Wyoming-would you live there?

[cracked]

[Skip_M._Kliphiem]

A while back I worked in Oil Exploration as a surveyor, lived in Pinedale, Riverton, Lander and Guernsey. Played in the Winds, the Tetons, Vedauwoo, Sinks Canyon and Freemont Canyon. It's a beautiful wild place. Stay out of Rock Springs, it's the armpit of the state. Summers are great but the winters are as everyone state. Would I live there again? Nope!

Plan to spend some time there but set a departure date and save some money so you can follow through. You can always change your mind if you fall in love with the place. Remember, Denver is only a few hours drive away.

 

I would suggest reading some books by Gretel Ehrlich. She lives in Wyoming and writes beautifully about what it's like.

[EWolfe]

Wyoming Jacksons:

 

Pollock

 

Hole

[minx]

thanks for the comments. keep 'em coming.

 

guess i should say it would be 2-3 year stint.

 

i've never climbed or spent much time in/near laramie but i go to pinedale at least once a year and love it.

 

mostly worried about the wind and winters.

[cman]

i lived in JH for 2 1/2 yrs. the skiing is killer and it is great to be right in the mountains. don't know too much about laramie except that it is great if you like wind and cowboys. also it is pretty far from the mountains.

 

the winters are cold and snowy, i.e. awesome, but you will definitely be moving to the middle on nowhere, that goes for pretty much any place in the whole state.

[MounTAIN_Woman]

No, the Rockies are a tough place to live. I spent 6 years in Fort Collins and 2 in Bozeman. Hard places to make a living, and the locals are not that friendly. There is a lot of that "go back where you came from" attitude there. If you weren't born in the state, you will be treated like an outsider.

 

Laramie is a college town. It also has some pretty harsh weather - the wind never stops blowing! Especially in the winter.

 

I've done the Rockies - I'd have to say that I like Seattle and the northwest much better.

 

 

[Fejas]

minx said:

thanks for the comments. keep 'em coming.

 

guess i should say it would be 2-3 year stint.

 

i've never climbed or spent much time in/near laramie but i go to pinedale at least once a year and love it.

 

mostly worried about the wind and winters.

 

Been to Boulder? just south of Pinedale... its easy to miss, pop. 75, well it was when we were there.... pop. 72 .... there are litteraly millions of undeveloped trad lines in the wester foot hills of the wind rivers...

[ryland_moore]

Cody is great. It's about 2 to 3 hours from the tetons and Jackson.

Try 4 hours on a good day with no traiffic in the summer going through Yellowstone. If you want to get between the two when yellowstone is closed, try 9-10 hrs. I used to do this drive a few times each season as I had friends who lived up the S. Fork of the Shoshone River in Cody.

 

 

SkyClimb, why not Driggs? You lived there? I think it is an awesome place. A friend from college is a fly-fishing guide over there and he and his wife bought a 3 bedroom custom log home `1,200 sq.ft. on 2.5 acres that backs up to the national forest and a creek just on the other side of their property line. Paid $250,000 for it. Now that is cheap for the views!

 

[lummox]

ryland_moore said:

why not Driggs? You lived there? I think it is an awesome place. A friend from college is a fly-fishing guide over there and he and his wife bought a 3 bedroom custom log home `1,200 sq.ft. on 2.5 acres that backs up to the national forest and a creek just on the other side of their property line. Paid $250,000 for it. Now that is cheap for the views!

i dint know flyfishing paid so well.

[ryland_moore]

Let's just say he doesn't have to do anything if he didn't want to. But still, a place like that on the East side of the tetons would run over $1 million. Just trying to make the point of the difference in cost of living from one side of the hill to the other.

[lummox]

ryland_moore said:

Let's just say he doesn't have to do anything if he didn't want to. But still, a place like that on the East side of the tetons would run over $1 million. Just trying to make the point of the difference in cost of living from one side of the hill to the other.

right on. your friend got a sister? divorced mom?

[ryland_moore]

Yeah, but I don't think she would meet your criteria from your avatar! Although I guess alot can be allowed to go under the bridge when a trust fund is involved!

