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Hi,
My family and I are ready for a change we live in Virginia about 2 hrs west of DC we have found the mountains still have the DELIVERANCE feel to them.
What is the best town there for a family with a 10yr and 6 yr old; they love to swim on swim teams. We thought Shenandoah Valley here got snow but we have not seen any in 2 yrs. We want to see snow with bright sunny winter days. We want to be close to water, but not right on it. Within a short drive would be nice. A pet friendly place with allot outdoor activities
We would like to be within 2 hrs of museums and zoos like DC , a town where kids are safe, a sense of community, great job growth, low crime and communities with children for mine to play with.
I grew up all my life at the beach of NC. I miss friendly people, the kind that invite you to dinner to welcome you and handshakes mean something. Almost a Mayberry feel with clean streets and modern stores nearby.
When you say water - what kind of water are you talking about? Because a greater portion of Wyoming (and a lot of the western states) is pretty much desert.
You also mention being within 2 hours of museums and zoos like are over on the east coast - that also rules out a LOT of Wyoming as about the closest place that'd have anything close to that that I can think of would be Denver (possibly Salt Lake? I don't know much about Salt Lake, all I've seen of it is the airport ). And even those will not have museums or zoos on the scale that you're used to.
Just being realistic, Wyoming is a great place to live (I've lived here my whole life and have absolutely no desires to ever leave) but there are some things that one isn't going to find, and some of those are: large amounts of water, large museums, zoo's (but on the other hand, we have so much wildlife here you don't NEED to go to a zoo), shopping, and large amounts of "entertainment."
Hi Nate, I was raised in Virginia most of my life (and NC BR Mountains). VA sucks, we finally got the heck out of there in 2004. We lived in Montana for about 6 months but couldn't find enough work. We moved to Washington state for 3 years after that and there was a ton of work and drug addicts . We have traveled the country many times and I love Wyoming so much. But you have to remember it is the exact opposite of VA in every way. You won't find a ton of entertainment or city life unless you move around Cheyanne and even still it won't be anything like Va. As with alot of the western states it seems like the eastern side of the state is desert like and the western is more green and wet. We live in Alaska right now but I don't think it will be forever. I think due to the extra cost of living here and with us having such a large family Wyoming might fit us better in the future. Good Luck on deciding where you want to settle...I'm still trying to myself.
Lander is a nice family oriented town and they have a great community swimming pool, as well as lakes up in the mountains (which tend to be quite chilly, but swimable). My daughter was 8-9 when we lived there. They have really good schools and the scenery is quite lovely. Lots of friendly folks and a lot of out door activities to do year round. Check out the Lander Chamber of Commerce for more info. The only downfall at the moment is housing..which I understand is quite tight and spendy.
Not sure about the zoo's bit, but here is a list of museums in Wyoming Wyoming Museums
one of which is in Lander and another in Riverton about 25 miles away. There is probably a Zoo in Salt Lake City, UT and probably some in Colorado as well. What Wyoming does have is it's own wildlife in the *natural* setting Lots of antelope, mule deer, moose, bison, coyotes, raccoons, etc... all of which I saw when living in and near Lander.
The days are more sunny than not, and there is snow up in the mountains and it does snow down in Lander but it melts more often than not. Not far to drive up into the foothills to see the white stuff though. If you look on the pictures on this site (page 17) I posted one of my daughter and cousin playing in the snow during an April snow fall.
If your kids' swimming success is important, Gillette probably has the best competitive swimming program in Wyoming; the high school has won the state championship for several years in a row and its best swimmers always win scholarships, but it's five or six hours from major museums and zoos. Laramie also seems to have a good swimming program, as I think they're usually the ones pushing Gillette for the state title. It's about two hours from Denver.
Denver has an excellent museum of history and science and a good zoo. We took our kids to both often when they were young, and now they take their kids there every couple years. The museum always has some new and interesting visiting display -- King Tut or something.
I don't believe any part of Wyoming will be able to meet your list, even though Wyoming has a lot of "friendly people" who would invite you to dinner and whose handshake means something.
