Wild wild west, a real cliffhanger! Trip report

[Songbird76]

August 3rd

According to my phone, this was the day we went to the Geology museum. I remember driving around with E, trying to find where to get a campus parking permit, because there were a couple things on campus we wanted to do. When I was a student, there was a lot where you could park that was just up the block from Campus Police, where you could get parking permits. If you parked in that lot, you could get a permit in about 10 minutes and be back and they wouldn't ticket your car. LAST time we visited, they had moved campus police, so I parked, walked to the old location and discovered it was no longer there. In the time it took me to walk there and back, they had already ticketed my car. Once I found the new location, I went in and contested the ticket, explaining that I was parked there to get a permit, which was how it worked when I had been a student. They denied my request and I had to pay 50 bucks for the parking ticket. I guess that's how they make their money. But I didn't know how it worked now, and I didn't want to get another ticket. I drove to campus police and went in and was informed they no longer issue permits, and I would need to go to this other location across town, and they have a lot where you can park and take a shuttle to campus, or get a permit to park on campus. You used to pay 10 bucks for a week-long permit. Now, it was $7 per DAY. Boy how times have changed. I expected a higher price for inflation, but I wasn't expecting it to be THAT much. I bought 2 days of permits. By the time we had gotten all of this accomplished, it was getting pretty late. I don't remember what time the Geology museum closed, but we didn't have a lot of time. The up side is they don't charge after a certain time. So we got in for free.

E is a scientist....she loves like...ALL the sciences. She's having trouble narrowing down what she wants to major in, because she loves Chemistry, Biology, and Physics. She also loves Geology, though she has no classes in that, and it's not something she's considering for her University studies. But she loves rocks and is really interested in them. The Geology museum seemed perfect for her. A was museumed out and had no interest in going and my husband decided to stay with him in the hotel.



One thing I remembered from the Geology museum was that they had a section of glowy rocks. I thought E would love it, and that was my major motivation to want to bring her here. I was right. She thought it was awesome and wanted to look everything up and see why they all glowed, and was telling me all about the ones she already knew.


Most of the museum consists of these displays of rocks and fossils. There's a section with dinosaurs and large fossils, and then there are these rocks. Several rooms of just rocks. She was in her element.


A large amount of the collection was donated by Bridger Walker. He is a boy in Wyoming who is really into rocks. One day, he and his little sister were visiting some friends when their dog looked like he was going to attack his little sister. He saw it as his responsibility to protect her, so he jumped in between the dog and her. He was nearly killed, but she was saved. When word got out about his heroic act, people asked how they could help, and along with monetary donations, people sent him lots of rocks for his collection. There were even some from celebrities...I want to say maybe Paul Rudd? And maybe Chris Evans? I don't remember, but he had some letters from celebrities, and one of them wanted to give him their superhero suit from some movie, because he was a real hero. When the kid got better, he donated the rocks to the geology museum and they have a station where you can donate money to help other kids who have been attacked by dogs. He wanted to help other kids, so he has a donation bucket, and they have a cardboard cut out and you can take a selfie with Bridger and donate money.

 

[Songbird76]

August 3rd continued....

These are some of the rocks in the glow room. It's too big to get all of them in one picture, and when you push the button to turn the lights out, the ones closest to the curtain don't glow enough to get them in a picture because there's too much light. But I took pictures in both light and dark. It's a really neat display.


Outside the museum


While we were there, I wanted to show E a little bit of the campus where I went to school. This is Prexy's Pasture with "The Universal Family" statue.


I don't know how many people will know who Matthew Shepard was. He was a University of Wyoming student who was beaten to death by two men because he was gay. They met him at a bar, pretended to be gay and asked him if he wanted to hang out with them. They took him out to the outskirts of town, tied him to a fence, and beat him. A mountain biker found him early the next morning, thinking initially that it was a scarecrow, but finding on closer inspection that it was a young man. He called 911 and Matthew was brought to the hospital. He was transferred to a hospital in Colorado because the local hospital wasn't equipped to deal with the extent of his injuries. He died several days later. He was a friend of my brothers, and I was supposed to meet him the night he was beaten. It must have been a Tuesday night....the LGBTA had their meetings on Tuesday nights and then went to Village Inn for pie and just to hang out. I sometimes went with them, but my boyfriend at the time was very much against this group and he always tried to keep me from going by giving me guilt trips about how he had been wanting to spend time with me, and did I really HAVE to go? I had told my brother I would go that night and then my boyfriend started crying, saying that he felt like he barely saw me, and he wanted me to stay home with him. At the time, I was like 20 and naive and didn't see the abusive nature in his behavior. So I called my brother and canceled. Matthew was there that night with the group. My brother had mentioned him, but he was new in the group, and I had not met him yet, while I knew most of the other members. We found out the next day that they had found him tied to the fence, near death, and we all waited to hear the news, which didn't look good. A couple of days later, my brother was approached by someone who said something not very nice, which I'm sure would get censored, asking if he was one of them bleeps. He took a swing at my brother, which he avoided, and then....this guy must have been STUPID, because my brother is 6 foot 4 and probably 500 pounds at that point. He must have thought he'd be a pushover, because why would you take a swing at someone three times your size!! He didn't even come up to my brother's shoulders, apparently. But my brother popped him one and he got up and ran away. Now everyone was wondering if the incidents were related. They turned out not to be, but Matthew's murder (he eventually died from his injuries) rocked the whole community. Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church came and picketed his funeral, then picketed at the courthouse when the trial for his murderers started. We organizes a counter protest, called Angel Action, in which we wore Angel wings that were huge and we stood wing tip to wing tip to block the Phelps' group from view.


