Would I survive in Star Valley Ranch/Thayne? (Riverton, Jackson: home, living in)

[MRVphotog]

I used to love the Crispy Burritos at Taco Time.

[LivinginOC]

Thank you all so much for "keeping it real." I trust you're not just trying to keep the Californians out.

We would absolutely visit at a few different times a year before we decided to make a move. Maybe I am just so sick of the CA rat race that the total opposite draws me but what I really need is more of a happy medium? I don't know. I need a slower pace and someplace where some actual peace and quiet is attainable.

I am totally a person who researches something to death so I would never just up and move to Wyoming. But I have been thinking about it and looking into it for a while now. I have needed some real people who actually live there to help me see it for what it really is.

Sunsprit, I do think I would miss the ocean but my heart lives in the mountains. Some of the things you mention giving up do give me pause, I admit; many of them I could easily leave behind.

BTW, got a huge kick out of the WyoDisney comment as I live pretty close to Disneyland and it gave me a great word picture.

I'm going to keep researching the area and expand my search to other places that might give me that slower pace without giving up quite as much.

Thank you all for your time and honesty!

[Happy in Wyoming]

Originally Posted by LivinginOC

I trust you're not just trying to keep the Californians out.

ABSOLUTELY NOT.

I've known some great folks from California. There are several in my area whom I'm very happy to know. They came here to escape what California has become just as I once left Illinois and later Colorado, the latter with great sorrow, because of what they had become. I've met people from New York and Georgia and Massachusetts and Canada; they all came to escape. But they were all Wyomingites; they just needed to realize the fact. You see, you don't become a Wyomingite; you're born one regardless of your place of birth. Our spiritual ancestors crossed oceans and plains seeking a home. We do the same today albeit with much less effort. Being a Wyomingite isn't inherited. My great-grandparents left family and home when they left Ireland to come to America. But almost all of their descendants stayed in the big city where the old folks had settled. My great-grandparents were Wyomingites who just never got here. They came here with nothing but thirty years later they were able to send my grandmother, their youngest child, to college.

The people who come here and truly love it are responsible, industrious, and determined to find the best. Look at Sunsprit, a one-time Californian. He's an old man but he hits the trail every day looking to make a buck. He votes Republican and packs iron. He's a Wyomingite. Oh, lest you think I'm his sychophant let me assure you that he and I have had plenty of fights on this forum.

You'll love it here or hate it here depending upon what's inside of you, depending upon your values. If you'd like to learn more about us and our state I suggest you start looking at this newspaper. It's considered the statewide newspaper and will let you examine the good and the bad.

Casper Star-Tribune - trib.com - Wyoming News

[LivinginOC]

Originally Posted by Happy in Wyoming

ABSOLUTELY NOT.


Casper Star-Tribune - trib.com - Wyoming News

Awww...thanks Happy in Wyoming! So many areas are hostile towards CA transplants.

Thank you for the thoughtful post. I love your perspective and I will definitely take a look at the newspaper!

[jody_wy]

Star Valley ranch has alot of Las Vages residents rthat summer here some moved here year round. Anothewr subdivision That I used to hay for the developer has alot of Truckee-Tahoe- Reno transplants... My Wife was a valley girl (sunnyvale) that grew up in Truckee.So not all Cal transplants are bad

[WyoNewk]

Originally Posted by LivinginOC

Honestly, I'm tired of the SoCal life! So fast paced....

I think I've mentioned it before on this board, but I think it's funny. My late wife moved here from the edge of NYC in northern NJ. She absolutely loved it, everything about Wyoming... except the automatic doors. They never opened fast enough for her as she'd bounce into them, then they'd open. It's definitely a slower pace here.

[snowave]

Star Valley (Alpine/Thayne) is probably our destination move later this year, from the mtns of central Washington. Been there several times, and love it.

We like it here in WA (only been here a year), but there are too many damn trees! (can't see anything half the time ) and we get horrible inversions all winter long that create weeks of low clouds/fog and air stagnation.

While I realize SV gets its fair share of cloudy days, it avg's about 60 more days of sunshine a year, and I suspect the valley is high enough that it doesn't get frequent inversions?

We also even get a little more snow here on avg then SV. Don't mind the snow so much. It's a few degrees colder on avg in SV than here, but not by that much...

Yeah, we lived in Socal for a while, too.. but in the mtns most of that time. The most dangerous thing about winter in the mountains of Socal was the people from LA driving up to play in the snow.

We are going to try and rent for a while.. then buy an existing house. Not really interested in buying land.

We are used to being somewhat isolated... our drive for groceries is usually 30-60 min. While we would never want to live IN a resort town again, we do enjoy some of the amenities and culture of places like Jackson... like a good dinner, so brewpubs... etc. So being within an hour is nice, but far enough away I think.

We are fairly liberal, but don't waive it around... and we are open in our views. I realize Wy is very conservative, and also the SV has a huge LDS contingent, but as long as it's not Utah secular, (which doesn't sound like it is) I'm not concerned about it. Some of the nicest people I've met have been Mormons.

So why am I telling all of this? I dunno... maybe just wanted to get some more dialogue about SV and Alipne/Thayne area... but also wanted to share some things so I people don't have ot warn me about the winters and not having the amenities at your doorstep.

I am doing some research, but does anyone know some sources for finding rentals in the valley? I see Remax does some, as well as Craigslist and the SV paper...

Thanks for any tips!

[jody_wy]

we get cold inversions this year there was 25 days it was below zero for a low and the high some days was below zero or it didn't get above +10 .
But Then Star Valley Ranch and the Bedford Area can be high enough they get above the inversion.
I know my Brother that works at Smokey Mountan Mine can leve his house at -20 and it will be in the mid 30 with snow melting at the mine.

[jody_wy]

Originally Posted by snowave

I am doing some research, but does anyone know some sources for finding rentals in the valley? I see Remax does some, as well as Craigslist and the SV paper...

Thanks for any tips!

There are a couple free advertizing papers that come out a couple times amonth, but you need to be at a store , bar or gas station where they are set out. If you can find anything in the Star Valley Independent
contact the real estate comopanies that are in the paper. and rents and prices usually are cheaper in the upper valley Afton-smoot- osmond , then alpine -Thayne SV ranch in the lower valley. If you get here and want some great Fly Fishing give a call I give you my rules to fish on my place....

[snowave]

Thanks for the info, Jody. We would like to try and stay within 1 hr of Jackson, if possible.. so anything south of Thanye is pushing it. I realize prices are a little higher there, but there seems to be even a decent dropoff between Alpine and Thayne, from what I'm seeing.

I'm not really that concerned with the temperatures of inversions, it's the low clouds and fog that get trapped beneath the inversion a few hundred feet above the ground that drives us mad here in WA. Does that occur often in the SV?

I'm a terrible fisherman.. but in my defense, I don't put alot of time into it. Largely because most of the rivers/streams around here in WA are closed/protected due to the salmon, so it's often alot of work to throw a line in somewhere. But I may take you up on that offer. Thank you...