This is high-end, people

We made such good time to Laramie that there was more than enough time to check out the town. We asked our hotel lady if there were any good places to go in town for dinner and she had a lot to say. She told us where the center of town was and literally went on for about half an hour about how great the town was and how much it had to offer. I was getting excited, thinking we had found one of Wyoming's little treasures. She suggested a place for dinner, saying that this was the best option for a "high-end" dinner. She definitely emphasized the word "high-end" for us. Roxy and I looked at each other and thought, ok, let's go! Needless to say, we were in for an adventure.

Her directions were simple, drive straight down La Grande until you get to the end and everything will be on either 2nd or 3rd street. Alright, easy enough. We passed a lot of stuff along the way, most of which were fast food joints and drive-up (literally drive up) liquor stores. Finally we took a turn on 3rd and wondered if we had misunderstood her.

* Now I'm not writing this to be rude, or anything like that...it's just...she said "high-end". To me, that means quality and sophistication. Well, I don't think that would be an adjective I would use to describe the restaurant, let alone the town. *

The town is pretty much identical to Ilwaco (near our home), except without the water and the boats. As Roxy said, it is reminiscent of something out of a horror film. There were cars parked everywhere. It looked like it had been a lovely town at some point, and then something came through and took everyone away and only the cars and this restaurant were left.

Before we ventured into the restaurant, we went into one clothing store and again, found someone who was VERY proud of her town. We told her we were just passing through and she went on and on and on about how great it was, much like the hotel lady. (I was beginning to think everyone in the town was in denial.) She made sure to let us know about the great store down the street, called Hallmark, which offers a variety of cards for every occasion and little trinkets for our home and garden. She also said how wonderful the restaurant next door was.

We quickly went on our way, confused as heck and wondering if everyone was smokin' something out back.

Now our expectations were incredibly high.

A carved black bear greeted us in the entrance of the restaurant. Roxy and I sat down and could only laugh. The first thing we said was, "This is high-end?" We looked around at the fake plants, tacky carved bears and paper table clothes and couldn't help but laugh.

The rest of the evening was spent making jokes about the "high-endness" of the town. I mean, not a lot of places have Hallmark stores, let alone drive-up liquor malls, 5 fast food joints in a row and crooked highway signs. You can see in the picture below some of the "high-endness" we are describing. But maybe I'm being too harsh, I mean they did serve wine and that is definitely a "high-end" thing to do!

The entire ordeal was hysterical and something that we will never forget.