BEST TOWN IN wyoming FOR US

[HighlandLady]

You're right about the North Platte, jdavid....in Casper, they have built up a portion of it that has some easy/moderate white water rafting. Fly fishing is also a good past-time.

To the OP...Wyoming is a fine state for raising a family. I highly recommend that if you decide to try for Wyoming, you take a week or so to come out and look over property/houses instead of shopping 'online'. Also, come out with an open-mind. You'll be coming from a place that is far (and dare I say, dramatically) different than what Wyoming is.

[sixofone]

I agree with Highlandlady-- you really need to come here to appreciate the differences. I've lived in VA and WY, and there is no way to describe the differences. Here's a few gee-whiz numbers though:

--If Virginia had the same population density as Wyoming, you'd only have 200,000 people in the whole state.

--If you moved Lynchburg here, it would be, by far, our largest city.

--Unlike VA, we don't have cities that have grown together. If you leave one town, it is often a 50-80 mile drive in every direction before you come to the next developed area.

With such a widely scattered population, it's easy to understand why we don't have the services and resources found in areas with greater population density. After all, if VA's population was reduced to 200,000, how many malls, theaters and museums do you think there would be?

Bottom line, IMHO, is that if you come here expecting to find everything you like, you'll be disappointed. If you come here expecting to like everything you find, you'll be very pleased.

Go "Hoos!!

[Popoagie]

I agree with others who have said that your requirements are not realistic for Wyoming. You are basing them on your current lifestyle or perhaps hoped for lifestyle. What people do in Wyoming for outings is usually more based on nature than on buildings and things people put in them. At least with my family that is the way it has been. If you don't feel comfortable in wilderness or semi-wilderness, with the ever present possibility of encountering wildlife, both dangerous and harmless, you won't like Wyoming. Wyoming is for outdoors sorts of people who like to be the only ones around when they are outdoors and not surrounded by lots of other people.

But, you don't really need a zoo when you have nature outside the city limits. With a zoo, you see animals up close but in unnatural settings. In nature, you may have to be patient and look through binoculars for them (or not), but they will be in a natural setting for the most part.

For a big shop, you would probably want to go to Salt Lake City or Denver--yes, another state entirely. I don't do big shops, so that doesn't matter to me, but many people cannot really imagine living with just what you can easily find in a small town in Wyoming or through catalogs. You can't get the deals you would get in a city or the variety.

You won't have as much green in Wyoming. I think if you come to Wyoming, you need to be prepared to live in jeans, waterproof hiking boots and a winter coat much of the time, drive a pickup at least some if not all the time, and spend time outdoors winter, spring, summer and fall.

You're oriented toward the city and buildings. In Wyoming, it works better be oriented toward raw nature, in my opinion.

Yes, there are people who don't wear jeans and who don't get into the wilderness. If you live in Wyoming, your kids will be different than if they grow up in Virginia. When we lived in Wyoming, my son and his friends knew the differences between black bears and grizzlies and what to do if you encountered one. They knew to stay on trails (mostly) and to be quiet when hiking (unless you're trying to warn bears that you're there). He wore proper hiking clothing, a hat, had a coat and water in a backpack, etc. When he joined scouts in Texas, the other scouts wore silky jackets and knit basketball shorts to hike, spotless white tennis shoes, and their best polo shirts. Some brought iPods, baseballs and Frisbees. They were loud and crushed a lot of vegetation off the trail. They were nice kids, but they had not grown up with the appreciation for nature, the knowledge of it, the survival skills, or the consciousness of their impact on it. Hiking down here was nothing like hiking in Wyoming. In Wyoming kids do things that many mothers in Virginia would not allow, like little kids riding bareback out in the open up in the mountains and coming back a hour later with mom not thinking a thing about it. Not all kids, but the kids I've known. And, many hunt from a young age. And join rodeo for a school sport. If your kids are glued to the tube or video games, they will find others who are, but they will miss out on Wyoming.

[Popoagie]

I agree with others who have said that your requirements are not realistic for Wyoming. You are basing them on your current lifestyle or perhaps hoped for lifestyle. What people do in Wyoming for outings is usually more based on nature than on buildings and things people put in them. At least with my family that is the way it has been. If you don't feel comfortable in wilderness or semi-wilderness, with the ever present possibility of encountering wildlife, both dangerous and harmless, you won't like Wyoming. Wyoming is for outdoors sorts of people who like to be the only ones around when they are outdoors and not surrounded by lots of other people.

But, you don't really need a zoo when you have nature outside the city limits. With a zoo, you see animals up close but in unnatural settings. In nature, you may have to be patient and look through binoculars for them (or not), but they will be in a natural setting for the most part.

For a big shop, you would probably want to go to Salt Lake City or Denver--yes, another state entirely. I don't do big shops, so that doesn't matter to me, but many people cannot really imagine living with just what you can easily find in a small town in Wyoming or through catalogs. You can't get the deals you would get in a city or the variety.

You won't have as much green in Wyoming. I think if you come to Wyoming, you need to be prepared to live in jeans, waterproof hiking boots and a winter coat much of the time, drive a pickup at least some if not all the time, and spend time outdoors winter, spring, summer and fall.

You're oriented toward the city and buildings. In Wyoming, it works better be oriented toward raw nature, in my opinion.

Yes, there are people who don't wear jeans and who don't get into the wilderness. But, I don't think they get the most out of Wyoming.

If you live in Wyoming, your kids will be different than if they grow up in Virginia. When we lived in Wyoming, my son and his friends knew the differences between black bears and grizzlies and what to do if you encountered one. They knew to stay on trails (mostly) and to be quiet when hiking (unless you're trying to warn bears that you're there). He wore proper hiking clothing, a hat, had a coat and water in a backpack, etc. When he joined scouts in Texas, the other scouts wore silky jackets and knit basketball shorts to hike, spotless white tennis shoes, and their best polo shirts. Some brought iPods, baseballs and Frisbees. They were loud and crushed a lot of vegetation off the trail. They were nice kids, but they had not grown up with the appreciation for nature, the knowledge of it, the survival skills, or the consciousness of their impact on it. Hiking down here was nothing like hiking in Wyoming. In Wyoming kids do things that many mothers in Virginia would not allow, like little kids riding bareback out in the open up in the mountains and coming back a hour later with mom not thinking a thing about it. Not all kids, but the kids I've known. And, many hunt from a young age. And join rodeo for a school sport. If your kids are glued to the tube or video games, they will find others who are, but they will miss out on Wyoming. Think of your personal comfort zone. If keeping your car clean inside is important to you, it may not be the best place for you with kids.