Sunny Sunday

Thursday, April 24, 2008

By Bill Sniffin

After enduring one of the longest winters in memory, spending a warm weekend in Wyoming feels pretty good.

With the mercury at 66, and no wind blowing, I took some time last Sunday afternoon to survey what folks were doing as they emerged from a long, dark winter.
A few Wyoming cities and towns have worked to develop what is called a River Walk as walking paths for citizens.

Lander residents are lucky that a local family some years ago donated a stretch of land along the Popo Agie River, in the heart of downtown. It is named for the late Judith S. Barney. A young wife and mother, Judy died of cancer about 12 years ago.
I walked that Sunday and saw families with young kids, joggers, older folks my age and some young bicyclists enjoying the sunny afternoon beside a bubbling Popo Agie River.
Lander folks have worked for years on establishing greenways and river walks. Such a plan is worth doing in other towns, too.

What I am really writing about here is quality of life, which all communities need to savor. It has always made sense to me that quality of life is a key component of successful economic development.

In my town, it was fun to see so many people finally outside on a sunny day. it was nice to hear birds chirping and kids yelling with delight.

It was a perfect day for my grandson Wolf Johnson to learn to ride his bike without training wheels - the day before his eighth birthday. The Johnson’s had had a big weekend. Wolf’s brother Hayden learned to tie his shoes, and his little brother Fin learned to walk on Saturday.

I fired up my old convertible and put the top down. It was time for the first cruise of the summer.

A gal was eating her lunch in our Centennial Park, which was dedicated in 1989 when the state celebrated its one-hundredth birthday. There used to be a fountain in that park but it was removed when it quit working. Sure wish someone would put it back … it was a nice touch.

Near our courthouse, some folks were walking through the new Veterans Memorial. What a wonderful project this is - especially at a time when we are losing just about all our members of that incredible bunch of heroes who fought in World War II.
Lander’s golf course was finally busy. Pro Mike Johnson said it had not been very busy because of recent snow and a chilly breeze. But this weekend, conditions were perfect and folks were out playing.

The local course is one of the real secrets of Wyoming. It sits on a bluff overlooking Lander with the Wind River Mountains dominating the scene. The mountains glowed a bright white as a result of recent snows.

The soccer fields were quiet on Sunday but still seemed to contain some of the energy from a big regional tournament that had dominated the community on Saturday.

At the Legion ball diamond, a group of young old-timers were practicing and playing baseball. Lander has a good tradition of baseball, and these players were all over 18 and are the mainstays of an annual Old-Timers Tournament held every August.

Noticed some homes for sale around town - a local financial person told me that land and homes had doubled in value here in the past five years. Pretty impressive, but not as hot a market as some other cities and towns in Wyoming.

On the Wind River Indian Reservation, Bull Lake is a wonderful fishery. A few men were shirtless and sweating over on the north side of town as they labored to dig a big stump out of the front yard.

After the cold and snowy winter we have all endured, it was pretty nice to go around town and see how much people were enjoying the final arrival of warm weather.

PERMALINK:
Sunny Sunday | Planet JH News Article: General News

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