Where in Wyoming is this? (Cheyenne, Casper: property taxes, agriculture, transplants)

[RangerDuke08]

Originally Posted by janb

what access do you need for summer home (airport, freeway?) Where will you be coming from? (Fuel is getting kinda spendy...). I noted you had some Colorado posts, so... a good WY spot close to Colo is Wood's Landing, west of Laramie. Not north of Cheyenne, but it was nice last time I was there, I had a neighbor with a very nice summer cabin in Wood's Landing when I lived in Masonville, Colorado, my childhood home. I intend to check it out next trip.

Nice I might check out Sheridan actually, well I got talking to some of our native boys here, from Colorado State Parks and almost all of us came to the same agreement!!! Since you are from Colorado too, you probably feel the same ... well Mike likes Buffalo, his wife ain't too fond of it, Phil likes Laramie, in fact his son goes to school there, I like Western Montana actually, I'm a lil younger then them two but we all agree them Montanan's ain't too fond of people moving there so we landed that Wyoming would be the best place to go for Coloradians, the last best place with land. I am currently in Fort Collins, so not too far from WY, but look at this for a sec .... 1990 110,000 people, 2010 projections 200,000 people and 2016 projections over 300,000 people, Fort Collins was a pretty small town growing up. I thought I'd like a summer home more as an investment, won't live there for now but down the road I can give some land to my kids, so they can actually have something or there's a good possibility I might move to Knoxville, TN next year and I can always bring them back to the good 'ol Rockies every summer to show them where pop grew up.

[Simple Living]

Originally Posted by RangerDuke08

A home depot and 2 grocery stores, that's all you need.

Amen, brother!

[Simple Living]

Originally Posted by WyoMama

Newcastle is OK - not much left for somebody who has to find a job - and the refinery stink can get PRETTTYYYY bad...I have fam there & go there a lot. But I'd pick Sundance first. Biggest prob by the Black Hills (my FAV place to be in the US) is they are becoming SO populated & the ppl are sneaking their way from Rapid City down to Custer & straight into Newcastle. But eastern Wyo gets a lot of snow & the 'nados, which I hate, personally. I lived in Wheatland for 7 years in the 1980's & is a nice, clean town with definite Christian values/morals - at the time I lived there had more churches per capita than anywhere in the US. And the population was high because they were building the power plant. It is now about 4000 or so ppl, great schools, along I-25 so is 1 hour north of Cheyenne & 3 hours to Denver, but if you travel in the winter (true for most of Wyo) be ready to spend some time where you are going because you don't REALLY know you are going to get home that day - or week. But Wheatland is a great little town, very little franchise biz. And you can DEFINITELY make great use of wind & solar energy. THAT is the windy part of Wyo but always cool at night. Newcastle gets hot as hades during the days & the breeze does not always come up during the evenings at all - more times not than does. Wheatland ALWAYS cools down in the evenings, unlike Guernsey on US 26 about 25 miles up on the Platte northeast of Wheatland. Laramie River runs very nearby & are several reservoirs for recreation (great ice fishing at res #1) & only about 20 minutes to the mountains. And like most of Wyo, the roads up there are not paved. And has a shortcut (hwy 34) down to Laramie going thru the Medicine Bow range over Morton Pass. I see this is an old post - did you make a choice? Are you now in Wyo?

Thank you for all the great information! I love learning about other towns. By the time I move to Wyoming, I could run for governor (or at least principal of the local school) with the knowledge I'll have! LOL

I haven't moved there yet. I'm still in Minneapolis, for one more year. I'm hoping to move there, Lord willing, next May. It sounds like forever away, but time flies so quickly, that I'll be there before you know it.

I've done a lot of narrowing down of where I want to be - based on what I know before my visit there. You have all been such great salespeople that I'd be proud to have everyone here for neighbors. A couple of areas I removed from my list have been added back on, due to wanting to visit and what my ultimate goals are.

I want peace and quiet, space, a small community to be a part of, a grocery store, hardware store, a great church, post office, etc., The basic stuff. I'm looking at areas from the Yellowstone down to the Jackson, over to Dubois and back up north. Or, over by the Sheridan/Buffalo area, but no further south than Buffalo. The Powell area is a possibility because of all the great things I've heard about the area, but I really do want to be nestled in the mountains. I'm also still considering small parts of Montana, like around Big Sky and Red Lodge (the outskirts).

Good thing I have a year to sort it all out.

[WyoMama]

Originally Posted by GEORGIAINMT

Two towns close to Yellowstone are Cody & Powell. Both are nice towns. Cody is busy with tourists in the summer, but quiet the rest of the year. Powell is generally a quiet, small community college town. Cost of living in both places is much less than some of the "more desireable" areas of the state. I was raised in Basin, which is in the middle of the Big Horn Basin between the Big Horns & Yellowstone. It is a friendly, small town with very reasonable housing. Unless you are in one of the "big" towns in the state a lot of people think of everywhere else being "out in the middle of nowhere". We recently checked out Sheridan and found housing there to be very high compared to where we are in Billings. Most places in the state have more reasonable real estate prices, with the exception of Jackson, which you all probably know is in a class of it's own! Those of us who grew up in "small town Wyoming" are used to being a couple of hours away from amenities in the larger towns, so for us it's normal. It depends on each person's perspective of what they need & want close by. I, myself, am considering moving back home to Wyoming. I do miss it after being gone for about 13 years. For the 13 years previous to that I lived in Thermopolis. It is a nice town if you enjoy soaking or swimming in the hot springs. My kids went to school there and got great educations. There are quite a few retirees there. I hope this info gives a little more insight to Wyoming....at least this is my opinion! Take Care!
Georgia

