7-14-2018 Laramie, WY Part III

Jacques La Ramee was a fur trapper, trader, mountain man and explorer.  He was born in Quebec in 1784 and wound up in the mountainous west of the USA.  His skills as a fur trader and trapper were widely known and in demand, apparently, because he was employed by John Jacob Astor’s fur trading company among others.  He was very good at negotiations and befriended many Indian tribes and became the spokesman for the free trappers.  On one fur trapping expedition in 1821, he disappeared and was never seen alive again.  His last name has been spelled many different ways:  La Rami, La Ramie and Laramie.  After this famed mountain man are named the city of Laramie, Laramie River, Laramie Mountain, Laramie County and Fort Laramie.

St. Matthews Episcopal Cathedral

In 1868, Edward Ivinson decided to take one of the few passenger trains there were at the time to California.  En route, the train paused in Cheyenne.  For some reason, he thought the town of Laramie, nearby, had huge potential.  He was joined in Laramie by his wife and they set out to develop the town.  He was a business man and soon became a successful banker and later the mayor.  Jane was a teacher and her classroom was the back of their dry goods store.  The Ivinsons’ zealous work is responsible for the building of St. Matthew’s Cathedral, the hospital and a home for elderly women in Laramie.  In 1882, they built their own private mansion which Edward donated to the church upon his death in 1928.  It fell into disrepair and was rescued from demolition in 1972.  After it was restored, it became the Laramie Plains Museum.  It is a stately monument and home of valuable beautiful artifacts from that era.

Ivinson Mansion, now the Laramie Plains Museum

1929 Caterpillar tractor drives in the parade

Today is parade day.  We had a breakfast burrito, green chili and a bloody mary at the Elks Lodge and then found a front row seat in the shade on the parade route.  As usual, the townsfolk came out with their bragging rights in full array:  bands, floats, hay wagons pulled by old tractors and dozens of horses.  It was quite a gala event and it seems to me that every person in Wyoming was present.

Tiny miniature ponies.  Aren't they cute?

Typical horse a buggy float in the parade

The chili cook off was next.  Up and down the street we went from one pot to the next, testing each and every one and cleansing our palate with beer.  The warm Summer brings everyone out of their long underwear and the crowd was in full party mode.  We did finally narrow our favorite chilis down to two and it ended up in a tie.  Voting takes place by dropping dollar bills in the competitors’ jars and Rob dropped his final vote in one jar and I dropped mine in another.  Of course, we dropped lots of additional dollars along the way, all in the spirit of fun.  The bands played, the artists displayed their crafts and brother and sister John and Jessie pulled us around in a buggy.

 

The chili chefs-these chefs added HOT chiles!

John, Lindy and Jessie

Chili judges

Rob on chili cook-off row

Finally, at 7PM, it was rodeo time.  (We were going to go last night but instead we were held captive in Bee by lightning, thunder, wind, rain and hail.)  I’ll say we stood out a bit in our shorts and sandals from the grass roots locals who were all in jeans, boots and cowboy hats.  The words to a full-throated salute to Old Glory was sung even by tiny children and warmed me to the core.  The competition was, to my untrained eye, sophisticated and brutal.  I don’t know how the scoring can be so finely evaluated except by years of training and experience.  The horsemen and horsewomen range from children to retired school teachers, some of the talented having earned, in total, more than $1M in competitions.  The body blows they endure from calves, broncos and bulls are breathtaking.  Six year old boys and girls compete in mutton busting.  The child sits on a sheep to see how long he can hang on.  There are no couch potatoes on display at the rodeo.

On the right, the little guy salutes the flag

Old Glory-beautiful!

Bareback

Steer wrestling - this fellow is a retired teacher

Saddle bronc riding

Team roping

It was a long day for us old timers.  We collapsed in bed late.  Today, we are busy packing up.  Jubilee Days are over for us.  It is time to wave good-bye to Laramie and stormy, windy Wyoming.