Nestled in the Snowy Range Mountains sits a quiet mountain chapel.

With stunning views of the range and the Centennial Valley, St. Alban’s Chapel near Little Brooklyn Lake draws outdoor enthusiasts, engaged couples and parishioners of St. Matthew’s Cathedral to the site year after year.

“It’s this little chapel on a hill, but it overlooks the big vast valley,” said photographer Rick Osborne. “It’s just beautiful.”

One-of-A-Kind Wedding Venue

Osborne and his wife Stephanie of Ardent Photography photograph at least two or three weddings at the chapel every summer. He said it’s one of the couple’s favorite places to capture ceremonies in the Snowies.

“I think there’s not really anything that compares to St. Alban’s Chapel in that area,” Osborne said. “It’s unique in the fact that you can have your ceremony right there in the Snowies. You don’t have to bring in your own seating. It’s extremely affordable. And so I think that’s why it’s always so busy and booked out. It’s beautiful. It’s accommodating. It just kind of checks all those boxes.”

Sara Haugen decided St. Alban’s Chapel was the perfect spot for her mountain wedding after several hiking, camping and fly-fishing adventures in the Snowy Range with her future husband.

“I loved the idea of bringing our flatlander extended families into the mountains if they were already flying all the way to Wyoming,” she said. “My ceremony was July 13, 2013, and I’d say that’s about the earliest I’d recommend a wedding up there. Up until about a week before the wedding, there were still road drifts heading up to Little Brooklyn Lake. There are probably drifts up there right now that’ll be gone by next week.”

The morning of the ceremony the weather looked like it wasn’t going to cooperate, with black clouds hanging low over the peak. Haugen’s parents, who were there to set up early, were dealing with hail and rain around 11:30 a.m.

“Our ceremony was at 1 p.m., and by then it was sunny and blue skies opened up,” she said. “It was picture perfect, but I was mentally preparing to be soaked the whole time.”

Haugen said it was a dream wedding. The wooden benches were just enough for her 85 guests. And a harpist set up under the cover of the chapel, something that had always been on her wish list since she was a little girl.

“The ceremony was just beautiful, and the wildflowers were popping,” she said. “We still go visit St. Alban’s each summer around our anniversary, now with our two kiddos.”

Created As A Memorial

St. Alban’s Chapel was built in 1940 as a memorial to Lutie Stone by her son, Dr. Ferdinand Fairfax Stone, according to an informational pamphlet from St. Matthew’s. It was consecrated in 1941 in dedication to St. Alban.

The chapel’s name harkens back across the Atlantic to the grand Anglican St. Alban’s Cathedral in Hertfordshire, England, and is named after the country’s first Christian martyr of 304 A.D.

The authentic log structure of the open-air chapel reflects the skill involved in its hand-hewn log construction. This traditional Scandinavian craftsmanship was commonly used by work crews for President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps of the Great Depression.

The chapel’s log walls shelter the simple, hand-hewn lodgepole cross within the open window. The altar beneath the cross reflects the CCC skill of stone masonry, using the variegated hues of granite up on The Ridge — bold rose, delicate pinks, turquoise and crystal white, literally bringing the mountain to the altar.

The granite rocks of the altar have an inscription referring to Psalm 121, “I will lift mine eyes up unto the hills.”

The congregation of St. Matthew’s Cathedral gathers at the spot every summer from July through August for worship and invites others to, “Come experience peace and God’s blessings at this quiet, mountain chapel on the Brooklyn Lake Road.”

Peaceful, Beautiful Place

When David Vernon proposed to his wife in 1988 using the scoreboard at the University of Wyoming, they considered the chapel as a potential wedding location.

“We had both spent time in the Snowies and really like St. Alban’s as a location,” he said. “But our wedding was scheduled for Memorial Day weekend in 1988, and we were actually worried about snow still being up there and having to drag my grandparents through that, so we got married at Ivinson Mansion instead.”

However, St. Alban’s and Little Brooklyn Lake have always been beloved by the couple, and when they were last up there in July 2017 on a visit from their home in Illinois, the wildflowers were in full bloom.

“It was beautiful, but sadly we were surprised by how much pine beetle damage there was and how the trees were just so barren,” Vernon said. “It’s still a lovely place with a lovely view, and we miss the Snowies so much to this day. We’ll be back in southeastern Wyoming in September, and if we get up to the Snowies, we’ll definitely pay another visit to the little chapel on the hill.”