Well...Cody has changed a bit since you moved here housing-wise anyway...I've been here 20 years (moved here from Wheatland, WY) & was BLOWN AWAY in 1987 at the cost of a home!!! The average home in Cody is about $200,000 or higher. A LOT of new communities being built on the fringes of town & anywhere there is any open space & can jam a couple in. A city lot will run you about $30-50K BEFORE tapping into services & building. We actually beat the cost of living in Jackson a couple of years in the 1990's - I went thru Jackson once in about 2001 or 2002 & gas was more in Cody than Jackson!!! Cody is Jackson's overflow unfortunately. We've grown from about 6000 to near 9000 in 20 years, so that's a 50% growth rate. But there are several opportunities here but is pretty isolated as is 22 miles to Powell (also growing by leaps & bounds), 32 south to Meeteetse, 55 to Greybull (10 or so miles north of Basin) to the east, and Yellowstone about 53 miles west. Closest mall or interstate is in Billings, MT - 90 miles to I-90 & another 18 or so miles into Billings.

[WyoMama]

Originally Posted by Simple Living

Thank you for all the great information! I love learning about other towns. By the time I move to Wyoming, I could run for governor (or at least principal of the local school) with the knowledge I'll have! LOL

I haven't moved there yet. I'm still in Minneapolis, for one more year. I'm hoping to move there, Lord willing, next May. It sounds like forever away, but time flies so quickly, that I'll be there before you know it.

I've done a lot of narrowing down of where I want to be - based on what I know before my visit there. You have all been such great salespeople that I'd be proud to have everyone here for neighbors. A couple of areas I removed from my list have been added back on, due to wanting to visit and what my ultimate goals are.

I want peace and quiet, space, a small community to be a part of, a grocery store, hardware store, a great church, post office, etc., The basic stuff. I'm looking at areas from the Yellowstone down to the Jackson, over to Dubois and back up north. Or, over by the Sheridan/Buffalo area, but no further south than Buffalo. The Powell area is a possibility because of all the great things I've heard about the area, but I really do want to be nestled in the mountains. I'm also still considering small parts of Montana, like around Big Sky and Red Lodge (the outskirts).

Good thing I have a year to sort it all out.

Well, there is nothing except Teton Nat'l Park between Y'stone & Jackson; There's not south of Jackson either - have to go west along the Snake River to Star Valley (into Alpine & then head south thru all the totally funky communities - Afton probably has the most possibilities). Can't really go north of Dubois because it is cut off by wilderness area. Dubois isn't so far from Cody as the crow flies but is a long way because of the interruption of wilderness. Have to go south to Riverton, back east a bit then north thru Thermopolis, Meeteetse into the Big Horn Basin.

As far as the "town" of Valley goes - I saw that in a prev. post - Valley is basically a country school for ranchers' kids at the end of the South Fork Hwy heading TOWARDS Dubois about 48 miles or so before it stops at wilderness. Not a town at all - not even a Post Office. Just a cluster of ranch houses built nearer to each other & the country school.

There's a lot of places in Wyo that you "can't get there from here" - having to take indirect routes because of wilderness (we have more per sq. mile in Wyo than ANY other state including Alaska) that you cannot so much as ride a bicycle or use a single-wheel animal cart for hauling out your hunting harvest. Walk or ride only - and don't EVER get caught tying your horse off on a live tree or if caught, you'll get fined big time. Keep asking questions - we will do all we can to help out!

[True Cowboy]

Hi Simple Living

I've been reading your forum for awhile. I finally registered and can now respond. First, I want to tell you that I am right behind you!! I have made a timeline from one year this month to pack up and head west and NEVER look or come back! I live in what has become a VERY populated area in Pennsylvania. I have always dreamed of living in the country out in either Wyoming or Montana. Well, I'm finally doing it. Over the next year, I plan on researching the two States. My first choice is Wyoming so these messages have certainly helped me narrow a region down (and I appreciate all the input you've received). Like you, I love the country. I want to farm, have cattle and horses; live the simple, quiet life with no noise and pollution or snobby people to associate with for MILES. I want to be out in an area of 500-1,000 acres where I can come out of my log home, sit on my porch swing with a cup of coffee and look up to the snow-capped mountains, hear a stream running through my property, smell the clean, crisp air and see lots of pines. I want to be able to get to a grocery store within 30 minutes but live on a dirt road!! I wish I could pack up and move tomorrow. I hate the people here..have for years. Not sure why I haven't done it sooner. But now I'm looking to settle where I want to retire in 5 years or so. I want to enjoy the fruits of my labor before I can't. I have printed off 1,000's of pages of information on each region of Wyoming so far and have put it all into a binder to read through. I have taken into consideration what your one responder said about Saratoga.

Are there any other cities to consider for what I've described above? Anyone?

[cujmb1]

Hi I too am currently on a quest for a beautiful SMALL town w/woods & mts. I also thought Wyoming looked great. I had been researching Montana quite a bit as well. I noticed you posted this awhile ago, so I was wondering if you found your bit of heaven yet? Please let me know. Thanks!
Jennifer

[chad Straight]

Elk Hunter and I agree to look at Buffalo Wyoming. Most towns have a web site to give you an idea of the area. Good luck and let me know if I can be of assistance
take care Chad

[catman-do]

I go to Riverside, WY every summer and love it. Very small...

[gjs4786]

Buffalo is a great town with a lot of history. Buffalo, Wyoming Chamber of Commerce Hiking, camping, a few cool historical restaurants and inns, near-by arrowhead hunting, fishing, ATVing, and a really neat down town area that has a lot of character. A few years back I'd make frequent trips to Buffalo to photograph the scenery. Beautiful place, and beautiful parks too.

Seems to be a very safe place for kids and pets, About an hour and 30-45min from Casper going south, and about an hour to Gillette headed east.