Living in Cody? (Cheyenne, Casper, Laramie: house, private school, restaurants)

[hopeinwyo66]

My family and I took a vacation to NW Wyoming last week and stayed in Cody for 3 nights. We traveled pretty extensively right around Cody and everyone luv luv luved it! Now they want to move. They loved the size (bigger than where we live now) and the proximity to Billings, MT, which is much bigger than I remember.

Anyone from Cody on these boards? What can you tell me about winter snowfall right in Cody. I have friends here (Douglas) who hunt in the Rattlesnake Mountains and tell me they get tons of snow. I live in Douglas and have lived in Laramie, so I'm no stranger to cold winters, wind and snow. Just don't want to get a surprised come winter.

Also, are you able to get to Billings in the winter months? How expensive and available is housing? What are schools like? Thanks in advance.

[sunsprit]

there's ongoing discussion right now about Cody in the "living in the country" thread ...

IMO, Cody's one of the nicer places in Wyoming to spend a winter. Sizable enough to have reasonable access to shopping, restaurants (although I can't say I've been happy with the ones I've been at so far), medical, and most amenities needed for life in general, with a much milder climate than you've experienced in Laramie. Possible to have "tons of snow", but hasn't been a big issue over much of the last decade or so.

Access to Billings is generally fairly decent if you are an experienced winter driver in an appropriate vehicle; ie, if you could negotiate the roads of Laramie in an average winter, you'll be OK. Of course, watching the fronts come through and the conditions forecast is key to your best travels.

[hopeinwyo66]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

there's ongoing discussion right now about Cody in the "living in the country" thread ...

IMO, Cody's one of the nicer places in Wyoming to spend a winter. Sizable enough to have reasonable access to shopping, restaurants (although I can't say I've been happy with the ones I've been at so far), medical, and most amenities needed for life in general, with a much milder climate than you've experienced in Laramie. Possible to have "tons of snow", but hasn't been a big issue over much of the last decade or so.

Access to Billings is generally fairly decent if you are an experienced winter driver in an appropriate vehicle; ie, if you could negotiate the roads of Laramie in an average winter, you'll be OK. Of course, watching the fronts come through and the conditions forecast is key to your best travels.

Thanks for the info...I will head over to the "living in the country" thread. I thought the winters couldn't be worse than Laramie, and we found the summer weather last week delightful. Thanks again.

[Newsboy]

I was also in Cody for the first time last summer. It was a stop on our way back across country from Montana to Georgia (we actually made it as far west as Spokane, but that's another story.) Cody was the nearest accomodations we could get to Yellowstone, despite being more than 50 miles away. Our disappointment in having to drive so far was tempored by the charm of Cody itself; it seemed the "most happening" and pleasant of all the Wyoming cities we passed through, but then of course it's primarily a TOURIST town and this was height of the season. I too wondered what it might be like to live there year-round, but the tremendous isolation of the place made me have second-thoughts. That, and several locals we spoke to mentioned that it's very much seasonal -- people flock in during the summer and leave in early fall. There's just not much economic activity or opportunity otherwise. Good example: I'm a journalist, and noted that even at its size Cody cannot support a daily newspaper. It does have TV stations I believe, and a commercial airport (which is necessary amid such isolation). I presumed the major statewide papers (Cheyenne and Casper) were flown in daily.

Wyoming is a stunningly beautiful state and holds so many natural wonders -- but a little too lonely to live IMO. Driving hundreds of miles to get to the next town seems rather depressing to this Easterner! I'm sure those of you who call it home think the opposite.

[hopeinwyo66]

Thanks for the responses. I suspected life was a bit slower during the winter, but I would actually like Cody with fewer tourists. Just not sure what I did like about Cody...businesses, retail, entertainment....would go with the tourists in the winter.

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by hopeinwyo66

Thanks for the responses. I suspected life was a bit slower during the winter, but I would actually like Cody with fewer tourists. Just not sure what I did like about Cody...businesses, retail, entertainment....would go with the tourists in the winter.

That's an interesting take on the amenities that present in Cody ... liking them but not the economic basis upon which they survive.

[juneaubound]

When we first arrived in Cody it was early March 2011. Sheridan Ave (the main strip through town) was almost completely bare.