There was a memorial bench for Matthew Shepard that was dedicated while I was there....I went to the vigil they held that night. I took E to see the bench while we were there. Even all these years later, people are still bringing flowers and whatnot. It still touches the community, and of course there were movies made about it, and stage productions. But it's nice to know he hasn't been forgotten.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

August 3rd continued....

These are some of the rocks in the glow room. It's too big to get all of them in one picture, and when you push the button to turn the lights out, the ones closest to the curtain don't glow enough to get them in a picture because there's too much light. But I took pictures in both light and dark. It's a really neat display.
View attachment 701280

Outside the museum
View attachment 701285

While we were there, I wanted to show E a little bit of the campus where I went to school. This is Prexy's Pasture with "The Universal Family" statue.
View attachment 701281View attachment 701282View attachment 701284

I don't know how many people will know who Matthew Shepard was. He was a University of Wyoming student who was beaten to death by two men because he was gay. They met him at a bar, pretended to be gay and asked him if he wanted to hang out with them. They took him out to the outskirts of town, tied him to a fence, and beat him. A mountain biker found him early the next morning, thinking initially that it was a scarecrow, but finding on closer inspection that it was a young man. He called 911 and Matthew was brought to the hospital. He was transferred to a hospital in Colorado because the local hospital wasn't equipped to deal with the extent of his injuries. He died several days later. He was a friend of my brothers, and I was supposed to meet him the night he was beaten. It must have been a Tuesday night....the LGBTA had their meetings on Tuesday nights and then went to Village Inn for pie and just to hang out. I sometimes went with them, but my boyfriend at the time was very much against this group and he always tried to keep me from going by giving me guilt trips about how he had been wanting to spend time with me, and did I really HAVE to go? I had told my brother I would go that night and then my boyfriend started crying, saying that he felt like he barely saw me, and he wanted me to stay home with him. At the time, I was like 20 and naive and didn't see the abusive nature in his behavior. So I called my brother and canceled. Matthew was there that night with the group. My brother had mentioned him, but he was new in the group, and I had not met him yet, while I knew most of the other members. We found out the next day that they had found him tied to the fence, near death, and we all waited to hear the news, which didn't look good. A couple of days later, my brother was approached by someone who said something not very nice, which I'm sure would get censored, asking if he was one of them bleeps. He took a swing at my brother, which he avoided, and then....this guy must have been STUPID, because my brother is 6 foot 4 and probably 500 pounds at that point. He must have thought he'd be a pushover, because why would you take a swing at someone three times your size!! He didn't even come up to my brother's shoulders, apparently. But my brother popped him one and he got up and ran away. Now everyone was wondering if the incidents were related. They turned out not to be, but Matthew's murder (he eventually died from his injuries) rocked the whole community. Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church came and picketed his funeral, then picketed at the courthouse when the trial for his murderers started. We organizes a counter protest, called Angel Action, in which we wore Angel wings that were huge and we stood wing tip to wing tip to block the Phelps' group from view.
View attachment 701291View attachment 701292

There was a memorial bench for Matthew Shepard that was dedicated while I was there....I went to the vigil they held that night. I took E to see the bench while we were there. Even all these years later, people are still bringing flowers and whatnot. It still touches the community, and of course there were movies made about it, and stage productions. But it's nice to know he hasn't been forgotten.
View attachment 701283

I remember the Matthew Shepard incident. I was already out of college when it happened, but it was all over the news/talk shows and I even remember seeing the angels. Such a tragedy, but the counter protest was really touching and beautiful.

 

[rshell68]

The jewelry your daughter made is beautiful!!!

 

[Songbird76]

The jewelry your daughter made is beautiful!!!