A few years ago Rose Brackett was also looking at possible wedding venues, and St. Alban’s was on her list. So she made a trip up in July 2022 and took a few photographs, which she shared on the Wyoming Through the Lens Facebook page.

“My then-fiancée and I had just gotten engaged, and I had been looking for unique wedding venues in the area, and I’d heard about that place, but I’d never been there, so I wanted to go and see what it was like in person,” she said.

She thought the location was perfect for a small ceremony with a rustic, Wyoming vibe. And while the couple didn’t end up getting married at the chapel because they decided to have the ceremony in October, she enjoyed being there so much she made a return trip later with her sister.

“It’s just a peaceful site — just the little chapel, then the wildflowers and down a little bit further there’s a lake,” she said. “It’s off the beaten path just a little bit. It was just a gorgeous view.”

SPAM, the canned processed meat product that has developed a cult following, was introduced by Hormel Foods on this day in history, July 5, 1937.

The mystery meat’s ingredients are not so mysterious after all, according to the official website for SPAM (a combo of the words “spiced ham”).

Consisting of “six simple ingredients” — pork with ham, salt, water, potato starch, sugar, and sodium nitrate — SPAM has “a relatively simple, conventional” production process, says its website. 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, JULY 4, 1802, THE U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY OPENS AT WEST POINT

“First, the pork and ham are pre-ground. Then, salt, sugar and the rest of the ingredients are added and mixed, to reach the desired temperature,” the site points out.

“From there, the mixture is moved over to the canning line, where it’s filled into the familiar metal cans, 12 ounces at a time.”

The filled cans are then brought to a “closing machine,” where they are vacuum sealed.

The cans are then cooked and cooled for a three-hour period, are given labels and are then put into cases, the SPAM website details. 

Beginning in 1941, SPAM was sent around the world to feed Allied troops during World War II, says the SPAM website.  

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Since the meat is pre-cooked and tinned, it is shelf-stable and ideal for shipping long distances. 

Over 100 million pounds of SPAM were sent to feed the troops, the site indicates.

In 1959, the one-billionth can of SPAM was sold. 

The popularity of SPAM has led to at least two annual festivals in the United States.

As of 2023, over 9 billion cans of SPAM have been sold throughout the world, the company says.

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The popularity of SPAM has led to at least two annual festivals in the United States that celebrate the product, as well as the SPAM Museum in Austin, Minnesota. 

Austin, Minnesota, is also home to the SPAM Jam, a festival about all things SPAM-related.

Stacks of SPAM sit on grocery store shelves. The product has sold more than nine billion tins since it was introduced on July 5, 1937. (Getty Images)

While Hormel Foods is headquartered in Minnesota, another state has taken a particular liking to SPAM: Hawaii. 

“More SPAM is consumed per person in Hawaii than in any other state in the United States,” according to the website for the Waikiki SPAM JAM, the other SPAM-focused food festival.

HOT DOG QUIZ! HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS FAN-FAVORITE FOOD?

“Almost seven million cans of SPAM are eaten every year in Hawaii,” said the festival’s webpage.

It is so popular in the state that McDonald’s introduced SPAM products in its Hawaiian restaurants in 2002, the Associated Press noted at the time. 

A cashier at a McDonald’s location in Wahiawa, Hawaii, stands behind an advertisement for the then-new SPAM, Eggs and Rice Breakfast Platter in June 2002. Hawaii’s residents consume more SPAM compared to residents of any other U.S. state. (Phil Mislinski/Getty Images)

SPAM is also a popular ingredient in various Asian cuisines, particularly Korean. 

South Koreans consume more SPAM than the residents of any other country besides the United States, the Hormel Foods website notes. 

Despite having only a sixth of the population of the United States, South Koreans consume half as much SPAM each year. 

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The popular Korean dish “budae jjigae” — which translates to “Army stew” or “Army base stew” — developed after the Korean War, when an economic downturn meant that meat was scarce and expensive. 

A U.S. Army base in the South Korean city of Uijeongbu had a surplus of various processed food, including SPAM — which “was totally new to Koreans,” Korean chef and YouTube creator Maangchi said on her website. 

