Lindsay Loves Lander

Last weekend, I took a VERY overdue trip to visit my friend, Allison, in Wyoming. Allison and I have been friends since the first day of 10th grade. I was in World Studies that morning when I realized a new girl was in my class -- Allison. As an Air Force kid and constant mover, I was always sympathetic to the plight of the new student. So after class, I chased her down in the hallway (not creepy at all, I'm sure) and asked her if she'd like to have lunch with me and my friends. And the rest was history!

Although Allison lives in a town 6 hours away, I worked a full day on Friday and then headed up to see her....
At 10:30pm, I was finally pulling into Allison's town -- Lander, Population 6,867. I gave Allison a call to let her know I was almost there when she said, "Hey! I'm at the bar! Come meet me!" Never one to pass up a drink, I said, "Okay!"

I arrived at the bar which was conveniently (a) The only bar in town and (b) on Main Street. Allison was standing out front waiting for me, and when we walked inside, this is what I saw:

The amazing thing about living in a small town is that you know EVERYONE at the bar. As we sipped on our Lander Brewing Co beers (super delicious and super cool that Lander has their own brewing company, right?!) ....

... Allison filled me in on the backstory of everyone at the bar.The most memorable moment occurred not 10 minutes after I arrived when a mountain man came up to us and asked if we wanted to smoke pot. When we said no, he told us we didn't know what we were missing. Perhaps that's true, but 29 seems kind of old to start smoking. After talking to him for a minute, Allison discovered he was the cousin of her co-worker's wife... or something like that.

Soon, I got distracted by a dog running through the bar.

As I chased down the dog trying to get a picture, our pot smoking friend told Allison that I was really hot. It's good to know that if times ever get tough here in Denver, there's a stoner mountain man who's interested in Lander.

The next morning, Allison made me coffee....

... and we perused some catalogs.

After going to breakfast, she took me on a tour of her town.

First stop: Garage Sale Advertisement Row.

Garage sales are serious business in Lander, and every weekend all the garage sales are advertised on the same corner of Main Street. All you do is take a box... write down the details... and wait for the crowds to come!

Second Stop: Lander Art Center.

After living in Lander for almost 3 years, Allison has become very active in the community. One of her endeavors is serving on the board of directors for the Lander Art Center. The night before, they'd had an event, and Allison had to stop in to do a bit of clean-up. While she cleaned wine glasses and dishes, I walked around and looked at the art.

This creepy little ditty was sitting in the storage room.

Very pretty!

My personal favorite... I'm not sure if it takes some artistic liberties, or whether Lander was, in fact, a nudist colony in the Old West days.

Third Stop: Main Street Books

The book store was SO cute! And as you would expect in a small town, Allison ran into her friend Cara who was buying some coffee.

Fourth Stop: Allison's old Apartment

She used to live in an apartment above a printing shop... and since it was right there on Main Street, she pointed it out to me. Later that weekend, she showed me a postcard she and her roommate had received from their German friend who had spent a summer doing an internship in Lander...

Please note the address: "Main Street - South Side of the Street; Apartment above Lander Valley Printing." The Post Office is so awesome in Lander that you don't even need to put a street address!!!

And our final stop was the movie theater... we were thinking about going to see The Switch that evening, but it turned out we ran out of time.

After the Grand Tour, Allison took me on a hike through the beautiful mountains just 10 minutes from her house.
Driving to our hike spot...

The leaves were just starting to change colors and it was gorgeous!

There were streams and waterfalls.... SO pretty!

Waterfall!

Allison walking across the bridge...
This is a pool of water where people swim when it's hot out. Allison said they slide down the smooth part of the rocks into the water.

On our way back down from the waterfalls, the sun came out and it made for an even prettier hike!

This is called "The Sinks". The river flows into this cavern and then reappears 1/4 mile down the canyon in a pool named the Rise. However, no one really knows what happens to the water on its way because it takes over 2 hours to travel that 1/4 mile. Odd.

In front of the mysterious cavern...

This is The Rise where the water magically reappears. There are MONSTER trout in the water. I seriously thought they were sharks at first.
After our hike, we were pretty tired, so we went back to her house to watch The Hills. Although Allison doesn't own a TV, she has a giant computer monitor and is able to watch most everything online or through Netflix. I find it funny that a girl who doesn't even own a TV is hooked on The Hills.
After we were all caught up on LC and Heidi's exploits, we decided to get some food at the local Asian restaurant. Allison informed me that Friday and Saturday are sushi nights at the restaurant. I was a little concerned to be eating sushi in a random, land-locked, small town restaurant, but Allison assured me the restaurant flies their fish in fresh and that it was 100% safe. So. I took a gamble and ate it. Luckily, it was delicious AND we didn't get sick!
Sake it to me.
The next morning I woke up at 7am to do my 9 mile run. (I'm training for a half marathon....) It was a beautiful morning, but my phone camera couldn't quite capture how beautiful it really was.

Allison had mapped out the route for me the night before, and she let me know that there was a bridge out partway through my run. She informed me that it was just a small stream and it would be super easy to cross without a bridge.

NOT SO!!!

When I happened upon the stream, I found out I had to climb down 5 feet of rock to cross it. Once I made my way down, I realized the stream (although not deep) was NOT easy to cross because all the rocks were really loose. Inevitably, my foot slipped off one of the rocks and my entire left foot was submerged in water. Ugh. So I had to run the last 3 miles with a very wet and cold foot!!! This picture just doesn't do that stream justice:
The last section of my run was through Lander City Park.... which is pretty different from Denver City Park, but it was very cute!
When I got back from my run, Allison was whipping up some pumpkin pancakes.
Not only did she make pancakes, but she put her Starbucks Barrista experience to use and made yummy vanilla lattes.

Two of her friends came over to join us for breakfast, and then Allison took me to her church. On our way back, we saw this guy riding a horse through town (sorry it's so small... I was scrambling to find my phone to take this picture -- he's under the light post).

Sadly, I had to head back to Denver soon after church. It was a short trip, but I had such a great time. Thanks for being a fantastic hostess, Allison!