Thank you! She's very crafty! She crochets, sketches, paints, makes jewelry....her interests and talents are diverse!!

 

[Songbird76]

I'm so sorry. I'm going to have to take a break again. My son is in the hospital. He's ok, but he has acute tonsillitis and can't swallow so he's getting dehydrated. We are waiting for them to put in an IV for fluids, antibiotics, and pain killers. But I don't have access to my computer with all the pictures on it. I don't know how long he will be in the hospital. Last time it took a week, but last time it was a mental block because of his Autism and this time it seems more physical because of pain. So hopefully the antibiotics will help and he'll be out faster than he was in January. The doctor is also checking for mono because apparently those often go hand in hand, in which case the antibiotics won't do anything. But hopefully with pain killers, he'll be able to swallow again. In any case, I have to put this on hold until we're home. Thanks to all of you who are reading along.

 

[JenniferS]

I'm so sorry. I'm going to have to take a break again. My son is in the hospital. He's ok, but he has acute tonsillitis and can't swallow so he's getting dehydrated. We are waiting for them to put in an IV for fluids, antibiotics, and pain killers. But I don't have access to my computer with all the pictures on it. I don't know how long he will be in the hospital. Last time it took a week, but last time it was a mental block because of his Autism and this time it seems more physical because of pain. So hopefully the antibiotics will help and he'll be out faster than he was in January. The doctor is also checking for mono because apparently those often go hand in hand, in which case the antibiotics won't do anything. But hopefully with pain killers, he'll be able to swallow again. In any case, I have to put this on hold until we're home. Thanks to all of you who are reading along.

That’s awful! I hope he feels better soon!

I had the flu in December that started with a throat so sore I couldn’t even swallow my own saliva - for 12-18 hours I was spitting it into tissues. I went to urgent care, and although the doctor swabbed for strep throat, he really thought a single 10 mg (2 1/2 tablet) dose of a steroid would remedy the situation. “If it works, it will be almost immediate.”

It worked. Almost immediately. Yes, I still had a “flu sore throat”, but NOTHING like what sent me to urgent care.

 

[Songbird76]

That’s awful! I hope he feels better soon!

I had the flu in December that started with a throat so sore I couldn’t even swallow my own saliva - for 12-18 hours I was spitting it into tissues. I went to urgent care, and although the doctor swabbed for strep throat, he really thought a single 10 mg (2 1/2 tablet) dose of a steroid would remedy the situation. “If it works, it will be almost immediate.”

It worked. Almost immediately. Yes, I still had a “flu sore throat”, but NOTHING like what sent me to urgent care.

Yeah, they took blood this time to check for mono. But they are giving him antibiotics in case it's bacterial. That's the thing... Tonsillitis can be either and you don't really know until you get the blood test back, which can take a couple of days. And if it IS bacterial, then you don't want to lose those couple of days when you could have had antibiotics to make it better. So they are giving antibiotics until they get the blood work back.

I'm so sorry you had that in December. That sounds awful! A has a really sensitive mouth with the Autism... Anything in his mouth/throat really hits him hard, and the Autism makes it hard to deal with things like this in the first place. It's a double whammy. But either way, he'll be OK. Either it will go away on its own because it's viral, or it will go away with the antibiotics because it's bacterial.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I'm so sorry. I'm going to have to take a break again. My son is in the hospital. He's ok, but he has acute tonsillitis and can't swallow so he's getting dehydrated. We are waiting for them to put in an IV for fluids, antibiotics, and pain killers. But I don't have access to my computer with all the pictures on it. I don't know how long he will be in the hospital. Last time it took a week, but last time it was a mental block because of his Autism and this time it seems more physical because of pain. So hopefully the antibiotics will help and he'll be out faster than he was in January. The doctor is also checking for mono because apparently those often go hand in hand, in which case the antibiotics won't do anything. But hopefully with pain killers, he'll be able to swallow again. In any case, I have to put this on hold until we're home. Thanks to all of you who are reading along.

I'm so sorry he's sick. I know you guys just went through some recent struggles too. I've had severe pain like that with strep. One time it was so bad, they gave me vicodin and some anti-inflammatory meds to reduce the pain and swelling in my throat. Hopefully the pain killers they're giving him will help.

 

[Swissmiss]

I'm so sorry. I'm going to have to take a break again. My son is in the hospital. He's ok, but he has acute tonsillitis and can't swallow so he's getting dehydrated. We are waiting for them to put in an IV for fluids, antibiotics, and pain killers. But I don't have access to my computer with all the pictures on it. I don't know how long he will be in the hospital. Last time it took a week, but last time it was a mental block because of his Autism and this time it seems more physical because of pain. So hopefully the antibiotics will help and he'll be out faster than he was in January. The doctor is also checking for mono because apparently those often go hand in hand, in which case the antibiotics won't do anything. But hopefully with pain killers, he'll be able to swallow again. In any case, I have to put this on hold until we're home. Thanks to all of you who are reading along.

