Cody Public Library - A Short Walk

On one more very hot and dry day we all three spent a short while walking the perimeter of the Cody Public Library.

I know that doesn't sound extremely exciting.

This is Cody, WY after all.

The home of Wild Bill Cody.

Home of cowboys and buffalo and rugged mountains.

The Gateway to Yellowstone National Park.

So OK............walking around the library wasn't any kind of epic adventure, but it was stinking lousy hot on this day and both LC and I knew that the unyielding heat would quickly drain all three of us.

Including our dog, who also has little energy when it is this hot.

The Cody Library is artistically laid out and well stocked inside, and the grounds surrounding the library are very beautiful.

Man-made ponds in front and in back (along with man-made streams that continually feed water into both) surround the entire facility.

On the grounds there are also picnic tables, trees, walking paths, a bridge leading from the parking lot to the library building, and multiple green spaces.

It is not a long walk, but it is beautiful.

One of my favorite places in town............

Kory and I know this place really well.

We walked here multiple times over the winter when the world felt slow moving and empty, and when the town was completely silent.

From downtown (where we stayed at an off-season rental cottage through much of the winter) we would walk a few blocks and enter the downtown trail system called Canal Trail (which mirrors the path of the old canal system that was installed during the earliest days of the city).

Canal Trail climbs from the downtown level to the upper level of the city that is known locally as "up on the hill".

Once we reached the top of the hill we would pass by a beautiful overlook that surveyed all the area mountain ranges (and which included benches, flowers, information boards about each of the viewable mountain ranges).

And from that point we would in sequence by-pass the arena, the aquatics center, the recreation center and then the library.

During the winter the ponds are drained, and this would be the first time we had walked the perimeter since the ponds and streams had been filled again with water.....................

Bridge spanning the pond (from parking lot to building)................

It is easy to forget that this place is right in town.

It is amazingly beautiful.

There are homes right across the road from this place.

It is adjacent to all three major recreation facilities in back and the post office to the left.

To the right of these grounds is a large apartment complex.

A few blocks further down the street is a major commercial area - Albertsons grocery store, a Verizon store, a couple of fast food restaurants, a liquor store, a number of other retail establishments large and small.

It is not a quiet area.

Homes, apartments, shops, recreation facilities, the post office.  

A booming area.

But this place.........THIS place..........is quiet and serene.

We followed the water around one side of the building.

Enjoying the beauty of this urban green space................

An unexpected and colorful addition to the grounds with this painted rock..................

My store closes at 5pm each day and Kory in the past couple of months has developed a routine.

I get home, she hysterically barks with glee to see me, I pet her briefly and then we all load into one of the vehicles so we can..........go somewhere.........do something.

Often that means a trip up to Oregon Basin so she can run and we can walk.

Sometimes it is to Beck Lake.

The other night (on one more ridiculously energy-sucking hot day) she and I walked around the Buffalo Bill Center of the West (taking pictures of beautiful green spaces and metal statues, and smiling at abundant tourists).

Every day is different.

Summer is so short that we want to make the most of it (and that includes every-day small adventures such as these)...................

One of my favorite pictures from this small adventure.

Heart Mountain looks beautiful any time of day and any time of year, but with all the rain we have had so far this spring and summer the entire world is unbelievably green................

 It wasn't a long walk but it was a good walk.

Once we had circled the grounds of the library we were ready to go home.

A beautiful early evening but still far too hot.

By the time we had loaded Kory into the back of the Tahoe and then climbed in ourselves,  we had decided that it was time to go through the drive-through at Dairy Queen on the way home.

LC wanted a vanilla milkshake.

I wanted some kind of ice-cream thing that included as much chocolate as they could fit into a small cup...................

What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade.................Gertrude Jekyll