A Laramie Legacy

My mom had her 50th year High School Reunion this past weekend.  As she was making her plans I found out that none of her friends that live here in the area were planning to attend and I really didn't want her to drive all the way to Laramie (6 hours) by herself.  So I took my two boys and we took off on our little road trip.  I could tell she was excited about seeing some of her old classmates, but was afraid she wouldn't recognize anyone.  We had a nice drive up and had a chance to visit and chat the whole way.  The next morning she got up and walked up to the University to see if she could located some information she wanted for family history.  She called me a bit later and I met her at the cemetary.  We spent some time looking for the Nottage plots, but once we found them we stopped and took some photos.  I was surprised that Gabe took an interest in the graves and the names on them.  

Gabe is holding up five fingers to show that this is his 5th Great Grandmother and Nonna is showing that this is her 3rd Great Grandmother. We saw the graves of Mom's grandparents, great grandparents and a bunch of aunts and uncles that are all buried there.  I had pictures of most of these people on my computer, so later that night I showed him the pictures of these people.  It's really cool to think that I have pictures of about 6 generations, I guess maybe even 7 if you include my own children.  Very cool!  This particular person is Ann Collins Nottage who was written up in the newspaper when she passed away saying she was a real Laramie Pioneer  Here's a picture of her.

I was glad my son was there and I hope that he will remember doing this with his grandmother.  

After the cemetary we drove by my mom's high school Laramie High.  I had to take a picture of her in front of the school to mark the occasion!  

After Lunch we dropped Nonna off at the Library and we headed off to the Wyoming Territorial Prison. As we paid for our tickets, each one of us was given the name and information of an inmate who did time there.  Gabe got Butch Cassidy, so we were excited to go in and see where the infamous outlaw was held for a time!  

As we walked around the front of the prison there was this wagon that was an original and they let my boys get in so we could take a photo.

This is what the inside looks like.  It wasn't very big and the cells were very small considering people were double and sometimes tripled up there.  There was a ventilation system there and I'm sure it didn't ever smell very good in there.  The guide told us that the inside was only 10 degrees warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer than the outdoors.  That's not very much when you think that 40 below is normal in the winter at times!

Here's Gabe by the Butch Cassidy display.  It seems that although he was a hardened criminal, people really liked him and he was charming and fun.  He was even known to have written the president of one of the banks he robbed and thanked him for the money that he was able to eat well and buy new clothes with!  What a guy!

Here's Gabe locked down!

We also learned that the prison was pretty self-sufficient and able to make money by producing various item such as brooms, lanterns, candles and wood carving.  We went into the broom factory where they showed us how they made brooms.

Jake showing the candles they would make.

That almost looks like a quidditch broom from Harry Potter.

This is my first attempt at an HDR photo.  I liked how the clouds look!  This is the courtyard of the prison.

This is also outside, but on the otherside of the prison walls.  Another HDR photo.  

Another big part of our heritage is the Union Pacific Railroad.  My mom's grandfather and great grandfather and great uncle were all engineers on the UP.  I decided to drive over to the depot and see if I could take any pictures of the trains or the depot or anything that might be cool.  When I got to the depot they were setting up for a private party and so I just sort of peeked in.  It looks like a cool old building but I just got this picture of the outside with the UP logo.  I thought it was kind of cool.   Here are some of the old retired engines.  I attempted another HDR with these so I could have the detail of the train.

I wonder if my great grandfathers' drove these engines back and forth to Cheyenne?  Here are some pictures of my Mom's grandfather and Great Grandfather and Great uncle.

 Grandpa "Ching" Albert Nottage

 The next day I went and visited my mom's cousins Priscilla and Joe.  Their dad was my grandpa's only brother and they owned a Sinclair gas station together.  Here is a picture of the old station.  Unfortunately its been torn down and a doughnut shop is there instead.  We pulled up this picture and I did some restoration editing and Priscilla printed it up to give to my Uncle Harry for his 70th birthday today! (Happy Birthday, Unc!)

The House on 10th Street.  Mom said people commented to her that during her reunion about what a great house this was!

Here's the house on Garfield.  When we were here 5 years ago they were re-doing the entire thing.  It looks so cute and mom said she thought her grandparents would be so pleased!

This is only the second time in my adult life of going to Laramie.  The last time was 5 years ago.  It was nice to drive around and see mom's old house on 10th Street and her grandparents old house on Garfield where they lived in the basement with them for years.  It really is a cute little town and probably was a really great place to grow up.  The winters were rough and after my grandpa had polio he neede a milder climate so they went to Las Vegas in 1961, just after mom graduated from high school.

This trip was a great experience for me and I hope that it was somewhat memorable to my boys.  I tried to make it fun, but I hope the only thing they remember isn't the swimming pool at the hotel....

I just am thinking that I should do this periodically--meaning that I should write some things about my family's history.   Not that anyone cares, particularly, but my family.  But this is a great way to document stories and pictures and things that I am afraid will disappear when my parents die.  With all the different ways of preserving family history and stories and photos, How do you preserve yours?  Maybe even a different blog with other family members having the ability to write things.  I just look at the files of scanned photos that I have that I don't know who people are or what or where or anything going on.  I find it sad and tragic that it could be forgotten.  What do you think?