I hope it clears up quickly - it must be difficult for all of you

 

[Songbird76]

I hope it clears up quickly - it must be difficult for all of you

Well it's not fun, I'm not going to lie. But we were here just over a month ago when he had oral surgery and couldn't swallow. So we know the drill, and hopefully it will be faster this time.

 

[Songbird76]

I apologize. That took longer than I expected. 2023 has not been kind so far. A was in the hospital for more than a week the first time, then he finally started feeling better and my husband and I got corona. Then we finally started feeling better and A went back to the hospital with a major case of tonsilitis and couldn't swallow again. Thankfully it was only a few days in the hospital that time, but then as soon as he got out, I lost my job. I have now been hired in a new job, so let's hope the stress decreases a bit from here on out, shall we?

August 4th
I think this is the day we went to the Territorial prison. They are open most days, but only have tours a couple of times a week, and I wanted to make sure to get a guided tour. Tours are done by volunteers, and they often have unique knowledge that you won't necessarily find on google or in a guidebook. The tours are also free, so it's really nice. Our guide started by asking everyone where we were from, and we definitely won the price for the furthest traveled.

When prisoners were registered, they were given the clothing, shoes, a pillow and candles. Prisoners were not allowed to talk to each other at all unless they were on work detail and had to ask something about the work they were doing. If they were caught talking, they were punished severely, usually by having to carry the ball and chain. Rather than dragging the ball with the chain around their ankle, prisoners had to carry the ball. The chain WAS attached to the ankle, but made short so a prisoner had to stoop to carry the ball in his hands, and when they walked to dinner, or to work detail, they had to walk with one arm on the shoulder of the man in front of them. If one hand was on that shoulder, and one had to stoop over to hold that ball in the other, it was very uncomfortable. Length of punishment depended on the severity of the crime, but there were people who had to carry that ball for months at a time. Men came out crippled.



One of the things that was good about the prison was that prisoners were fed well. Some of the most trusted prisoners worked their way up to a status that allowed them to work in the fields with the gardening and food production. They got meat and vegetables as well as bread. The law didn't allow prisoners under 18? or Maybe 21. Minors who committed crimes were more likely to be sent to a juvenile facility, and conditions weren't as good in most facilities as it was here. No one knows how old this prisoner actually was, but he gave his age as 21, probably so he could stay there where he would be fed and sheltered.







All prisoners were seen by a doctor periodically and bathed regularly. The bath was filled only once, and the highest ranking prisoners were first. By the time the last prisoner got there, the water would already be pretty dirty. There were only ever 2 deaths at the prison, but that's only because the prison warden was responsible for the distribution of money. Prisoners used their skills in the prison to bring in revenue while they were there, such as taxidermy, woodwork, etc. The warden used that money to pay for the running of the prison, and for his own living expenses. If a prisoner died on the premesis, his funeral had to be paid for out of the prison revenue. So if the doctor indicated that someone had an incurable disease, or was so sick they wouldn't live long, they'd let them go, figuring nature would take its course and the criminal wouldn't be a danger to society any more. The ones that failed, I only remember one guy was released because he was so sick, but he died right outside the prison walls....I want to say he froze to death before he could get anywhere. And the other one maybe died too quickly? I don't remember. But the low death rate wasn't because the prisoners were so well taken care of.

 

[Songbird76]

August 4th, Continued...

There were many who tried to escape, and some even succeeded. This guy cracked me up. He escaped several times, but he really wasn't good at it. One time, his cell mate dug a hole through the floor and was able to escape, and so this guy decided to follow, but forgot he was a lot bigger than his cell mate. Guards found him stuck in the hole at his waist. Then he and another prisoner escaped in the dead of winter, not taking the weather into account. He's walking along in the middle of a blizzard and turns around to find his fellow prisoner frozen to death right behind him. He found a cabin and decided to wait for the search party and surrendered...better than freezing to death. Then he managed to get a gun, held a sheriff hostage, but the sheriff raised the alarm and there was a whole team of armed guards surrounding the prison. He tried to get passed them, but was a terrible shot. 24 rounds and he didn't hit a single one of them.

There were very few women prisoners. One came in with her husband. They owned some land and someone came and tried to take over their land and home, they shot the men. In today's law, it would be considered self defense and they wouldn't be punished, but this couple spent several years in jail for murder. There were only 2 cells for women, so they could only house 4 at a time, total. For a while, it went well and they only had 2 women, so they each had their own cell. But then a 3rd was brought in, which meant someone had to share. Apparently one of them was a trouble maker and always picking fights. After they hung her suspended from the ceiling by her wrists in a dark room for a week, she turned into a model prisoner and things went well again.



