wyoming: How to Get the Most Out of an Outdoor Pool - Put It Indoors... - 01/27/11 01:38 PM
(Post #15 in the "Why I Love Laramie" series)
Like many towns that have actual seasons, we in Laramie embrace the warm weather whole heartedly when it  finally and briefly arrives.  While we wait we plan for all the wonderful things we will do when it gets here.  Years ago, those plans included an outdoor pool for our City Recreation Center.  On a sunny summer day - it is a fabulous place to swim and soak up the sun.  But when its not . . .   you be the judge!    











Resilience and hope against … (9 comments)

wyoming: Sculpture in Laramie, Wyoming - Can You Find It? (#6) - 01/27/11 03:54 AM
Laramie, Wyoming. We have some culture, really - we do!  The challenge of this  just for fun series . . .
Can You Find It ?!
If you haven't been to - or live in - Laramie, Wyoming,  it won't be easy to do the  "Can You Find It?"  part of this challenge.  However,  I  hope  that  far  away  visitors  can  still  enjoy  the  pictures!

Now this is  a classic  western sculpture!  Whoever D. Michael Thomas is, he did a great job - it's even got a little fun in it!
(This series was inspired by Sculpture, A Wyoming Invitational.  www.uwartmuseum.blogspot.com )
Sculpture-Can U Find It? #1           … (13 comments)

wyoming: Sculpture in Laramie, Wyoming - Can You Find It? (#5) - 01/25/11 04:07 PM
Laramie, Wyoming.  We have some culture, really - we do!  The challenge of this  just for fun series . . .
Can You Find It ?!
If you haven't been to - or live in - Laramie, Wyoming,  it won't be easy to do the  "Can You Find It?"  part of this challenge.  However, I hope that far away visitors can still enjoy the pictures!

While I admire the artistry of  "serious"  sculpture (like Ben Franklin from yesterday's post), my favorite sculptures are the ones that bring a smile to my face - like this one!
(This series was inspired by Sculpture, A Wyoming Invitational.  www.uwartmuseum.blogspot.com )
… (8 comments)

wyoming: Sculpture in Laramie, Wyoming - Can You Find It? (#4) - 01/25/11 02:27 AM
Laramie, Wyoming.  We have some culture, really - we do!  The challenge of this  just for fun series . . .
 Can You Find It ?!
If you haven't been to or live in Laramie, Wyoming, it won't be easy to do the "Can You Find It?" part of this challenge.  However, I hope that far away visitors can still enjoy the pictures!
                                     
You can tell this statue/sculpture has been there a while because it is so traditional.  It makes me wonder just how many statues there are of Ben Franklin across the United States....
(This series was inspired by Sculpture, A Wyoming Invitational.  www.uwartmuseum.blogspot.com )
… (4 comments)

wyoming: Sculpture in Laramie, Wyoming - Can You Find It? (#3) - 01/24/11 03:56 AM
Laramie, Wyoming.  We have some culture, really - we do!  The challenge of this  just for fun series . . .
 Can You Find It ?!
If you haven't been to or live in Laramie, Wyoming, it won't be easy to do the "Can You Find It?" part of this challenge.  However, I hope that far away visitors can still enjoy the pictures!

The artist welded chrome plated steel to make this fun piece.  I'm not positive but it looks to me like bits and pieces of the old kind of bumpers that we used to have on cars and trucks!  Cool, huh?!
(This series was inspired … (10 comments)

wyoming: Sculpture in Laramie, Wyoming - Can You Find It? (#2) - 01/23/11 02:17 AM
Laramie, Wyoming.  We have some culture, really - we do!  The challenge of this  just for fun series . . .
 Can You Find It ?!
If you haven't been to or live in Laramie, Wyoming, it won't be easy to do the "Can You Find It?" part of this challenge.  However, I hope that far away visitors can still enjoy the pictures!
                                 
