A Streetcar Named "21"?

Okay, so maybe Tennessee Williams overlooked this little gem, but Charlotte and I were still delighted to learn that there is a beautifully restored streetcar tooling around part of Fort Collins.

Everything about the streetcar is awesome, including the fact that the street it runs on is the same street "our" house in Fort Collins is on (see nifty spy photo below taken from inside the streetcar)!  

As you can see, Mountain Ave. outside our house has a pretty unusual traffic configuration (from left to right: streetcar lane, car lane, bike lane, parked car lane).  There's a lot going on on this quaint little street!

Thanks to the Fort Collins Streetcar folks for making us feel, well, special!  Come visit us during the summer months and we'll take you for a ride, too!

A parade!

Laramie holds an annual summer festival called "Laramie Jubilee Days."  Apparently, a huge parade is an essential part of a jubilee, and I was very surprised by the size and variety of this parade, considering what a small little city Laramie is!

What Laramie's parade may lack in sophistication (this wasn't exactly the Rose Bowl Parade) is offset by an abundance of: awesome old tractors...

...horses in various configurations...

...and vehicles that serve as reminders that this is rugged country.

I also had the opportunity to observe some truly rare sights, including a non-marching marching band...

...THE one and only "Tot Miss" of Albany County, Wyoming (very few can list this on a resume!)

....and, perhaps rarest of all, liberals...in Wyoming?!?  You really can see just about anything at a parade!

An alpine day

"The best part of living in Laramie is that the Snowies are 45 minutes away."  Charlotte and I have been hearing this repeatedly since moving here.  As we already discovered, some of Laramie's best selling points lie beyond the city limits (though not far).  As mentioned before, Vedauwoo is 20 minutes to our east (see below), and the closest bit of the Medicine Bow National Forest is only about 10 minutes away.

However, what I had been seeing all the time from Laramie...but hadn't experienced in person until today...is the Snowy Range, which lies about 30 miles west of town.

Wow.

At 7,200', Laramie is different from most places, but when you're in the Snowies you're up at about 10,500'.  It is an alpine landscape that feels like an entirely different world.  You're liable to see all sorts of things, like beautiful wildflowers...

...beautiful alpine meadows...

....adorable wildlife...

...and, if you're lucky, folks that take their macaws hiking.  

Knowing that this is all about 40 minutes away from our front door, would I go back again?  Yeah, maybe.