[griz]

I live in CO and pass through Laramie allot in the summer on my way to the better parts of WY- like the Winds and J hole. I'd do some serious research before jumping in and living in Laramie. It strikes me as a place where people aspire to having a double wide and winning the weekend rodeo show, ya know? Keep in mind everything interesting is hours away from that part of WY. Getting to a good trailhead in the Winds from there is going to be a good 3-4 hours min. and J hole is 5 hours from there. The nearest big city is Denver at 2+ hours. This is not a town with the charm of J hole or great location to the winds like Lander or Pinedale and it is nowhere near these towns either. Keep that in mind, as well. Anyway, good luck in your choice. There is some great stuff to explore in WY and N. CO so it might be a trade off living in that town and all the driving you'll be doing to check it out. If you move there, drop me a line. I've spent entire summers exploring the Winds and NW WY ,N. CO and would be happy to point you to some good trails.

[AlpineK]

Acording to Griz Jackson Hole has charm.

 

It's just a lame ass tourist trap with good views and access to climbing, skiing, etc. The town is a hellhole, and when the revolution comes the business owners of Jackson Hole will be the first ones up against the wall.

 

Larimie is in the middle of nowhere except for the fact that Veedawoo is 15 min. out of town and Veedawoo

 

You can spend the weekend at Devil's tower and that.

 

Day climbing at Eldo and other front range destinations are easy to get to and they

[klenke]

AlpineK said:

Acording to Griz Jackson Hole has charm.

 

It's just a lame ass tourist trap with good views

I know this doesn't help Minx any but...

Jackson Hole may be a lame ass tourist trap, but I will say that everytime I've gone in the Albertson's there (a total of about 10 times), I've been treated to many good views of nice looking women. At least it's always had that going for it for me. True enough, I haven't scored with any of these women, but that's beside the point. Isn't it? Isn't it?

[gnibmilc]

Yurtville in Kelly, Wy. It is one of the few places that is within (surrounded) by national park, has buffalo roaming around with snotty noses, elk, and views of the Tetons when you sit up in bed. but there is no climbing or skiing anywhere around and only mean people live there.

[griz]

AlpineK said:

Acording to Griz Jackson Hole has charm.

 

It's just a lame ass tourist trap with good views and access to climbing, skiing, etc. The town is a hellhole, and when the revolution comes the business owners of Jackson Hole will be the first ones up against the wall.

 

 

----

Alpinek, just get back on your meds and the "revolution" won't seem quite so important to you anymore...

 

 

 

[lemon]

I grew up a few hours east of there in Rapid City, SD and if I could make a decent (comparable to what I have here, anyway) living, my wife and I would move back as soon as we could. Yes, it's windy quite a bit. Yes, the winters are much harsher than compared to the Seattle area. But, spend any amount of time even out on the open plains with an open mind, and you'll figure out pretty quick why the Indians fell in love with the place.

[Mtguide]

griz said:

I live in CO and pass through Laramie allot in the summer on my way to the better parts of WY- like the Winds and J hole. I'd do some serious research before jumping in and living in Laramie. It strikes me as a place where people aspire to having a double wide and winning the weekend rodeo show, ya know? Keep in mind everything interesting is hours away from that part of WY. Getting to a good trailhead in the Winds from there is going to be a good 3-4 hours min. and J hole is 5 hours from there. The nearest big city is Denver at 2+ hours. This is not a town with the charm of J hole or great location to the winds like Lander or Pinedale and it is nowhere near these towns either. Keep that in mind, as well. Anyway, good luck in your choice. There is some great stuff to explore in WY and N. CO so it might be a trade off living in that town and all the driving you'll be doing to check it out. If you move there, drop me a line. I've spent entire summers exploring the Winds and NW WY ,N. CO and would be happy to point you to some good trails.

 