The "2-hour" trip to musuems & zoo would be from Cheyenne or Laramie to Denver, or from Evanston to Salt Lake City. None of these choices has an abundance of water close by, with only a few small lakes around Laramie that are mainly irrigation reservoirs, and a few outside of Cheyenne that serve the same purpose. The "recreation pool" levels vary widely, and some years there may be swimmable/boatable (in small boats) water levels for just a few months in the spring ... come summer, when irrigation demand is high, the water levels drop dramatically every day.
There are a number of small musuems, and bigger operations like the musuem in Cody ... worth the visit, and the Wyoming musuem in Cheyenne and the "pioneer" musuem at the Frontier Days park ... but compared to Eastern cities musuems, I'm afraid you'll be highly disappointed. These are very small outfits, and some can be well toured in a matter of an hour or so.
Snow covered ground is a relative issue from year to year. In the current drought situation, we still don't have snow cover in the SE portion of the state. I drove to Laramie last week and it's brown all the way over the pass from Cheyenne. We really need the moisture on our crops, and it's not here. Forecast to have a bit in the next day or so, but I'm not seeing the moisture pattern strong enough yet to be hopeful we'll have more than a "dusting". So, with the very strong winds and cold air temps, it's pretty normal this winter.
More importantly, the current economic forecast is for this area to be losing jobs in the near term. Cheyenne's newspaper referred to a study completed last week which forecasts the loss of 700 jobs locally, and that was before the going out of business sale for Circuit City (which accounts for 50 jobs). In a town of 50,000 people, with many commuting to Front Range jobs in Colorado, 750 jobs lost is a large impact.
The "boom" towns in Wyoming which might still have significant job markets ("great job growth") are located in remote areas for the extractive industries, and really don't have the amenities you're seeking, other than swimming in the schools, pet friendly environments, and lots of outdoors activities (hunting, fishing, camping, horseback riding ... all within a reasonably short distance, some on your doorstep, some hours away).
IMO, unless you have good employment and housing in the area lined up in advance and are seriously able to compromise your "wish list", Wyoming isn't going to be a very satisfactory choice for you.
Hi,
My family and I are ready for a change we live in Virginia about 2 hrs west of DC we have found the mountains still have the DELIVERANCE feel to them.
What is the best town there for a family with a 10yr and 6 yr old; they love to swim on swim teams. We thought Shenandoah Valley here got snow but we have not seen any in 2 yrs. We want to see snow with bright sunny winter days. We want to be close to water, but not right on it. Within a short drive would be nice. A pet friendly place with allot outdoor activities
We would like to be within 2 hrs of museums and zoos like DC , a town where kids are safe, a sense of community, great job growth, low crime and communities with children for mine to play with.
I grew up all my life at the beach of NC. I miss friendly people, the kind that invite you to dinner to welcome you and handshakes mean something. Almost a Mayberry feel with clean streets and modern stores nearby.
Are there any towns like that there?
I agree with most of the replies already given. You aren't likely to find anything in Wyoming that is just what you are looking for. As I read your post, I thought, you might like the area where I currently live - though it's in California. It's not like most of the state, though, and meets most of your criteria. I'm talking about the Frazier Park area, about 90 miles north of Los Angeles. What you won't find here is great job growth, though there are a lot of opportunities within an hour to the north (Bakersfield), south (L.A. Basin and suburbs), or east (Antelope Valley). This is what I would call a "commuter community," but there are a lot of people that stay "on the hill" too. It is a mountain community where we get a moderate amount of snow, but it rarely sticks around for long, which doesn't affect the commute too badly. Los Angeles has a number of well known museums, and a fairly nice zoo. Bakersfield has a few museums, too. Santa Barbara also has a zoo, though it's about 2 1/2 hours away. The closest beaches are less than an hour and a half away, and there are lakes and streams that are even closer. Most of the activities in the area are of an outdoor nature, so that should be a plus for you. The town is friendly and has a sense of community, particularly if you get plugged in to one of the local churches or community organizations (Rotary, VFW, etc.). When I went to the local market yesterday, I saw no less than ten different people I know inside. Only a couple of them worked there, so if you are the kind that likes to get to know people, it's a great place to do so. Many of the people I know are parents of my kid's friends. I guess this is sort of a "modern day Mayberry." The community has stores for your basic needs, but they are all the "mom and pop" variety, and probably not as modern as you would like. You have to travel about an hour to reach the big box stores, if you need to do so. Beware, though, some of the "streets" in the area are actually dirt trails. This is not true everywhere, so if paved streets are your preference, you can find that here, too.