(This series was inspired by Sculpture, A Wyoming Invitational.  www.uwartmuseum.blogspot.com ) 
… (4 comments)

wyoming: Sculpture in Laramie, Wyoming - Can You Find It? (#1) - 01/23/11 02:10 AM
Laramie, Wyoming.  We have some culture, really - we do!  The challenge of this  just for fun series . . .
 Can You Find It ?!
If you haven't been to or live in Laramie, Wyoming, it won't be easy to do the "Can You Find It?" part of this challenge.  However, I hope that far away visitors can still enjoy the pictures.  (Though, for this particular sculpture, the building peeking over the rise in the road will still allow anyone who has seen a particular previous blog to know, at least, what it is near. . . )
    
(This series was inspired by Sculpture, A Wyoming Invitational.  www.uwartmuseum.blogspot.com )
… (5 comments)

wyoming: Flags Are Always Unfurled Here! - 01/20/11 06:57 AM
While driving down the street , I almost drove past this giant flag without noticing it . . . because it was doing what flags do around here - flapping vigorously in the daily wind.  It is only when flags hang limply from their ropes that we stop in our tracks and say, "Hey, the wind isn't blowing...." as we look around suspiciously.

Flag flying here is not for the timid as the message will be delivered  "Loud and Proud".   
P.S.  Flags flown here get tattered quickly, needing replaced every 4 to 8 months.          There are probably plans to replace this one.  So please, don't let its tattered condition offend you! 
… (6 comments)

wyoming: This wasn't always a pile of rubble - can you guess what it used to be? - 01/19/11 03:34 AM
 Laramie, Wyoming: What Is It? (#1)
This wasn't always a pile of rubble - can you guess what it used to be?
                Hints:
                -At the time it was built, it did not use electricity.                -It is located by the river and the railroad tracks.                -Yes, that is solid concrete.

It is also true that now this is pretty much an eyesore, but if you enjoyed cold milk, or even perhaps ice cream in the early 1900's, then you had a place like this to thank.  Why?
Because this was an Ice House.  Back then, people cut blocks of ice … (12 comments)

wyoming: Trains Shaping American History - Garfield Street Footbridge - 01/18/11 04:26 AM
(Post #16 in the "Why I Love Laramie" series)
Trains.  The Transcontinental Railroad.  The main reason many towns across the mid United Stated exist at all.  Naturally, these towns sprung up on both sides of the tracks and early on people just crossed them to get from one side of town to the other.  
However, as towns grew and more tracks were laid, there came a time when it was no longer fitting, and downright dangerous, for people to make their way across the actual tracks. So that is how crossings like the Garfield Street Footbridge came about.
You'd think that by now it would be obsolete - … (7 comments)

wyoming: Wyoming Territorial Prison: Not on the List of Butch Cassidy's Favorite Places - 01/16/11 10:35 AM
(Post #14 in the "Why I Love Laramie" series)
The Wyoming Territorial Prison's claim to fame is that it once housed the outlaw Butch Cassidy and other members of his "Hole in the Wall" gang.  The prison was finished in 1872 and held prisoners for offenses that ranged from shoplifting to murder. 
When the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins was completed in 1903, the Wyoming Territorial Prison closed its doors.  Until restoration began in 1989, the prison, outbuildings and grounds were used by the University of Wyoming as an experimental stock farm.  In other words, it became home to cows, sheep and other livestock - even the inside of … (21 comments)

wyoming: The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya - east in the west, put it on your list. - 01/15/11 08:53 AM
(Post # 13 in the "Why I Love Laramie" series)
The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya                                                                                 
The unexpected.  Another reason I love it around here.  When my child's class was scheduled for a field trip to the "Great Stupa", I wondered - "What in the heck is a stupa?"  I looked it up on their website, http://www.shambhalamountain.org/stupa.html, and quickly decided this was a field trip I wanted to go on!
It is only about an hour and ten minutes away from Laramie - down Highway 287 into Colorado. I was amazed that this place could exist so close and yet, I knew nothing about … (9 comments)

wyoming: Camouflage, it works! How many antelope do you see? - 01/14/11 06:53 AM
(Post #12 in the "Why I Love Laramie" series)
Wildlife.  I know we don't have an exclusive claim to wildlife in the city, but I still enjoy the animals that do wander in.  These antelope have found themselves in the middle of town because that's where the uncovered grass is.  Most years they just hover around the edge of town or on the golf course, but this year the snow just isn't melting - so here they are.  Resourceful, wouldn't you say?!
Do you see them all at first glance?  We didn't!
 
