Nearly forty-three years of living here in this state, and I've never been there before.
(Of course, I've never been to Yellowstone National Park either. People travel from all across the world to visit the place. It's in my own backyard. I could conceivably walk there, but I simply haven't yet bothered. I've always felt bad about that--but not quite bad enough to break down and visit.)
Anyway, last autumn, the State Library put out a bulletin that an array of overstocked books was available free to Wyoming's librarians. All we had to do was make some selections and then find a way to retrieve them.
I made my selections, but I kept missing my chance to go get them. I wanted to drive down myself but just couldn't cram a trip into my schedule. I also missed a few opportunities for fellow librarians visiting Cheyenne to haul them back for me. Winter soon arrived, and I abandoned the notion of making the trip until fairer weather cleared the highways. The patient folks at the State Library continued holding onto my books all the while.
Well, this past week was Spring Break for us. I finally took the opportunity to drive down to Cheyenne to get my books. In fact I took my family with me. Anyway, I walked into the library, and the receptionist greeted me with a couple of boxes labeled with the name of my school library. Fantastic! But never having visited the State Library before, I wished to have a look around. I hadn't wandered far before a nice lady walked by, glanced my way, and then smiled. It was Chris Van Burgh. I had met her last summer at the Wyoming Library Leadership Institute. She showed us around a bit. Then she asked if I would like some boxes of Zoo Books they were looking to give away for free. She scrambled around to find Danielle Price, along with Thomas Ivie--both fellow graduates from Last summer's Institute--who then loaded me and my kids down with Zoo Books.
Truly, it was a heartening visit. Imagine: I walked into a library I had never, ever visited before, and I was greeted by a group of librarians who knew me and welcomed me and my family to their library, the library for all Wyoming's citizens. Indeed, I plan to revisit far more often.
My thanks to Chris Van Burgh, Danielle Price, Thomas Ivie, as well as to Abby Beaver and Jessica Dawkins, and to all at the Wyoming State Library.
As I stated, I went with the family. We made a day of it. After the State Library, we visited the State Museum (another state facility I had never before entered). We visited Children's Village, part of Cheyenne's Botanical Gardens.Then we drove over to Laramie to visit our college student, working hard in only her second semester at the University.
On the road to Laramie, we stopped and saw Russin's Lincoln Head along I-80. A striking sculpture gazing down with a not altogether curious attitude. ( I wish I had not read just that morning a review of the monument that mentioned its odd resemblance to Captain Pike from Star Trek--an image I could not dispel from my mind.)
tell me the comparison is not somehow strangely appropriate.
I look forward to my next trip to Cheyenne and to the Wyoming State Library.
(And to think, my wife wanted to go to Bora Bora for spring break!)