One of the most famous prisoners was Butch Cassidy. There's a whole room displaying his entire life story.



All prisoners were required to attend weekly church services, which most did voluntarily because it was the only time they were allowed to speak to recite verses or sing hymns. Female prisoners weren't allowed to work, so they almost never got out of their cells.

 

[Songbird76]

August 4th, Continued...

A few more pictures. The goal was to rehabilitate prisoners so they wouldn't reoffend when they got out. They were encouraged to read and learn. They could borrow books from the prison library, and the warden's wife was particularly invested in getting professors from the university to come give lectures, and preachers to come deliver sermons. The prisoners apparently really liked her.

 

[Songbird76]

August 4th, Continued....

The warden's house.



Years ago when I visited, they had built an entire town surrounding the prison, complete with stores, a saloon, a jail cell, etc and they did shows through out the day. Actors were hired to play show girls who sang in the saloon, shop owners, sheriffs, etc, and they went around arresting people for things like "Showing too much leg on a Sunday" and throwing them into jail where they would have to post bail to get out. (Kids could have their parents thrown in jail and bail might be buying the kids ice cream, etc. All in good fun) There were shoot outs and the whole 9 yards. They don't do any of that anymore, and most of the town buildings are just boarded up and vacant, but they are still there.



It appears I don't have any pictures of the church.

We weren't even halfway through our tour of the prison when A started feeling really sick...too warm, a bit dizzy, nauseated. My husband decided to take him out for some fresh air. When we got out, we couldn't find them, and we looked all over the grounds expecting to run into them. They had apparently left the "park" entirely and had gone back to the hotel. So my husband came and picked us up. The only pictures on my phone from this day are of our food at applebees, so that must be where we went for dinner. I also only have mine and E's but I think I remember we went by ourselves one time when the boys weren't hungry. A only ate at mcDonalds anyway.

 

[Songbird76]

August 4th, continued...


I think we went to Applebees for a quick lunch. We shared the Chicken broccoli alfredo. E and I often share...we have similar tastes and we can't eat a whole plate by ourselves. When you're traveling and have no way to heat up leftovers, or refrigerate them on the road, it works well to share. Less waste. I swear we ate at Applebees a couple of times....one time it was just E and me, and another time the boys were with us, but I want to say they didn't cook my husband's steak well and it was a disappointing meal. I think E and I maybe did lunch with just the two of us and went back that night for dinner with the boys? I don't know. This is all I've got.



But I am pretty sure that we got the donut holes when the boys weren't with us. And I know at some point we went to Perkins at night to get pie. But that may have been after our geology museum trip, too. I have no clue.

 

[Songbird76]

August 5th

This will be short on pictures.

E and I visited my friend from high school. She owns a hair salon in Laramie, and I had asked her if we could get together and make time for hair cuts. In the end, it took too long for me to find her business number to make an appointment and she was full up, so we just went to her salon and chatted with her and all her clients. The nice thing about Wyoming is you get the feeling you've never met a stranger. You can just talk to people and they'll talk back. No one was upset that we were there and we had some great conversations with some very interesting people. It was a good time.

We would have stayed longer, but I had somewhere I needed to be. While I was planning this trip, I saw something go by on my facebook from the University of Wyoming music department that caught my eye. My dear choir director had passed a year or two before, but in the height of Covid, they couldn't plan a big memorial, even if people had had time to make plans to come. He taught at the University for decades and saw hundreds of talented singers come through and go on to careers as music teachers, singing on cruise ships, singing in military ensembles like Singing Sergeants, etc. (One of the guys who was a year older than me went on to become the lead singer of Max Impact. I sang with Ryan in several ensembles) Finally, they were going to have a memorial for him, and it was right in the time when we would be in Laramie. There was a meet and greet late that morning where everyone could catch up with members from their own years, and meet members from previous years. There weren't a WHOLE lot of people from when I went there, but there were a few.



There were a few others who had already left by this point to go grab some lunch before the rehearsal for the concert, which I didn't participate in. I've lost a lot of my range from lack of use. When I moved here, I was able to find a choir that did operas and musicals, so I was using my voice regularly, but then we moved to a different town. I found a very high level choir that did classic music that exercised my voice, but my daughter SCREAMED for daddy the entire time I was at rehearsals, and for me every time I put her in the play pen so I could practice. It didn't last long before I had to give it up and wait until the babies were old enough to leave them with dad for a few hours a week. By then, all I could find was a pop group and my high range is just weak now. I didn't want to embarass myself or the other singers. In the end, I shouldn't have worried. Most of them were no different than I am and I would have been fine.

