Happy spring break everyone! And no one knows how to kick off spring break like the Grays! That’s right, what started as a weekend in Santa Fe or near Mount Rushmore turned into a weekend in and around Cheyenne, which then became an afternoon in the ghost town that is downtown Cheyenne. But never fear: we’ve saved loads of money and set ourselves up for an extremely productive week!
So what the heck is there to see and do in Cheyenne? ‘Round about nothing. Apologies to Cheyenne natives. I thought it was a result of the economic recession, but some of you assured me that “Cheyenne has always sucked.” But it’s not a total loss: it’s obviously a summer city, due to the nasty winterly winds that make for frigid temperatures during spring break. What’s more, it’s got loads of beautiful architecture, history, and monuments of the West, all of which would be very enjoyable to visit on a nice day. In short, it wasn’t the Caribbean, but we managed to spend a fun afternoon with our northerly neighbor, Cheyenne, WY.
First stop: one of the many artisan boots that are scattered throughout the city. Hand-painted by local artists, they depict scenes from Wyoming’s history and culture.
And right across from this one in the main square is the Wrangler store, for all your western clothing needs.
Just opposite these two monuments is a true monument: The Depot. Originally built in the mid-19th century, it was the great hub for all trains moving through the west. It burnt down a few times, and the modern incarnation was built in the late 19th century. Here are a few of the plaques on the walls of the depot.
And here is a grand horse statue, with the depot in the background.
Another giant boot just outside the entrance. Here’s what’s great: when we went inside we discovered that some kind of wedding show was being held there. “Chris, take off your ring!” We hid all signs of our matrimony (we do live in a modern, permissive world now, but it was probably good that my pregnant belly doesn’t really show through my coat). Yes, yes, we’re totally unprincipled, we got samples of barbeque and wedding cake and talked to caterers and everything. “When’s your wedding?” they asked. “July,” Chris answered vaguely.
The horsey and rider on the Wrangler store front.
There were a lot of alleys that looked like this (like you might get mugged or electrocuted in them):
After a fair amount of wandering downtown, which included, actually, a very fruitful visit to a flea market (whose birthday is coming up??!!), it was time for lunch. Finding a restaurant was tough, but we eventually located “Sanford’s,” a kind of Hard Rock-TGIFriday’s-sports bar-y burger joint. But it was much more than just that. It was the temple, the epicenter, of everything that the health conscious media has been citing as responsible for the American obesity epidemic. Just take a look at the SIZE of this menu! And I feel like the angle of the picture doesn’t even do it justice. It was so big that Chris and I, sitting across from each other at an already very large table, couldn’t both sit straight forward and look at our menus at the same time.
And then there’s the cacophony of decor and TV screens that allow your focus on just about anything but your food, hence a lot of zoned-out, overweight people working their way unknowingly through several courses.
And the size of everything! Seriously, look at this fork! The tines are practically as long as my fingers! And I haven’t said a word yet about the food. Well, I’ll just say that a body would be hard-pressed to find something on the menu that wasn’t deep fried. Even the sandwiches were battered and fried. And the burgers were topped with fried pickles and onion rings. Don’t get me wrong, anyone who’s seen my food blog knows that I believe in indulgence, but it must needs be occasional and in a setting that contextualizes it as such. I have the feeling that people walk out of this restaurant and a few hours later can’t quite remember what they ate.
But we survived the deadly lunch and made it out to see Big Boy, one of only eight mega-sized locomotives on display in the US. Union Pacific had a number of them made in the early part of the 20th century, particularly to cover the rugged terrain between Ogden, UT and Cheyenne.
This here Big Boy, #4004, was retired in 1958, I believe, and now sits in a lovely park on the east side of town.
It’s hard to tell the scale from the pictures, but here at least you can get an idea: the wheels are about as tall as I am.
After Big Boy we trekked up to the Botanic Gardens, which are supposed to be lovely….but we missed them closing by just a few minutes. Right next door, however, is a completely charming garden and botanical education center for kids that we were able to wander through.
Why walk on the path when you can walk on stepping stones?
I’m really in the heart of America now, n’est-ce pas?
This is Chris’ great strength in photography: isolating interesting surfaces and shapes with unexpected contrasts in the background. This is part of a giant spinny-wind thing in the kids garden.
And one more train to end the day, the good ‘ole 1242, also now in a park on the West side of town.
Thanks for your faithful service, UP hero!
And that, my friends, was Cheyenne.
