Laramie's a town - an old friend once observed - where those of us who spent time there in college expect to see someone we know when we return.
But, almost never do.
Lots of turnover in Laramie, which I suspect is true of any college town.
(That old friend was born in Rock Springs, grew up in Casper, graduated from UW, worked for a while in Casper, and is now happily retired in – wait for it – UPSTATE NEW YORK. Go figure. At this age, it's all about proximity to grandkids.)
I think the fond memories of Laramie, especially at this time of year, live on for almost everyone who spent some of those precious young years at the University of Wyoming.
Who among us can't picture in our minds the bullet hole in the back-bar mirror at the classic Buckhorn Bar? Or the stuffed two-headed calf gazing down on us from the dusty taxidermy above, as we quaffed a glass of “Banquet Beer?”
In 1969, my parents weren't about to unleash me with an automobile in a town 900 miles from home.
So getting back and forth to college involved flights to Denver, then the short hop up to Laramie aboard the Frontier prop plane we called “the Vomit Comet.”
Then I had to bum a ride from Brees Field to Orr Hall, lugging suitcases.
Without wheels, anything I needed had to be purchased across Grand Avenue at Aegerter's Brown and Gold, where there was a restaurant above, and a big store below.
If they didn't have it, you probably didn't need it. And today, I imagine how tough it must have been to deal with hundreds of dorm kids armed with their first checking accounts. Brutal.
It didn't take long to find a friend down the hall, up on the eighth floor of Orr, with an old boat of a Pontiac, to facilitate jaunts to Gibson's Discount Store, or (thank you Lord, for letting us survive) Friday afternoon trips down to the Colorado state line, where 18-year-olds could drink 3.2 beer.
The trip back to Laramie was excruciating with bladders full of 3.2 Coors.
UW was a big deal back in those days, as it no doubt still is today.
It was big in Engineering (the company my father worked for recruited a lot of engineers from UW), Geology, Anthropology and Law (they gave us Gerry Spence).
I took two semesters of Geology, and in both classes the professor wrote the textbook, which was much more unusual then than it is today.
Later, my grad-student wife had a class with renowned paleontologist Dr. Paul McGrew, who also wrote the textbook. We once enjoyed an evening at his place west of Laramie.
He had a rustic little bar and a fabulous old Wurlitzer jukebox, with bubbling colored lights, full of the classics.
On the wall was a framed cover of “The New Yorker Magazine,” featuring McGrew observing flamingos through binoculars.
We both had classes with the authority on the Easter Islands, Dr. William Mulloy.
And we remain longtime friends with retired professor emeritus Dr. George Gill, noted forensic anthropologist, who hosted memorable Halloween parties.
UW was a big deal, and I'm sure in many instances it still is today. I'm told Engineering is as strong as ever.
I was lucky enough to get a double dose of Laramie, spending my first two years at UW, then finishing up at a small Christian college (for small Christians, we joked) in Wisconsin.
Then I landed my first job as a reporter at the Laramie Boomerang, where I worked for five years.
It was a great place to learn the ropes from memorable folks like Judge Vernon Bentley, County Agent Arlowe Hulett, and City Manager Harold “Pray for Sunshine” Youngmeyer. (Snow removal can break a city budget, he said.)
The town was so crazy on home football game Saturday nights that the editor at the Boomerang had to lock the front door, to keep out the tipsy guys looking for the Alibi Bar one block to the east.
These days, in the summer, I drive through Laramie every week on my way home from the Snowy Range to Cheyenne.
I stop for a $5.25 value breakfast at McDonalds in West Laramie, then can choose to get right onto I-80 for the fast way home, or head into Laramie for a nostalgic drive down Grand Avenue. (I think I can pick out my old dorm room as I drive by Orr Hall.)
Seems like almost everything has changed. The old Safeway is now an auto parts store and a hardware.
Scotty's – the closest we had to a McDonalds – is now a barbecue place.
The old library is now city offices, and the “new” library is on down Grand. (Their former librarian, Lisa Kinney, was in Mr. Vigil's freshman English class with me long ago – I think we both got A's – and now she's running for Congress. What's not to love about small-town Wyoming?)
Only the bars and liquor stores have mostly stayed the same.
I almost never take the fast, I-80 way around Laramie when I head home to Cheyenne.
The memories as I head east on Grand are just way too fun to miss.
Dave Simpson can be contacted at DaveSimpson145@hotmail.com