The streets were wide open and clean, and the hills and mountains were completely beige and with no trees (which was disorienting because I had never seen any place so bare and that - as I told my husband - made the place look like the Afghan-Pakistani border region). There was no snow, no wind, no people wandering about and it was not cold. I seriously wondered what the heck we were doing in Cody Wyoming. Quiet, beige, slow, surrounded by desert.

We came to love the place over the next few months - its beautiful and rugged terrain, the quiet and friendly people, its proximity to the Shoshone National Forest and Yellowstone.

We don't have school age children. Shopping is not a priority for us. But there is beauty around every corner. The end of the canyon in back of Clark. On top of Rattlesnake, or Heart or Cedar Mountains (all of which we have seen the top of). At any picnic area in the Shoshone National Forest on the way to Yellowstone. Off the highways on the way to Cooke City or Red Lodge. In the deep snow even in June of the Beartooth Highway. When I walk on BLM land in back of the house - I can stand on top of a hill and see forever.

When we were in Tennessee it was a huge challenge to find places to be alone. Here it is not. It is almost right outside our front door.

I took pictures yesterday of many deer in town walking through yards and eating off people's trees. I see deer and antelope all the time. In the winter we can drive 20 miles outside of town and see deer, big horn sheep, elk, antelope and buffalo grazing in fields alongside the road.

Cody (and Wyoming in general) is not for everyone and it depends on your life priorities.

[WyoNewk]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

There's just not much economic activity or opportunity otherwise. Good example: I'm a journalist, and noted that even at its size Cody cannot support a daily newspaper....

Not many towns in the west of less that 10K can support a daily newspaper, at least not well enough to make it a good newspaper. I'd guess that a town of that size in Georgia would have several smaller towns and small farms within a 15-20 mile radius to draw from. That's not usually case in the west, where a ranch can stretch for miles and it might be 60 miles to the next town. As a journalist you should be well aware of the financial difficulties daily newspapers are having these days. Thank goodness the Cody Enterprise never attempted to go daily.

[tigergal]

Originally Posted by hopeinwyo66

My family and I took a vacation to NW Wyoming last week and stayed in Cody for 3 nights. We traveled pretty extensively right around Cody and everyone luv luv luved it! Now they want to move. They loved the size (bigger than where we live now) and the proximity to Billings, MT, which is much bigger than I remember.

Anyone from Cody on these boards? What can you tell me about winter snowfall right in Cody. I have friends here (Douglas) who hunt in the Rattlesnake Mountains and tell me they get tons of snow. I live in Douglas and have lived in Laramie, so I'm no stranger to cold winters, wind and snow. Just don't want to get a surprised come winter.

Also, are you able to get to Billings in the winter months? How expensive and available is housing? What are schools like? Thanks in advance.

Cody really doesn't get a lot of snow. We had one snow last year of about 9 inches and it stuck around for a couple of days. Generally, when it snowed, it had melted off by the time school was out for the day. I will tell you that 13th street/Heart Mountain street is not the road down the hill to choose. It takes forever for that one to clear. The town is very good about getting the streets cleared from snow. It's also a very dry snow which is apparently easier to drive on. (I hadn't driven on one snowflake in my life til we moved here and once I got over my initial terror on my first venture, it wasn't a big deal.) I drove out to the North Fork (the road between Cody and Yellowstone) at least 3 times a week over the winter. I wouldn't have done so had it been snow-covered. Cody actually gets a lesser amount of snow than most of the state, from what I understand. Billings is doable in the winter. There were a couple of times this winter that the highway was snowy and blowy and people avoided it, but for the most part, it's doable.

Looking at statistics, it seems that Cody is pricier on housing than Douglas. Then again, it depends on what you want from a house. It's possible to get one up in the Skyline area of Cody (the top level of the three levels) for $200,000. We couldn't be more impressed with the schools. We were paying $10K for tuition for private school before we moved here. The public schools here are far better than the ones we paid so dearly for.

We went on vacation last week and a friend back home asked me why in the world we'd take a vacation from here. After a week elsewhere, I've gotta say I'm wondering that myself. It's not for everyone, obviously, but it's like living in paradise for me.

[jody_wy]

Not Cody but got a story about a bussiness in the Basin that thought he didn't need the local just the tourist. He kept 2 tills , seem the locals broke even for his bussiness and the tourist were the cream, So he need bouth to make a profit....