off, there wasn't even anybody who wanted to peek inside your purse. There was somebody behind a visitor desk, but they didn't say a word to us as we just breezed on by.
I know it's Wyoming 'n all, but still - it's the capitol!
I was amazed at how no one ever asked us our business, even as we went in to each of the chambers and meandered the halls waiting for our meeting to start.
Darn it all - it's things like this that make me love being back here.
It's just SO Wyoming, and sometimes SO a different world.
A colleague and I had to meet up with K2 News, a Casper t.v. outlet, for work yesterday, and it just so happens their Cheyenne office is in the capitol building.
My coworker and I walked up the stairs to the front of the building, walked through the big front doors and, interestingly, kept right on walking to the K2 office without having to stop once for security purposes.
There were no metal detectors, no "capitol police," no getting wanded because your high heels set the detectors off, there wasn't even anybody who wanted to peek inside your purse. There was somebody behind a visitor desk, but they didn't say a word to us as we just breezed on by.
I know it's Wyoming 'n all, but still - it's the capitol!
I was amazed at how no one ever asked us our business, even as we went in to each of the chambers and meandered the halls waiting for our meeting to start.
Darn it all - it's things like this that make me love being back here.
It's just SO Wyoming, and sometimes SO a different world.
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