Griz has some good points about Laramie,all true.However,there is the Univ.of Wyo. there,so there is something of an academic/intellectual/creative community there,some very fine people indeed,like anywhere.It's not exactly Throwback City,but it is kinda raw.I lived in Wyoming for 10 yrs as a working cowboy and packer/guide,based in Pinedale most of that time,but I lived near Dubois my first season and spent a winter feeding elk at Hoback Junction just south of Jackson in 79-80.I've traveled the entire state extensively and would say that every region has its pros and cons,and Laramie,while a little warmer(winter lows of -30,-40 compared with -65,-70 around Pinedale and Jackson)it has more days of wind,and the amenities such as mountains,scenery,skiing,climbing ,etc. are indeed far more distant.The town ain't too pretty,but you can have fun there;there is a definite hardcore quality of remoteness,toughness and sharp-edged reality which lends itself to the kind of art and photography that finds substance and beauty in weathered buildings,windburned cowboys in their fur-collared down jackets and Scotch caps,ice-rimed cattle trucks crunching through the frozen chuckholes with their cargoes filling the air with bawling clouds of steam at dawn,the juxtaposition of 1880's old west brick-and-timber saddle shops with fast food joints and railyards all within a few blocks.Laramie is barren and the wind will just cut you right in two;it is,as a friend of mine from California termed it once," a very serious little place".Nonetheless,you might find,once you're there(and you really ought to at least visit before you make a final decision) that it elicits in you a response in kind-that is,Wyoming will show you what you're made of,and the people will do this as well.They're about as genuine as they come,a quality of high value in Wyoming,because it's not an easy place to live.Because there are so few people there,you find a deeper appreciation and regard for those you come to know.The place has some absolutely fantastic people,wonderful writers and artists,poets,musicians,to the truckers,cowhands and ranchers,oil field roughnecks,outlaws,entreprenuers,politicians and scoundrels that you couldn't make up if you tried.All in all,demanding; but rewarding in ways that you'll discover only by living there.Most of my friends who've spent time there consider it an experience they wouldn't trade for anything. I know I do.

During my time there I came to know the Wind River range,Teton Wilderness,Red Desert,Bighorns, Gros Ventres and Absaroka range pretty well;I'd be happy to steer you towards the hidden secrets they hold,(and there are some doozies).E-mail me with any other questions.

------------------------------------------------------

"In about one minute it's gonna git 'Western' around here..."

[Mtguide]

Fejas said:

minx said:

thanks for the comments. keep 'em coming.

 

guess i should say it would be 2-3 year stint.

 

i've never climbed or spent much time in/near laramie but i go to pinedale at least once a year and love it.

 

mostly worried about the wind and winters.

 

Been to Boulder? just south of Pinedale... its easy to miss, pop. 75, well it was when we were there.... pop. 72 .... there are litteraly millions of undeveloped trad lines in the wester foot hills of the wind rivers...

 

I knew most of the people who lived in and around Boulder,even played Santa Claus one Christmas for the kids at the Boulder Community Center.When I lived near Pinedale,I was near Cora,up north of town(pop.5---yes,5)Boulder is still( or was) old-time Wyoming.And in reading some of these other comments,I'm reminded of a lot; it is true that you'll be treated like an outsider--you can live there 50 yrs,and you'll still be a 'newcomer'--but not without a wink and a twinkle in the eye as they say it.

Also,what i'm reading about Jackson really rings true-lots of irritable money-grubbing pricks up there--but some great people as well.The last time I spoke to an old friend,Dick Noble,who ranches near Cora,I asked him about how the country was doing economically--and he said,"Well,all the billionaires have chased all the millionaires out of Jackson,and they(millionaires) all came down to Pinedale."

[nolanr]

klenke said:

AlpineK said:

Acording to Griz Jackson Hole has charm.

 

It's just a lame ass tourist trap with good views

I know this doesn't help Minx any but...

Jackson Hole may be a lame ass tourist trap, but I will say that everytime I've gone in the Albertson's there (a total of about 10 times), I've been treated to many good views of nice looking women. At least it's always had that going for it for me. True enough, I haven't scored with any of these women, but that's beside the point. Isn't it? Isn't it?

 

This definitely held true this last August. The pretty people were on parade.

[Mtguide]

In the summer tourist season,that's true--winter is a little different,in spite of it being ski season--cuties are noticeably more scarce.But yeah there are a lot of good looking ladies in Jackson--if you can afford them;pretty high-maintenance bunch.Bring money,planes,furs,etc.

-----------------------------------------------

"One word,my boy,one word; 'plastics'...."

[cj001f]

minx said:

thanks for the comments. keep 'em coming.

 

guess i should say it would be 2-3 year stint.

 

i've never climbed or spent much time in/near laramie but i go to pinedale at least once a year and love it.

 

mostly worried about the wind and winters.

An aunt of mine lived in Laramie for a couple of years. Hated it. It's not much for culture, and it's not close to anywhere. And it's alot different than the NE corner of the state.