Keystone is the bestest!

Gray must have something delicious cooking for you next week, because he’s asked me to write back-to-back columns. And I knew exactly what I wanted to write about...I figured I’d fill you in on how cool Keystone is year-round.

Now I know you all know Keystone is the best place to hang out in the summer...we have the best museum in the Hills (and it’s free!). We have like a gazillion ice cream stores. And of course the largest mirror maze north of the Texas border.

We have the best rock climbing in the country, the best restaurant in the Hills (on the right hand side as you come down the hill) and the coolest saloon in the Southern Hills.

But Keystone is really the best town year-round. And here are a few reasons why.

First, our library is open five days a week, consistently, year-round. For me that means I can chillax among books and movies all day Saturday without ever leaving my hometown. Not only is our library accredited, our librarian, one of two awesome town gals that don’t like to be mentioned by name, does an incredible job of stocking the stacks with just about every book you can think of and want to read.

And honestly, if it’s not on the shelf, she will order it for you. It’s like a Starbucks only instead of overly-expensive coffee you get free reading material customized to fit your tastes.

Oh and that same librarian treats the town kids as if they were her own. Each and every one is well taken care of by this amazing individual who seems to watch them morning noon and night! Priceless small town awesomeness of Keystone.

Second reason Keystone rocks in the winter is that the town is getting things done. Our finance officer, who also hates having her name published, is a cheery combination of Nancy Drew sleuth, town historian and middle child moderator all rolled into one.

If you need something done, take it to her. If you have a question you need answered, ask her. If you can’t get along with your husband I guarantee she’ll listen and have a solution. 

And not only does she do that great of a job, she does it with a smile...always. That type of government service is unheard of in the bigger towns and cities of the Hills (or anywhere else).

Our town board is absolutely legit. I have personally seen each member of that board go out of their way to help individuals in need in various ways.

They are by no means perfect, but they try to work with each other and with constituents to get things done right. I am a newcomer to this town and I have heard that it has not always been this way. But the five people that currently make up our board listen. (Sometimes too much which is why our meetings are like three hours long now!)

What else makes Keystone so great? Keystone has a small town feel that you can’t get anywhere else in the Hills. We wave to each other when we pass on the road, (that’s all five fingers, not just one!).

You know everyone’s names, and most of those names are generations old. You know who you’re dealing with here, whether you walk into the post office or the country store, you really know who is helping you.

You know about their family, their hardships, their triumphs. And while that can be good and bad at the same time, it’s always familiar and there’s a sense of comfort and peace in that. 

I am so proud to call Keystone home. It feels like home. Not just a town I live in...but home!