One of the West’s best-kept secrets sits in plain sight along Interstate 80.
Home to the University of Wyoming, Laramie is unquestionably a college town. Yet its strong patina and unmistakable sense of place also make it a classic frontier town.
As one might expect, Laramie comes alive when the Cowboys football team plays at War Memorial Stadium. Brown and gold appear everywhere, tailgates fill the parking lots, and crowds head toward the stadium, which doubles Laramie’s population of 31,407.
The surprise is how much there is to do. Visitors could spend two or three days exploring before venturing beyond the city limits.
Start downtown with a self-guided historic architecture tour. Laramie sprang up with the Union Pacific Railroad in 1868, and its tents and shanties eventually gave way to Victorian homes and substantial public buildings.
One prominent landmark is St. Matthew’s Episcopal Cathedral. Built between 1892 and 1896 with locally quarried sandstone, it looks suited to an older and considerably larger city.
St. Matthew’s is no artifact. It remains the seat of the Episcopal (Anglican) bishop of Wyoming. Unfortunately, the Gothic Revival cathedral appears to be closed to visitors outside of regular worship services.
The Wyoming Women’s History House tells the story of Laramie’s important role in the women’s suffrage movement. In 1869, more than two decades before statehood, Wyoming became the first U.S. jurisdiction to grant women the right to vote.
Nearby, the Laramie Plains Museum occupies the ornate Queen Anne-style Ivinson Mansion. Its period rooms reveal the wealth and ambition that existed alongside the frontier’s rougher side.
That rougher side is the focus of the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site.
The prison’s massive gray sandstone walls and Old World castle-like architecture still look suitably forbidding. The prison began receiving inmates in early 1873 and held them until 1901. More than 1,000 outlaws spent time behind its walls. The most famous, or rather, infamous, was Butch Cassidy, who was imprisoned here from 1894 until 1896.
The University of Wyoming deserves time even if you have no connection to the school. Old Main, Prexy’s Pasture and the rest of the campus are worth exploring on foot.
Notable attractions include the college’s Geological Museum and Anthropology Museum. Then there’s the striking Centennial Complex. Designed by architect Antoine Predock, it’s home to the Art Museum and American Heritage Center.
Laramie is also a good base for exploring southeastern Wyoming.
To the east, Vedauwoo Recreation Area is known for enormous granite formations that look as if they were piled there by giants. The 3-mile Turtle Rock Loop Trail is an easy introduction. The path circles its namesake outcrop, passing pine and aspen forests, and offering opportunities to scramble among the rocks. Allow a couple of hours, particularly if you stop for photographs.
To the west, Wyoming Highway 130 becomes the Snowy Range Scenic Byway. The route passes through the tiny town of Centennial before climbing into Medicine Bow National Forest, where alpine lakes and granite peaks lead to the Libby Flats overlook at more than 10,600 feet. From there, the highway crosses the mountains and descends into the North Platte River Valley and Saratoga, a Western town known for its hot springs. The drive is particularly memorable in fall, when the aspens turn brilliant shades of yellow and orange against the evergreens and stark mountain peaks.
If you go
United Airlines offers service between Denver and Laramie, putting the city within one connection of most U.S. airports. Alternatively, Denver International Airport is about two hours away by car.
Book a room at the newly renovated Holiday Inn Laramie. Sometime next year, a Graduate by Hilton hotel is expected to open, according to published reports.
Consider eating at Wyoming’s Rib & Chop House, Altitude Chophouse & Brewery and Lovejoy’s Bar & Grill.
The seasonal farmers market is as good for people-watching as it is for shopping. It runs Fridays from late June through late September, from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., in downtown Laramie by Depot Park.
Dennis Lennox writes a travel column for The Christian Post.
Dennis Lennox writes about travel, politics and religious affairs. He has been published in the Financial Times, Independent, The Detroit News, Toronto Sun and other publications. Follow @dennislennox on Twitter.
