Hello all! This was quite a weekend in Laramie, WY. You’ll see a great deal about Laramie on these pages, because …… it’s where I live. And you won’t be disappointed. It’s a wonderful town. It’s the perfect size. It’s home to our only 4 year degree granting institution, none other than the University of Wyoming, and it’s situated in a gorgeous spot. The best thing about any place is the people that make it theirs, and this place is no different. In a town of about 30,000, roughly half of that population is made up of students who only live here for the academic year. The other half are the locals, who brave the winter for the payoff that is our amazing summer. We have an interesting and charming downtown with historic buildings and very cool shops, bars and restaurants.
The weekend in this post started in downtown Laramie on Friday night with the annual downtown tree lighting and Christmas parade. It’s a classic but cool small town throwback thing to do. And we do it well.
We started by visiting Santa Clause and getting a photo taken at Corthell & King, the oldest continually operating law firm in Wyoming that’s been in business since the 1890’s. For every major community downtown event, they offer a photo op for kids and edit the photos into a really cool background. When they send me our photo I’ll throw it up here.
Next we proceeded to Coal Creek Coffee and Tap Room where we had a cup of hot cider and awaited parade festivities. The also brew beer here, as I’m hoping you deduced when you read ‘Tap Room’, but nonetheless it’s worth a mention. It’s hometowny and hip at the same time.
Next, we ventured outdoors to see the parade. My daughter was a bit under dressed for the weather in an effort to overdress for Santa, but it was a balmy 25 degrees and you gotta be tough if your going to rock tights and patent leather mary janes around here. Oh, and for those who dressed appropriately, you could watch the ageless Christmas move Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on a projection screen on the First Street Plaza. They do it right up for Christmas in Laramie.
So, now, for the much anticipated actual parade. You may have noticed we’re into parades.
The first photo is of the University of Wyoming Extension program’s team of Haflinger draft horses. I have met them personally and I love them. They’re named Pistol and Pete. Please hold all applause until the end. The third photo is of some goats…..dressed up like reindeer. I don’t know what isn’t cool about that.
The next outing of the weekend was to a UW men’s basketball game. Admittedly, we don’t do a lot of these. Also, they’re kind of bad this year. But the cool part was that there was a special ceremony for a former UW player, Fenis Dembo. He’s a big deal, and not just here. After playing 4 very successful years for UW, he was drafted by the Detroit Pistons and was on their 1989 NBA Championship team. They retired his jersey this weekend, which is not a thing we do often here. Number 34 will hang in the Arena Auditorium, never to be work again. Mr. Dembo came to Laramie for the ceremony, and he gifted his NBA championship ring to the University. Which was pretty classy of him. The only other number that UW basketball has retired belongs to Kenny Sailors, who invented the jump shot while playing at UW. I bet you didn’t know that…..
Later that night was a mom and dad night out, where we dropped into Bond’s Brewing and had a lovely dinner at Altitude Chophouse. I’ll fill you in more on those places later. We finished up the weekend with breakfast before church at the Prairie Rose Cafe. I love the place not only for the obvious reason that the food is good, but also for the fact that if gives me the comfort of knowing that some things in this world don’t change, because they don’t need to. Some things are perfect the way the have always been.
…and that burrito. That burrito is a thing of beauty.
Thanks for reading this. There’s so much more to come!