The two people in the middle are two of the best people on this earth. Jen is SOOOO smart and talented. She's traveled all over doing field research about music education. She spent time somewhere in Africa, and she and her husband were supposed to be in Spain for a whole year when Corona hit and they had to come home without finishing. But Jen has her Doctorate in Music, I think, and her husband went from teaching music to teaching spanish to being a Principal? (I think....maybe counselor, I don't know) I'm sure he's brilliant at it. I came from a tiny school and our choir teacher couldn't play the piano and her theory was weak. When I got to college, I was way behind everyone else. I didn't know key signatures, I didn't know how to tell time signatures, I had no theory at all. I had never been taught to sight-sing. So I was lost. We had a quiz in Written Theory every week, and there were a couple people who were in theory for the 3rd time because they failed it the first 2 times. It was known as a weed out course because so many people changed their majors after failing theory. My first theory quiz, I got a C. I had NEVER gotten a C except once in Calculus my senior year of high school, which didn't make sense because while I failed the first test, I retook it and got a B, and I got an A on every homework assignment....one B test and a bunch of homework with an A doesn't average out to a C. So I didn't feel really bad about that one...it was fishy. And once in my Computer Lit class my freshman year, because I was away for All-state choir for several days and the teacher refused to give me the assignments before I left, or let me make them up when I came back, so I got incompletes on the assignments I missed. Even my mom couldn't convince her to let me do the work. So the only times I had ever gotten a C were unfair. I was DEVASTATED by this C. I was in tears and Carlos saw me in the hallway. He didn't know me at all, had never met me. He said "First theory quiz??" and I nodded. He said not to worry about it...it was only one, and you have to allow yourself one bad grade because you don't know what's expected of you yet, and LOTS of people bomb the first written theory quiz. When I said I'd never gotten a C before, he said "You got a C????? No need to cry about a C! That's GREAT for your first Theory quiz!!" And he was right...it was just one weekly quiz and it was the only one I didn't get an A on. I had to work super hard to catch up, but I came out of that first semester with an A. And I will never forget how kind he was to a freshman he didn't even know. Then when I made the audition only choir the next year, I got to know him better and he is just an all-around nice guy. Jen is a year younger than me, but she's also so sweet! And SMART. They are such a great couple, and their kids are growing up to be just as driven and talented and kind.

After the meet and greet, E and I went and grabbed a quick lunch at Corona Village (THAT name didn't age well, now did it?). They got our order slightly wrong, but it was still good food. We each got an enchilada combo type meal, and I ordered chicken, but they brought me cheese. It was fine. Apparently I didn't get pictures.

That afternoon was the memorial concert and reception. I saw a couple of my old professors, one of whom didn't even recognize me until Carlos said "Look at her daughter" and suddenly she knew exactly who I was. Carlos said it was like looking at twins where one has aged slightly. We get that a lot.

Then that night, we gathered the boys and went to a planetarium show, from Apollo to Artemis I think it was called? It was all about the history of the Apollo missions and the upcoming Artemis 1 that has since launched. It was really neat. And that was it.

I was so glad to have seen so many of my choir friends. I got to see Em back in Cody, which was good because she didn't make it to Laramie for the memorial, so I'm glad I saw her when I did. And of all the people I did get to see at the Memorial, Jen and Carlos were certainly 2 that I would have put near the top for wanting to see. And it was a beautiful tribute with a few songs being sung at the concert that were favorites of mine. We always ended big concerts and things with this piece. (this is not my choir)



I couldn't help but sing along with some of them. It was really a special tribute, and even his two granddaughters, the oldest of whom was only 13, sang in the memorial choir. I'm glad I was in town for the event. I learned so much from Carlyle. It was nice to share memories.

Oh!!! they posted the entire memorial concert on youtube!! In case anyone is interested.

https://www.google.com/search?q=uni...#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:1ee9a077,vid:zzhEnI8gik4
The second piece, This Poem is for You, was written by Carlyle's son Chris and I think it was set to existing music maybe? Or maybe Carlyle's wife Gloria put it to music? I know we sang it for him when he retired and we did a concert. That was my senior year and I was doing my student teaching and came back for that reunion concert for his retirement. Anyway, if anyone is interested, it's the 2nd track.