Budae jjigae, or “Army Stew,” was made from ingredients that were found on U.S. Army bases in South Korea after the Korean War, including SPAM.  (iStock)

“Eventually these ingredients made their way into surrounding areas of the base and some creative Koreans made stew from them,” she said. 

“They boiled spam, ham, sausages and baked beans with kimchi, garlic and hot pepper paste and flakes, creating a Korean-style stew with American ingredients.”

Even as South Korea’s economy rebounded, the stew — and SPAM as a whole — remained extremely popular. 

SPAM has been available in as many as 15 varieties in recent years, including SPAM Classic, SPAM Lite, SPAM 25% Less Sodium, SPAM Maple Flavored, SPAM with Real HORMEL Bacon, SPAM Oven Roasted Turkey, SPAM Hickory Smoke Flavored, SPAM Hot & Spicy, SPAM Jalapeño, SPAM Chorizo, SPAM Teriyaki and SPAM with Tocino Flavoring, according to Hormel Foods.

Limited edition flavors SPAM Pumpkin Spice and SPAM Figgy Pudding were produced in 2019 and 2022, respectively, says the SPAM website. 

In 2022, Hormel claimed that some 13 cans of SPAM were consumed every second, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

While many people now experience less severe symptoms thanks to the COVID vaccine and booster shots, this recent spike in cases worries many peoplewho are immunocompromised or especially vulnerable to illness.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health experts estimated the incubation period for COVID — that is, the amount of time between getting exposed to COVID and testing positive for the virus — was around five days. But researchers have told KQED that as more COVID variants pop up, it’s getting more complicated to estimate when exactly someone will develop COVID symptoms, as our bodies respond to each variant differently.

Now that a full week has passed since Pride celebrations, check in with yourself and friends if anyone has felt symptoms this week. According to the CDC, this is the full list of the possible symptoms of COVID-19:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

If you took an at-home COVID test and tested negative even though you feel symptoms, you may want to test yourself again tomorrow. Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UCSF told KQED earlier this year that when you experience symptoms, that means your body’s immune system is working to get rid of COVID. For a lot of people who have already been infected in the past, their immune system is getting better at forming an immune response to COVID-19, even when the amount of virus in our body is low.

When your body detects a burgeoning coronavirus infection now, Chin-Hong told KQED, “your whole immune system just gets agitated and active, and you begin to get sick sooner, but you actually don’t have as much virus in your blood yet.” But there needs to be a specific amount of coronavirus in your body for an at-home COVID test to show up positive (even if the virus is already in your system).

Talk about sexual health

If you met someone new during Pride weekend and were sexually active with them, public health officials recommend that you take some time to check in with yourself about any potential risks from that encounter. A few questions to ask yourself:

• Did you get screened for STIs beforehand? Do you know if they did?
• Did you talk with them about safe sex practices beforehand?
• Did you use a condom?
• Did you — or your partner — take HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (HIV PrEP)?

If you are unsure about some of these questions, that is okay. What matters now is checking in with your healthcare provider and letting them know that you had a new sexual partner and want to take some extra steps to know if you were potentially exposed to any STIs.

Public health experts point out that there are now multiple ways to prevent an STI — even after a potential exposure. Doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (or DoxyPEP), an antibiotic taken after sex, can help prevent infections like chlamydia and syphilis. “We’ve shown through research that that strategy is very effective at preventing bacterial STIs,” said Dr. Stephanie Cohen, director of HIV and STI prevention at the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH).

In 2022, cases of mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) increased following SF Pride. And while officials have not yet detected a similar outbreak, it’s important to remember that getting a first shot of the monkeypox vaccine after you’ve been exposed to the virus can both help prevent the disease from developing and reduce symptoms if it does develop. Timing here is critical and you can get a free mpox vaccine in San Francisco — you don’t need health insurance to get this important protection.

Looking for an HIV test but don’t have health insurance? Several cities in the Bay Area participate in TakeMeHome, a program created by several public health groups, including the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. TakeMeHome sends eligible participants a free at-home HIV test that you can later mail-in to get your results. Check if you qualify.

Keep seeking out community

Pride is so much more than what happens in downtown San Francisco the last weekend of June.

“Pride is really all year-round for us,” said Miguel Raphael Bagsit, associate director of communications at the SF LGBT Center, which in partnership with other groups, organized a very thorough line-up of community events during June.