Why I Love Laramie #1    Why I Love … (11 comments)

wyoming: History in Laramie, Wyoming. - 01/13/11 08:26 AM
(Post #11 in the "Why I Love Laramie" series)
History.  I hated it in school, but the older I get the more I find the history all around us fascinating.  One could never keep up with it all.  It isn't too difficult however to keep up with local Laramie history by just visiting places around town. 
One of those places is the historic Ivinson Mansion.  The Ivinson family was one of the first influential founding families way back when Laramie was barely more than a dusty railroad stop on the high plains. 
If you take one of the guided tours of the … (5 comments)

wyoming: Can you tell from which way the wind blows? - 01/12/11 12:01 PM
(post #10 in the "Why I Love Laramie" series)
Predictability.  Some claim to be annoyed by the very idea of it, yet who doesn't take at least some comfort in the mundane and expected.  Things like the practice emergency sirens that startlingly blare at 10:00 a.m. on the first Saturday of every month or even knowing when to switch lanes lane ahead of time so you don't end up in a mandatory turn lane at the next intersection.  Just the other day I realized one of the checkers at a local grocery store had been checking there as long as I had been shopping … (8 comments)

wyoming: Our own versions of the "Whole Foods Market" - 01/11/11 08:00 AM
(post #9 of the "Why I Love Laramie" series)
The Whole Foods Market in Fort Collins, 75 minutes away, is usually packed. When I take a day trips to the south its a place I always try to visit.  I love their variety of specialty foods and foods with real ingredients on the label.  But what to do when you want the same thing here?!  Fortunately, Laramie has their own, albeit much smaller, versions.  I said versions on purpose because it is the combination of two little home owned stores - one by private owner, the other by co-op, that gives you enough variety to make it … (6 comments)

wyoming: Why I Love Laramie - unexpected moose babies! - 01/10/11 04:24 AM
(Post #8 in the "Why I Love Laramie" series)
     Any of you who have seen Sarah Palin's Alaska will know that there are some of us who enjoy the simpler things in life.  Hanging out with our families, the great outdoors, playing on our computers or just renting movies to watch with the kids.  We're the ones that wait six months to see a movie on DVD rather than pay big bucks at the theater. Others may find  us uninspired or even, gasp, dull.  But never fear, there is a place for everybody in this world.  That is why this blog series is titled "Why … (12 comments)

wyoming: The Best of Both Worlds - 01/09/11 01:30 PM
 (Post #7 in the Why I Love Laramie series)
The beauty of Laramie is that we can still be in Wyoming, the least populated state in the U.S., but close enough to escape to the bustle of a city in just a day trip.  This may not sound like much, but in many other parts of Wyoming, going to a mall is a minimum of 3 hours one way!  Whereas we in Laramie can make it over to Cheyenne and our nearest mall in just 50 minutes (on a clear day).  We can do some shopping, even eat at someplace fancy like the Olive Garden, then head over … (6 comments)

wyoming: "I can't find my keys," she said. - 01/08/11 08:43 AM
(Post #6 in the "Why I Love Laramie" series)
The following true story illustrates one of the great advantages of living in a small town:
Before my life as a realtor and mom, I used to teach elementary school.  The wonderful little school at which I taught was 40 miles north of Laramie in a town called Rock River.  Most of the teachers who taught there also lived in Laramie. So, an arrangement had been made to have a bus available just for transporting the teachers to and from school.  We met at 7:00 a.m. in the parking lot of the Laramie High … (5 comments)

wyoming: Blogging - a peek into your personality, not just idle chat. - 01/07/11 01:48 PM
(Post #5 in the "Why I Love Laramie" series)
Just what does writing a series about "Why I love my Hometown" have to do with realty?  Why everything, of course!  People relocating might pick up a thing or two about what to expect when they move here.  People who already live here might chuckle and relate to the familiar places and happenings.  And anyone else who stumbles onto the blog? ... Hopefully, they'll be mildly entertained. 
Beyond the technicalities of the real estate process, consumers also want someone they can relate to, someone they feel they know.  By sharing my perspective, people can learn about Laramie and a little … (10 comments)