October 2023 – Thoughts From The Passenger Seat

2023, family, life, Travel

Wild Wild West

Posted on October 22, 2023October 22, 2023 by nancyb422

We were in Fort Collins, Colorado in early September for a family wedding. Because it was on Sunday evening, we decided to stay an extra day and fly home on Tuesday.

At one of the events for the wedding, someone mentioned they drove up to Laramie Wyoming to visit the Wyoming Territorial Prison! It was an hour away and all we had was time.

Once we said goodbye to everyone at the air bnb we shared with family, we headed out. When we got to Laramie we looked online for a restaurant for breakfast.

The remains of Sausage & Biscuits and our pretty inexpensive bill

Accomplice Beer Company in downtown Laramie is a bar / restaurant / brewery. No beers for us but we cozied up to the bar and had a delicious breakfast.

The Wyoming Territorial Prison was surprisingly close to town. In its prime it was probably a long way from town!

They have a welcome center to buy tickets and of course a variety of gifts to purchase! We knew we’d be back after our self-guided tour.

The first building was the wardens house and it was decorated for the era it was used.

Around the grounds were carriages that were used during the time of the prison

I’m sure some prisoners reminisced about robbing one of these!

Inside the prison, we walked through the two floors and throughout there was information about the rooms and the prisoners who were held there. The most famous prisoner was Butch Cassidy. His story is a little different than the movie!

After going through the prison, we walked through the prison yard and over to a building their used to make brooms for sale. We had a lot of these brooms in our home growing up and of course, we had to buy one to bring home! We had to get creative to get in in the suitcase but it survived!

On our way home we were just amazed at the wide open land and the clouds! The clouds were so huge and they looked close enough to touch. I couldn’t stop taking pictures of them!

We didn’t really notice on the way up to Laramie, but on the way back we were also amazed by the changing landscape between Wyoming and Colorado. It’s fun to watch it unfold through the miles.

We were excited to add Wyoming to our list of states visited but we’d like to explore more! Someday…!

2023, life, Memories, Travel

Hiking in the Lake George Region

Posted on October 14, 2023October 14, 2023 by nancyb422

My husband and I spent a week in Lake George in August. We brought our boat and stayed in a 1950s type resort about a mile or 2 north of downtown Lake George.

Our second hike of the week was at the Cook Mountain Preserve out of Ticonderoga.

We (I) always make a point to find someplace to hike because I really love to hike. But we (I) always manage to get lost! This trip was no exception because we got sort of lost finding the trailhead! First we drove to the “destination” but it was far past the trailhead. So we backtracked and you couldn’t really see the trailhead from that direction so we turned around again! We found it on the third try.

I made sure we signed the book and the time we started out just in case we disappeared on the trail! The trailhead had a map posted as well as maps to take with you (done, still managed to get lost).

The trail started out fairly flat but once it started on the Ridges Trail it was fairly steep – 680 feet over a 1/2 mile – then more gradually to the views. We had our hiking poles and I’m glad we did! The trails were clear so there wasn’t much climbing over and under.

We got to the Lake George view and were a little disappointed! I thought we’d have more of a view and I had to really walk around to find a good view. We sat for a bit and had a snack and then moved on to the Vermont view.

I spotted the flag on top of the mountain and remembered a trip to Fort Ticonderoga we took on the motorcycle. We never went to Mount Independence but I know we saw it from the Fort. This was definitely the better view.

We were pretty tired by the time we were done and stopped at this general store for lunch which was delicious! The owners were really nice too!

Overall, a great day in the Lake George Region.

2023, life, thoughts, Writing

🎵 If I Had a Million Dollars 🎵

Posted on October 13, 2023October 13, 2023 by nancyb422

If you had a million dollars to give away, who would you give it to?

By saying “if you had a million dollars to give away”, gives me the notion that perhaps I’m already set up for retirement. Like I don’t need this million dollars. Let’s go with that. I’ve become some kind of multi-millionaire, my son and his wife, my sisters and their families are all flush because I’ve taken care of their home loans, college loans, and set up college funds for my adorable great niece and nephew, and this million is chump change to me.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way – I would give my million dollars in parts to my public library, the local Master’s Manna that provides food and clothing in our town, to our animal shelter, and to our state Foodshare that happens to be headquartered in my town.

I’d set up trusts to distribute the money so it continues to grow because these organizations aren’t going anywhere and I’d want to be sure the money is there forever. Or something like that because what do I know about donating such a large amount of money anywhere!

But it’s fun to think about!