July 21-23, 2023
Written By: J.Couch
We picked up the trailer and fought the early Friday traffic north out of Denver towards Wyoming. Frontier Days here we come. We are heading to Cheyenne Wyoming to camp for a few nights at a pop-up camping place called Last Chance campground and go to the Eric Church concert and a rodeo on Saturday. The weather is supposed to be good this weekend, no thunderstorms in the forecast. We made the 2-hour drive north along with many others that had the same idea. It might be a busy weekend. We got to camp early afternoon which was good since we were with the first few that were just pulling in for the weekend. This place is someone’s property about 5 miles north of Cheyenne and they have been opening their field for CFD campers for 17 years now. We weren’t sure what to expect but came with no intentions. It is basically an open field behind their property with many campers. Not sure how many they can fit but it has to be a couple hundred at least. There are no power hook ups or water, but they do offer a place to fill your water tanks. They also had some porta potties if you did not have your own. We filled our water tank and headed to the back field or what they called “God’s Country”. They were even nice enough to go back with you and show you where to park.
We made some dinner then got ready to head to the fairgrounds to see the Eric Church concert. The drive to the fairgrounds is quick and easy from here. Basically, direct south and make a right. We found the parking but were not really happy to spend $25 dollars just to park in a field. But what other options did we have at that point. We got our clear plastic duffle bag (which is recommended by the directions) and passed right through security and got our tickets scanned. Come to find out, you go through security and can look around the first section of the fair which is an old frontier town of shops that have art, jewelry and all the cowboy supplies you can think of and many more you probably never knew existed. Around the southern part of the park there is an entrance to the fair rides and stadium. This is where you need to get your ticket scanned to get in to see the attractions, eat fair food (not vegan friendly, didn’t even bother to look) and mingle with thousands of others dressed in their cowboy best. We did a quick walk through the rides and food area then headed to the grandstand to find our seats.
We got there just as the first act was starting and listened to someone that I have no idea who he was. Really, he wasn’t bad at all and had a Hank Williams Jr vibe going on. He played for about an hour while a major thunderstorm started to blow into the south of us. There was never any rain where we were but the lightning show was just as awesome as the music show going on. He wrapped things up then they did a stage change for Eric Church. Eric came on and did a great concert, he played many of his hit songs from over the years. It was a great show while a thunderstorm in the background helped with the light show. The show came to a close and there was no encore, they just kind of said thanks that was it and people started heading out. We fought the traffic out of the area and headed back to camp for the night.
We slept in next morning but not as long as I would have hoped for. We got up and cleaned up then headed down to watch the parade for the opening of the Cheyenne Frontier Days celebration. We found a spot in the shade as best we could and watched all the participants flow by. There was a big presence of the military since this is a military town and home to Warren air force base. There were a lot of horses, a few high school bands, some old cars and a bunch of clubs and businesses. It was fun and entertaining, and the crowd disappeared pretty quickly after they were done. We walked back over to the capitol building then drove down closer to the main street of town and found a small coffee shop for a little pick me up. The Hawthorn Tree is a cute little coffee shop with pastries, the lady behind the counter said that they normally have a few vegan options but they were all sold out due to all the crowds that have been through for the weekend.
We looked around downtown a little more then headed back to the fairgrounds to watch the rodeo. We will be back again tomorrow to look around more. We got to the fairgrounds and it was a crazy mess of a crowd trying to filter their way inside to find their seats. We found our seats just as the rodeo started. There were horse bucking broncos, calf roping, barrel racing and the biggest part of the show was the bull riding. But the last part of the show was the craziest, the wild horse race. Don’t miss this if you end up at the rodeo. They have 3 guys, one wild horse that in no way wants to be there let alone be ridden. They have to hold him and get a saddle on, someone then needs to get on and do one lap around the track. It’s crazy, one guy got dragged on his stomach, down the track. It was amazing that out of 10 or 12 teams at least 3 were able to accomplish this task. Worth staying around to watch. We headed out of the grandstand and along the shops and the old frontier town to look around. On the way out we stopped at the Indian village to check that out. It was a replica of an Indian village with Indian shops around the outer perimeter. They had a lot of Indian jewelry and souvenirs. We called it a day and headed back to camp to make some dinner and turn in for the night. It was a long, hot and entertaining day and we were ready to call it quits.
We slept in again as best we could, the camp was starting to wake up as the sun was coming up across the grasslands. With no trees or mountains to get in the way the sun seems to be up a lot earlier. As we were making breakfast people were starting to break down their camps. After breakfast and cleaning up, we did the same. We headed back to the downtown area to explore some more and take a history tour of the Cheyenne area. We stopped at the old train depot which also is a very old building that has been around since 1886. We bought a couple tickets for the “Wild West History Tours” trolley history tour and hopped on to listen to some of the rich history of Cheyenne. It was a pretty good tour and got to see and hear about the city and some of the people that built the town it is today.
We ended our tour back at the train depot and headed over to the Paramount Cafe to grab a drink. Heather got a melon bubble tea and I got an iced caramel latte. Originally this used to be a theater at the turn of the century, but now turned into a small coffee shop with a side room of art and a back patio with one of the biggest murals in the area. Worth a trip to the back to check it out. We walked around a little more looking at some of the shops and decided that it was time to head back towards home. It has been a great weekend and thanks for wandering with us. Until next time.
Thanks for wandering with us,
The Wandering Couchs
