Our campground is about 8 miles from downtown. We decided to ride our bikes rather than try and find a parking place for Great White. Along the way, we stopped at Holliday Park to meet "Big Boy 4004." The "Big Boys" were the world's largest steam locomotives. The powerful coal-fired engines were designed to pull a 3600-ton train over steep grades between Cheyenne, WY and Ogden, Utah. The 4004 is one of the eight remaining Big Boys on display throughout the country.
We made it downtown just in time for lunch. The campground recommended Los Abuelos Mexican Restaurant and Bar. It was just the fuel we needed to begin touring around Cheyenne. Here Dave is tucking into their home made chips and salsa.
Our first stop after lunch was the beautifully restored Union Pacific Depot (a National Historic Landmark). On July 5, 1867, General Grenville M. Dodge and his survey crew platted the site now known as Cheyenne in the Dakota Territory (later Wyoming Territory). This site was chosen as the point at which the Union Pacific Railroad crossed Crow Creek, a tributary of the South Platte River. The entire city grew up around the railroad.
After stopping at the Visitor's Center for maps and suggestions, we walked over to the Cheyenne Depot Museum. The museum tells the story of Cheyenne's beginnings during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad. Here Dave takes a look at the a display on early construction methods. It hard to imagine the railroad grades and bridges were all dug and built by hand!
The museum had a number of displays on the early history of the Union Pacific Railroad. There were lots of displays and videos to watch. One display was a miniature wooden model of Big Boy 4004. We thought this was pretty cool since we got to see the original earlier in our ride.
The second floor of the museum is devoted to model trains. There are a number of replicas of all the train towns the Union Pacific passed through in Wyoming. It is amazing how much effort is spent getting every detail right.
After the Depot Museum, it was back on our bikes. We had heard about the Big Boot public art statues in Cheyenne and thought it might be fun to see how many we could find. "These Boots Are Made for Talking" was a joint project of the Cheyenne Depot Museum Foundation and the Downtown Development Authority. The boots were sponsored by local businesses and auctioned at a fundraiser. We found this boot on our way to High Grounds Coffee Roastery. Unfortunately, the coffee shop has since gone out of business, but the boot is still there!
Our next stop was The Nelson Museum of the West. The collection was designed by Robert L. Nelson to show visitors a broad spectrum of older western cultures. Cowboy, Charro, Art, Native American and Military aspects of the west were carefully studied and needed artifacts put on a list for acquisition. The collection grew through the 1970s, 1980s, and in 1998, the museum was opened to the public. It is obvious that Mr. Nelson like to collect stuff. Here Kathy examines a silver parade saddle.
We definitely saw more pairs of spurs in this museum than in all the wild west museums we have visited to date. However, spurs don't photograph well, but bison stained glass looks really cool.
We decided to ride up Capitol Street, so we could get a good look at the Capitol Building. If you want to see more of the Capitol, click on this link. Our friends, Ginny and Eric, took the tour back in 2012.
Our next stop was the Wyoming State Museum. Look, there's another boot!
We started with the earliest know history of Wyoming and worked our way up to modern times. We came across a display of native critters. Dave has been trying all year to get a photo of a plains rattlesnake. The only time he could get one was in the museum.
Our last stop was the most fun - Cowgirls of the West! The museum was founded in 1995 by women who not only wanted to keep the Western Spirit alive, but also to honor strong women of the past and present who have made amazing contributions to western culture and history. The settling of the American West has often been romanticized in print and in the video media, where the lives of women have sometimes been depicted as easy, carefree, and glamorous: Nothing is further from the truth!
Pioneering women worked very hard, right alongside men, to make the American West the one that we know today. The purpose of The Cowgirls of the West is to tell and preserve their remarkable and historical stories. The museum is small, but filled with lots of memorabilia. We really enjoyed watching some of the documentaries they have collected on such notable cowgirls as Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane and Bertha Blancett. Now that's a belt buckle!
We managed to find a few more boots to add to our collection.
As we travel, we've learned that all cities are not bike friendly. Here in Cheyenne they are actively working to correct the situation. Here is Kathy peddling a newly constructed portion of the Cheyenne Greenway. Cheyenne boasts approximately 37 miles of completed Greenway path with plans for additional paths.
Unfortunately, the Greenway hasn't made it all the way out to the KOA campground yet. We finished up our commute with a scary bridge crossing and a little road biking.
All in all, it was quite an enjoyable day. We took our two bikes out for a spin around Cheyenne, visited four different museums and found six 8-foot tall cowboy boots. Just another day in the life of full-time RVers.
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