can I get peace in wyoming? (Story: live, ranking, place)

[sagebunny]

Question for Juneaubound. When you say to look at living costs closely as it isn't a cheap place to live, are you referring to Cody as compared to the rest of Wyoming or Wyoming as compared to other states? In other words, is the cost of living in Cody comparable to the rest of the state, or is it higher?
I did notice in Cody that there seemed to be many people from other states, and they were very friendly and open to talking. I felt welcomed there.
Thank you to all who replied. I am listening and learning from you all.

[georgiainwyo]

Having been born, raised & lived in the Big Horn Basin all of my life (except a few years in Billings...which was pretty close to here, and a couple of years in Gillette) I know that the entire area is similar to one big town. The towns may be spread out some, but I know people all over the Basin, and it is very common that once here for awhile it is that way for many people. When one gets involved in activities, especially school sports & activities, civic organizations, etc. it is only natural to meet people from the surrounding area. As with anywhere, there is gossip, but as has been said a couple of times before, one learns who the "malicious gossipers" are and can then distinguish between people just knowing and caring about everyone in the area and those who are gossip mongers. I was quite surprised about the negative comment about Powell and bigotry. I have never lived there, but my daughter & her husband did for a couple of years and I know a lot of people there. This is the first time I have ever heard of bigotry there. I have to wonder what the problem was, as the term "bigotry" can be interpreted to mean a lot of different things. In any case, I don't think the OP has anything to worry about regarding what was written in the Chamber flyer. I had to stop and say "huh??? or hmmmmm" when I heard that as I think that can be a very confusing statement, especially to those not familiar with the area. I don't know the Chamber's reasoning for stating that, but again, I wouldn't personally worry about it. Best of luck to the OP on the possible move to the area! I love it here

[juneaubound]

Originally Posted by sagebunny

Question for Juneaubound. When you say to look at living costs closely as it isn't a cheap place to live, are you referring to Cody as compared to the rest of Wyoming or Wyoming as compared to other states? In other words, is the cost of living in Cody comparable to the rest of the state, or is it higher?
I did notice in Cody that there seemed to be many people from other states, and they were very friendly and open to talking. I felt welcomed there.
Thank you to all who replied. I am listening and learning from you all.

I just noticed that you were from MN Sagebunny and I have a brother-in-law there so have some general idea as to what home prices are like in your state. If you ARE considering buying I would take a look at some real estate prices to get some idea how they line up with your budget. Rentals may also be higher than what you might be used to.

Housing is the highest expense here in Cody. We moved here from Tennessee and sticker shock was an issue. Groceries are slightly higher than TN. Gas is about the same. Utilities about the same.

I think that most every-day expenses (food, utilities, gas etc.) here in Cody are comparable to the rest of the state. Many people drive to Billings when they want to make large purchases or stock up on groceries. We live in an isolated town surrounded by a whole lot of nothing, so costs to transport goods to us and the whole "if you don't like our prices you can drive 100 miles to get it cheaper" attitude both factor in somewhat. The town also has a bit of an "we can charge more because.....THIS IS CODY" attitude.

But there are many ways to offset expenses. We have a very thriving yard sale season. We have a good handful of consignment stores. We have an excellent thrift store with for-cheap great stuff. There are also a couple of great and very busy on-line classifieds sites on Facebook. I'll PM the links to these sites to you so that you can get an idea of what's available.

[jody_wy]

http://eadiv.state.wy.us/wcli/NewsRelease-4Q12.pdf

[vk40]

I grew up in Lander, as have my kids, and this area is very gossipy and cliquey. It's one reason we are looking to get away. We go to Riverton to shop sometimes, and always run into someone from Lander while there. Heck, we go to Casper which is 2.5 hours away, and I can think of very few trips that we haven't run into someone from here, there. You can't escape it because of Wyomings small population. LOL... Having said that, you should be fine since you didn't grow up in the area. I have been here 40 years so that makes a difference.

[shadowwalker]

Originally Posted by juneaubound

Can you share any of your experiences? Are you talking about the LDS influence or something else?