 

[Songbird76]

August 6th,

This was mostly a travel day. We went to Cheyenne to visit one of my very dear friends. She was my maid of honor in my wedding and she is about the sweetest person on the planet. This girl is a super star. I met her in college when I was working at the front desk of one of the dorms and she had been hired to work there, too. There are several dorms, and you don't just work in one of them, you have to work in all of them, and each one has some different characteristics, so you have to do an orientation in which you tour each location to get the specifics of that location. Poor Karla couldn't keep up. Her idiot of a tour guide wasn't paying attention and left her in the dust. Karla has Cerebral Palsy and has crutches. She's quite capable, something she attributes to an uncle who never let her say she couldn't do something. He encouraged her and pushed her to work hard and she always finds a way. She's so positive and just has the most sunny disposition. She's a total rock star....she's just not very FAST. Anyway, she showed up at the desk I was working, frazzled and apologetic. I was more upset with the person who was supposed to be training her group that they hadn't cared enough to give Karla time to follow along with the group. So I explained everything she needed to know, and then called the next dorm to let them know she was on her way for THEIR explanation. We've been good friends ever since. And her now husband worked with us one summer as well, and they started dating and got married the year after my husband and I did, and I was a bridesmaid for her, too. I wish we could see each other more often....we always have so much fun and end up giggling a LOT when we're together. They have 3 kids, and the oldest 2 are about the same ages as my two. Their son is just a bit older than E, who is a bit older than their daughter, who is just a bit older than A. And then they have another son who is several years younger. But the kids get along well.

We got to Cheyenne and we went to check into our hotel. I remember DH was in a mood....again. I was getting frustrated with him being condescending and belittling me. After several weeks of this while we were traveling, I was pretty frazzled. I wanted to see my friends, but I didn't want him being a jerk to them or around them, and his routine for travel seemed to be to take a nap as soon as we checked into the hotel. Since he crashed, I called my friends who asked if we were up for getting together. So I left a note for DH and they came and picked us up and we went to their house to hang out until DH called and wanted to know where we were. He apparently missed the note I put on his phone, and I think I also sent him a text. So he joined us and we went for dinner around the corner from their house. I remember it was good food, but I guess we didn't get any pictures. The only pictures I have of this day are:



If you look at the second picture, there's a tree. Just one single tree. Years ago, when my husband came to visit me when we were dating, we (my brother and I) picked him up from the airport and we drove him from Denver back to Laramie where we shared an apartment. If you take the interstate from Denver, you go through Cheyenne and then to Laramie. In between the two is this tree, and it's a monument or memorial for something, but I can never remember what. But it's literally a tree growing out of a boulder. There is a pull off there, and there might be a fence around it....I don't remember. But we've always called it "Big Rock with a Tree Growing Out of it National Monument." So of course, I had to get a picture of it when we passed....and the first picture was where I tried to take a picture just as a semi got in the way. So there's no closer picture.

I just looked it up and it's called Tree Rock and it's on I 80, so if you google it, there are pictures. Fascinating, I know.

I think that's literally all we did this day. I was just wanting to see Karla and her family, so that's what we did. And as much as DH was a grumpy gus with US, he was on his best behavior whenever we got together with friends, thank goodness. I don't know what gets into him when we travel, because he's not normally like this at ALL. I would never have married him if he had ever acted like that before. It's just been the last few times we've traveled, so I'm thinking he just doesn't enjoy traveling much and it puts him in a foul mood. But he was fine once we were with our friends, and we all had a great time. I think we were watching stupid youtube videos, but I can't remember what they were about now. I remember we were all laughing a lot. It's always really hard to say goodbye to them, but we would be spending the next day with them, so it was ok.

 

[Songbird76]

August 7th

Going from memory here, I THINK we maybe got donuts or something for breakfast? Or maybe McDonalds? When we first started making plans, Karla and Justin asked what we wanted to do with our time there. We'd be content just sitting at their house and talking. We always have fun, but of course there were the kids to consider. But they've lived in Cheyenne for over a decade now, and it's not a place I spent much time in, so I don't really know what's there. So we asked them what's available and they gave us a list of options. A lot of the places were not really options for A, and he was completely DONE with museums. But there was a missile silo that had been used during the cold war that is no longer in use and you can tour it. You aren't allowed to take pictures on the tour for national security reasons, so here's a link to the site so you can read about it if you'd like.

Quebec-One MAF (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

Basically, this was a sort of guard station where the US military could fire missiles should we come under attack from Russia. It was a huge deterrent to Russia because they knew if they fired missiles at us, we'd fire back with even more powerful ones and they would probably die, so it was in their best interest not to attack us. There were two people in the missile launch chamber at any given time and it couldn't be opened from the outside. Once the people we in there, they would seal it back up until shift change. The next set would call to let them know if was shift change and they were heading down, and there were codes and everything so no one could sneak down or get in to attack. It took two people to launch, so no one could go rogue and set off the missiles on our own people, or on some other country. The launch codes would be locked up and it took two people working together to access the information, and everything had to coordinate with top military officials, so no one could pretend to be the president and order an attack. It was all very secure. Should there ever be an attack, the two people in the launch chamber knew they were going to die. There was really no way out if that happened. There was an escape hatch, but really it wasn't usable, because that would make the silo vulnerable to attack from the outside, because someone could get in from that tunnel. It was filled with dirt, so as soon as you opened it, the dirt would fall into the chamber, filling it in and crushing the people inside. So if they had ever had to launch the missiles, that would have been their last act. It was all very interesting.

