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Set on a high, wind-swept basin at about 7,200 feet between the Laramie Range and the Medicine Bow Mountains, Laramie is Wyoming's college town and a gateway to granite and alpine backcountry. The University of Wyoming, the state's only four-year public university, gives the city its museums, concerts and youthful energy.
Laramie grew up in 1868 as a Union Pacific railroad town, and its brick downtown still lines the tracks. The Wyoming Territorial Prison, which once held Butch Cassidy, is now a state historic site, and the Ivinson Mansion recalls the wealth of a Victorian banker. Painted walls from the Laramie Mural Project brighten the side streets between cafes, breweries and outfitters.
Within an hour's drive are the wild rock towers of Vedauwoo, the Snowy Range Scenic Byway climbing past Medicine Bow Peak, and the birding marshes of Hutton Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Cheyenne, the state capital, is about 50 miles east over Sherman Summit.
Built in 1872, this stone penitentiary beside the Laramie River held outlaws including Butch Cassidy, who served time here in the 1890s. Tour the restored cell blocks, the broom factory and the warden's quarters, and read about frontier justice in the exhibits. Hours are seasonal, so check before driving out.
Banker Edward Ivinson built this Queen Anne mansion in 1892, and today it houses the Laramie Plains Museum. Guided tours lead through rooms filled with period furniture, Victorian clothing and pioneer artifacts from Albany County. Stroll the carriage house and landscaped grounds afterward, and check the tour schedule ahead.
A sandstone building on campus guarded by a copper Tyrannosaurus statue outside. Inside are fossil skeletons including a towering Apatosaurus and a cast of Big Al, one of the most complete Allosaurus specimens ever found, plus minerals and meteorites. Admission is free, and weekend parking is easiest.
Housed in the dark cone of the university's Centennial Complex, the American Heritage Center is one of the country's major archives of the American West, holding papers from ranchers, oil companies, journalists and Hollywood figures. Rotating exhibits are open to visitors, and researchers can request materials in the reading room.
Sharing the Centennial Complex with the American Heritage Center, the art museum shows rotating exhibitions drawn from a collection of thousands of works, from Western American painting to contemporary art and photography. Free admission and family programs make it an easy stop between other campus sights.
Pronounced VEE-da-voo, this corner of Medicine Bow National Forest is a maze of weathered granite towers about 20 miles east of Laramie off I-80. Hike the Turtle Rock Trail loop, scramble the boulders or watch climbers tackle the famous wide cracks. A day-use fee applies, and summer afternoons often bring thunderstorms.
Wyoming Highway 130 climbs west from Centennial over Snowy Range Pass at about 10,800 feet, past Lake Marie and the pale quartzite face of Medicine Bow Peak. Stop at the Libby Flats observation point and walk the lakeshore trails. The high section closes for winter, usually until late May, so check road status first.
A short drive southwest of Laramie, this small national wildlife refuge protects a cluster of shallow prairie lakes and marshes on the Laramie Plains. Spring and fall migration bring ducks, avocets, phalaropes and other shorebirds, and a gravel road loops past the water. Facilities are minimal, so bring water and binoculars.
The brick blocks along Ivinson Avenue and Second Street hold independent bookstores, outfitters, coffee shops and breweries, with bright murals from the Laramie Mural Project on many walls. The historic pedestrian footbridge over the Union Pacific rail yard gives close views of passing freight trains.
A 12-foot bronze bust of Abraham Lincoln by sculptor Robert Russin gazes over Interstate 80 at Sherman Summit, the highest point on the highway at about 8,640 feet. Dedicated in 1959, it stands at a rest area with an information center and wide views of the Laramie Range. It makes an easy stop on the drive to Cheyenne.
Designed by architect H. H. Richardson and finished in 1882, this 60-foot granite pyramid honors Oakes and Oliver Ames, the brothers who helped push the Union Pacific across the continent. It stands alone on open prairie near Buford, beside the original rail line. Reach it by a gravel road and bring a jacket for the wind.
Held each July around the anniversary of Wyoming statehood on July 10, 1890, this festival packs in a parade, carnival, street dance and professional rodeo. It is Laramie's biggest party, filling downtown and the Albany County Fairgrounds for several days. Book lodging early, as rooms sell out across town.
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