Just beyond the horizon describes Saratoga before my wife and I traveled there recently. As adults we have both held Wyoming as a top hiking and camping destination and enjoyed these activities as a family. Last year we had planned to venture another half an hour or so west of the familiar Snowy Range to experience Saratoga’s hot springs.
Not much to see arriving at night following a slog on a snow-covered Interstate 80 from Laramie to the exit. The community reminded me a little of Hemingford, albeit with several hundred more residents: no stoplight, one large industrial employer (a sawmill), up-to-date schools and a compact downtown split by the highway. Like towns of similar size in the Black Hills, some storefronts would remain dark until the tourist season. People were welcoming from the innkeeper to the locals serving us in a cafe we frequented for breakfast and afternoon coffee. Dipping in the free public springs was free – offering water above 104 degrees containing many beneficial minerals. The “lobster pot” (at 119 degrees) proved a 3-second stay up to my shoulders.
Whether I actively look for it or not, a new destination’s environmental attributes and commitment to reducing-reusing-recycling comes to the fore. My wife heard about a film festival that night while we explored Saratoga’s version of the Mission Store. A, perhaps three-foot, ball of barbed wire greeted us outside the civic center. It reminded me both of Gary Underwood’s sculptures and a piece Timm Hoff did with empty servicemen’s boots hanging from a tree. Sierra Smith sculpted this sphere, “Wyoming Remembers”, in memory of Army Staff Sergeant Tyler E. Pickett, DOB May 5 1980 – killed in action June 8, 2008. Look inside the strands of wire and find – everything component reused – a horse shoe, canteen, mess kit, license plate, holster, boot and other echos of a veteran’s life. We later noticed another barbed wire globe sculpture downtown.
Inside, we found prime seats in a theatre a bit smaller than the PAC’s. About three dozen people eventually joined us for the minimally advertised screening. The selection of short films came from those shown at the festival at Telluride. Interacting with the environment was among the theme for the majority of the documentaries. Watching a man bond with bison on his ranch in Canada, a blind man and later a former professional dancer rock climb, a mountain biker weave down from a hilltop to the subway and three older ladies swim year round in Lake Michigan struck a chord. Some of it came from experiences logged years ago, some of the awe came from seeing the spirit that drives people. That was true as well in a film about a youth orchestra in Los Angeles.
Saving to-go cups and containers over the long weekend, I found no receptacle except a blue bin for aluminum cans at a neat place where we grabbed a burger – about the same as Alliance. Our restaurants, for the most part, recycle what is used behind the counter without marked bins in the dining area for patrons. The last time I approached our city manager about downtown bins (during an interview) the reply was it would depend on public demand. I would be willing to empty city-purchased and placed bins if enough local residents (hint, hint) would call city hall and ask for them.
The weekly newspaper, on the table of a Saratoga coffee, ice cream, chocolates, etc. establishment, ran an article about the recycling center in nearby Rawlins, which has just over 8,000 people like Alliance. The City-operated center had began limiting drop off to operating hours “due to excessive misuse of our recycling bins” announced on the City website Feb. 2. The article said there had been 7,460 pounds of non-recyclable items/material left in the past year. That is awful. Keep Alliance Beautiful had its own “donation” that was brought to my attention after returning from Wyoming. A bag (placed within another bag) with human excrement and a shiny nickel. Unfortunately, at least one person here gives a, you know, about recycling.