Our tour guide was not very patient with our group. Karla doesn't move fast, and the missile silo is not wheelchair accessible, so she had to use her crutches as usual, which is fine, but not fast. Our guide kept leaving Karla behind and we'd kind of linger in between the rest of the tour group and Karla so that the woman would have to wait to start talking. We missed quite a bit because she didn't always wait. She almost left Karla and Justin in the underground part leading to the chamber. She was ready to close the elevator doors and people from the tour group who weren't even with us reminded her that our group wasn't complete. Everyone else was very patient and made sure that Karla didn't get left behind anywhere, but our tour guide was obviously not used to people with disabilities. It was actually pretty eye-opening how much the world is NOT equipped for people with disabilities. But we made it through.

I don't remember what we did for lunch that day. But we went to a botanical garden later. I did take lots of pictures there, but I'm sad to realize now that I didn't get any pictures of us with Karla's family, except one of my husband pushing her wheelchair and her husband following behind. The botannical garden is much more wheelchair accessible, though we did notice a few things that weren't the handiest.

They have both indoor and outdoor exhibits and there's some park thing next door that we didn't go to, but their daughter had volunteered there, and she and her younger brother went over while we were looking at the outdoor stuff. And their poor oldest boy had a very clingy and insecure girlfriend who kept calling and insisting he go hang out with her. He had explained they had company, but I think she was very aware that we had a daughter about his age and she wanted to keep him away from her as much as possible, so he kept having to duck out to go wherever she was. I could tell Karla wasn't particularly impressed with the girl OR her clingy behavior, but she let Jaden go his own way and decide how best to handle it. I kept thinking how glad I was that neither of my kids had so far showed any inclination towards having a relationship yet. And they still haven't. *knock on wood* So far I haven't had to compete with anyone for time with my teens. E hangs out with her friends sometimes, but it was usually while I was at work anyway....now that I'm not working evenings anymore, it may be harder to watch her go. And I had a proud mama moment Wednesday. A only has half days on Wednesdays and Fridays, and some kids in his class invited him to go to McDonalds after school for lunch. So we went Tuesday night so he could practice using his bank card, and I could show him the different routes he could take from McDonalds to get home, and he made it no problem. This was the first time he's ever gone anywhere without parents, just to hang out with friends, so I was super proud of him. Anyway, back to our story. I'm not even sure we made it into the Botanical garden (which I THINK was free?) before Jaden was called away by the girlfriend. He didn't seem particularly pleased, but he went.

There are several floors inside, and they are all open in the middle for the trees on the ground floor to be able to grow and the balconies on those floors have other plants besides looking at the tops of those trees.


I love the little fairy garden. You have to look closely to see the little house there. There are more on the other side of the log.



The Elephant art....trunk up on the baby elephant for @Darstarr


The vertical garden. We want to do a vertical garden in our back yard for herbs and small veggies. When we bought our house, they explained that we own the plot, but they own the ground. Apparently there was a dry cleaner in this neighborhood before and there were no environmental protections in place, so the ground is full of toxins from the chemicals they use. We can not grow anything edible in our yard because it will be contaminated by said chemicals. The only way we can plant things is to do something like this, where the plants wouldn't come in contact with the ground soil toxins. I am a known plant killer, but E has learned to garden from Opa, and she's really into it, so she's thinking of making something like this in the back so we can grow some basil, mint, maybe some cherry tomatoes, etc.


The view from one of the balconies.

 

[Songbird76]

August 7th, continued...

This is taken from upstairs inside. There's a sort of hallway around the inside courtyard that goes to another part of the building where they apparently do some classes and such.



This is the observatory on the upper deck. That dome on the left is part of the Children's Village that Rhianna took Cameron to while we were looking around outside later. Rhianna (Anna) volunteers there, so she wanted to go say hi and Cameron wanted to go there for a bit because he was bored with the gardens.


They have this little hut type thing where they grow Bonzai trees, to the left on that upper deck.


Back downstairs and outside now. It's really pretty. It had been raining pretty steadily, but there was a break in it now, so we took advantage.



You can see Justin pushing his wife in the wheelchair back behind my daughter.