Cheyenne

Wednesday, June, 2022

We slept late this morning. I still had my cold symptoms when I awoke, but am slowly getting better. It was still cold and rainy but the weather improved through the day. We hopped into the toad and drove north through Fort Collins, then jumped onto I-25 and soon entered into a new state for both of us, Wyoming.

We pulled into the the Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center and were pleasantly surprised. The new well-designed building housed a typical welcome center with maps & brochures but also an airy, spacious museum full of life-size Wyoming adventure scenes. Additionally they offered free coffee, wi-fi and sustainable facilities. We lingered awhile collecting the information we needed to spend the afternoon in Cheyenne.

A Modern Well-Designed Welcome Center

Welcome Center Display

We rolled into Cheyenne and were instantly struck but the the clean flat streets and lack of traffic (pop. ~

Wyoming State Capitol Building

65,000). We beelined it to the capitol building and were able to park street-side (no meter) a block away. The hostess at the Welcome Center had told us that the building was closed for repairs, so we were surprised when I tried the door and we were able to enter without a security check, joining a few fellow visitors mingling amongst the state workers. I’ve never really had any interest in capitol buildings before, but similar to the one in Santa Fe this beautiful, recently renovated building (originally built in 1888) was well-worth the visit. We rambled around three floors and the basement viewing the legislative chambers, governor’s office complex, courtrooms, public meeting rooms, etc. The stairs and railings had beautiful woodwork and fossils were obviously embedded in the black stone of the checker-board floor tiles. In the basement, several bank-style vaults build by Mosler Safe & Lock Company with brown-painted doors had been restored to reveal their original elaborate adornments.

The People’s House

Beautiful Woodwork & Fossil-embedded Floor Tiles

The House of Representatives Chamber

The Capitol Dome

Decorated Mosler Vault Door in Basement

Our Cheyenne Lunchroom

After touring The People’s House, we walked a few blocks downtown and ate lunch at a Japanese/fusion restaurant then walked back to the car again marveling at the cleanliness and lack of traffic in Cheyenne. Next, we drove to the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum.

Cheyenne Frontier Days is billed as the original Daddy of ’em All rodeo and frontier celebration. The museum is located bedside the rodeo arena and documents its history and culture. Frontier Days was created to help Cheyenne recover from an economic depression and severe blizzards during the mid-1880s and quickly grew into a national phenomenon. The current museum houses the largest carriage collection in the U.S. (n=160), lots of cowboy & cowgirl garments, saddles, and all things western. I was fascinated by a video recapping some of the rodeo competitions. We left the museum with a better understanding of the frontier spirit and culture.

One of Many Giant Decorated Boots around Cheyenne

Cowgirl Apparel

Lots of Carriages

Inside a Sheep Wagon (c. 1923) – The Original RV

After experiencing Frontier Days, we dropped by the nearby Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. Its wonderful indoor conservatory could be viewed from three levels. Outside we took a peaceful (but goose-poop covered) walk around a serene lake then quickly walked through the children’s gardens. This exertion justified a quick stop at the Black Tooth Brewing Company for Happy Hour.

The Cheyenne Botanic Gardens Conservatory

If you Scratch my Back …

Inside the Conservatory

Along the Lakeside Walk at Cheyenne Botanic Gardens

Our Brief Happy Hour Stop – Black Tooth Brewing Company

After imbibition, we sadly departed Cheyenne but our Wyoming adventures weren’t done. On the way (motor)home, we stopped at the Terry Bison Ranch and boarded a train (we were the sole passengers) that slowly wound through pastures into the center of a bison herd. There we hand-fed chow to the bison from buckets. Jane was a natural and the herd’s bull, Charlie, ate at least half a bucket of chow from her while we chatted with the host about managing the bison ranch. Back at the train depot and mock old-west village we vigorously scrubbed bison saliva from out hands in the store’s bathrooms before leaving. Jane then drove us back to Riverview RV Park and we had leftover Indian food for dinner (after thoroughly washing our hands for good measure) before retiring.