I was given a job in Powell in the 1990's and I got the quote from more than one local that I "got it because of politics over one of the boys here in town". The job was open for 6 weeks before I applied for it.
My wife and I would wait in lines at the local grocery stores, movie/tape stores, convenience stores, bank and just local stores in general. The clerk/cashier would spend 10, 20 minutes or more talking to locals in front of us not even acknowledging our presence and when we finally got to the register it was a very fast check out with little or no speaking on their part. Talking to the manager or shift person in charge was just a waste of our time. In restaurants a few times we got up and left because of no service or very slow service( several tables that came in after us got their food) and we still waited. There were times the conversations would stop as we walked into a shop or store. Now this didn't happen every time we went somewhere but it happened a lot.
The local strong arm of a certain church had the playboy channel took off the cable tv because they didn't like it on there. I don't watch stuff like that but it was the fact they could do that. There was no voting by the subscribers on this either.
I witnessed children of friends get looked over in sports and scholarships because they went to local children that grew up there, also in the college there was a definite pro powell kids getting in certain classes first, grants/loans etc., from the college controlled handing out of them.
Again I will state, I couldn't get a loan for a house from my bank or any bank I applied to in powell and could get one for 1 1/2 times the amount I wanted at two banks in cody. By the time I tried cody I was getting over wanting to live in powell. And quit wanting to live there for sure. During the time we lived there the city charged us every month for sewer, water and trash pickup. My landlord also was charged this and he said if I wanted to change it deal with the city, he didn't need the trouble he said. Him and his wife were at the church every time the door was open or a light on in there.......

[todd00]

OP, what size town do you live in now? Have you spent much time in Wyoming? Many pretty places in the state, what made you decide on it? Minnesota is a pretty state too, I'm in Iowa and its not a scenic, at least in my area it isn't.

I don't think its right, but these days one can find a lot about others by just a few clicks on the internet. So much for privacy anymore. The Gossip mongers are around everywhere, but in small towns it seems everyone sees all. Even when people don't know anything concrete about a person, they can always let their imagination run away with them, and some do that. Some places are worse than others in that regard.

You might have read this, but there are a few older threads about Cody. Here's the link in case you didn't read it.
//www.city-data.com/forum/wyomi...ving-cody.html

I hope you find the right place for you and your family.

[sagebunny]

The population here is around 850. We visited Cody last summer- I really love the western landscape. Grew up watching westerns and nature shows with my Dad. Also LOVE the climate. Minnesota is so humid in the summer. I went prairie dog hunting in South Dakota with my Dad when I was 13 and absolutely fell in love with wide open spaces. I love seeing the storm clouds roll in the horizon. In Minnesota with all the trees sometimes you dont see the storms till they are on top of you. I love the smell of sage (hence my username!) I read alot of western novels growing up and I get the sense that I have already been here.

I am realizing from this thread it is not the gossip but rather the unfriendliness, the 'you aint from around here' attitude that we are dealing with the most. And people that don't accept people that are different from them- I honestly think my community is just unhappy as a whole because everyone is watching everyone else so closely to make sure they follow the unwritten 'rules'. I am generally happy and lighthearted and these people don't know how to be that way.

Thanks for the link- I'll check it out.

[sagebunny]

Oh- and I forgot to mention it was fun spotting wildlife and being able to talk to others about where there had been a moose sighting or wolves and such. Where I am now most folk would think I'm weird for getting so excited about that kind of thing. I felt right at home in Cody.

[tigergal]

Originally Posted by sagebunny

The population here is around 850. We visited Cody last summer- I really love the western landscape. Grew up watching westerns and nature shows with my Dad. Also LOVE the climate. Minnesota is so humid in the summer. I went prairie dog hunting in South Dakota with my Dad when I was 13 and absolutely fell in love with wide open spaces. I love seeing the storm clouds roll in the horizon. In Minnesota with all the trees sometimes you dont see the storms till they are on top of you. I love the smell of sage (hence my username!) I read alot of western novels growing up and I get the sense that I have already been here.

I am realizing from this thread it is not the gossip but rather the unfriendliness, the 'you aint from around here' attitude that we are dealing with the most. And people that don't accept people that are different from them- I honestly think my community is just unhappy as a whole because everyone is watching everyone else so closely to make sure they follow the unwritten 'rules'. I am generally happy and lighthearted and these people don't know how to be that way.

Thanks for the link- I'll check it out.

I live in Cody and am generally quiet until I get to know someone. We have had no problem with not being included or with people being unfriendly. (Sure, we've met a few who were unfriendly but who are actually the unfriendly sort altogether to anyone!) In fact, we've been included in so many things that we're starting to run out of time to do them!