A Trip Into Town

Mary Ann taking a picture for the journal.

We spent several hours in Cheyenne, WY today playing tourist.  Most of the time was on a history tour on their "trolley."   It was 90 minutes long and should have been no more than 60!  Rog said he lost interest after 20 minutes.  The tour guide talked lots about local history involving local celebrities and spent a lot of time talking about Cheyenne Frontier Days, so our interest waned as the ride went on.  We did see some lovely old homes, the capital building, the old governor's mansion, museums and, of course, the rodeo grounds which were enormous!  It was 90 degrees and the bus had no A/C.  The tour guide handed us hand fans as we got on!  That's probably another reason it was way too long and a bit uncomfortable, but for $10 we learned some Wyoming and Cheyenne history.

This sculpture is in honor of the fact that Wyoming was the first to give women the vote many years before universal suffrage in the United States.  There were several sculptures of women around town celebrating the pioneer spirit and the important contributions made by women during the settling of the Western Frontier.

This boot is one of about 200 painted by various artists and groups (one was by middle schoolers) and are spread throughout the city. They have some interesting motifs. One has all the names of the governors.  Another, examples of license plates through the years. This one has the elusive (to us) pronghorn on the front and a big trout on the back.

I took this photo because the window was just so pretty.  It was on a building built in Cheyenne's early days that now houses a western museum.

We had a nice lunch in a small "health food" type place.  We asked the city information receptionist where we bought the tickets for the tour where we could find a good restaurant.  When we told her we were vegetarians she just shook her head.  Cheyenne is not a town that you will find a vegetarian restaurant or non-meat meals on the menus.  Cattle country, I guess!!  She was kind enough to direct us to where we were able to get a vegetarian lunch and then said "if we wanted a good vegetarian meal, we should go to Laramie!!!"

My theory about the dog and leaving her on non-travel days? Well, she debunked that theory today!  She managed to get her paws between the edge of the screen protector and the screen and tore a hole in the "pet" screen.  It now has duct tape covering the hole until we can find a way to cover the opening between the screen and the grate that's a little more classy than duct tape. This is becoming a source of frustration for Rog.

Tomorrow we are due in Aurora, CO, which is a suburb southeast of Denver.  We will be having dinner with an old friend and we are looking forward to it.  We haven't seen him in two years (since the last time we came through visiting our daughter).