Anyway, there are places like this around that come close to having the features you desired, but none that I know of that match 100 percent. Good luck in your search.
Hi,
We thought Shenandoah Valley here got snow but we have not seen any in 2 yrs. We want to see snow with bright sunny winter days. We want to be close to water, but not right on it. Within a short drive would be nice. A pet friendly place with allot outdoor activities
We would like to be within 2 hrs of museums and zoos like DC , a town where kids are safe, a sense of community, great job growth, low crime and communities with children for mine to play with.
Are there any towns like that there?
There are no towns in Wyoming with museums and zoos like DC. Period, full stop. None in the entire state. None in the states surrounding Wyoming, with the possible exception of Denver, CO.
There is no large body of water in Wyoming. There are streams, creeks, the euphemistically named "rivers" (in which you might find water ankle-deep come August/September). There's the occasional alpine lake and reservoirs for irrigation water.
Snow, we have. Matter of fact it snowed last night, it is still snowing now, and it will likely be snowing on/off for the next three days. Temps will be sub-zero for the next several nights. However, the sun is not shining, and won't be for several days.
If your kids' swimming success is important, Gillette probably has the best competitive swimming program in Wyoming; the high school has won the state championship for several years in a row and its best swimmers always win scholarships, but it's five or six hours from major museums and zoos. Laramie also seems to have a good swimming program, as I think they're usually the ones pushing Gillette for the state title. It's about two hours from Denver.
Denver has an excellent museum of history and science and a good zoo. We took our kids to both often when they were young, and now they take their kids there every couple years. The museum always has some new and interesting visiting display -- King Tut or something.
A couple of things WyoNewk forgot to mention about Gillette......there is a really nice lake called Keyhole Reservoir about an hour away. If you want that kind of water, it's there. It has a cute tiny "town", if you will, there, called Pinehaven. There are more trees around there than here in Gillette. Also, Rapid City, SD is only a couple of hours from Gillette and although it doesn't have what you'd consider comparable to zoos or museums of D.C., it does have Reptile Gardens, Mt. Rushmore, Bear Country, etc. all in the area. So there are a lot of fun things to do on a weekend there. Here in Wyoming, 2 hours is a very short drive. We all drive distances to do the things we can't in our small towns, but that's normal for us. But we don't have traffic, either. I was going to say the same thing WyoNewk did about Gillette and the swimming program. Also, FYI, Gillette is in the process of building a new, huge recreation center that will have multiple pools and other rec facilities. I came to Gillette in Aug. to work for the school district and it is the best district I've ever worked in. That is something to consider,too, when looking for a place to move if you have children. Best of luck to you in your search!
There is no large body of water in Wyoming. There are streams, creeks, the euphemistically named "rivers" (in which you might find water ankle-deep come August/September).
There are some good sized reservoirs in the southern and eastern parts of the state: Flaming Gorge, Pathfinder, Seminoe, Glendo, and Guernsey come to mind. These are all man-made reserviors, not natural. Perhaps that's what NVDave was referring to.
As for rivers, the North Platte River in the eastern part of the state, between Casper and the Nebraska border, actually has quite a bit of water in it from my experience. Certainly more than just ankle deep, at least. I believe the Snake and Green Rivers also both have substantial flows throughout the year. The rest of the rivers (Powder and Laramie Rivers, for instance) in the state are as described above from what I've seen over several years of traveling through Wyoming.
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When you say water - what kind of water are you talking about? Because a greater portion of Wyoming (and a lot of the western states) is pretty much desert. 
). And even those will not have museums or zoos on the scale that you're used to.
. We have traveled the country many times and I love Wyoming so much. But you have to remember it is the exact opposite of VA in every way. You won't find a ton of entertainment or city life unless you move around Cheyanne and even still it won't be anything like Va. As with alot of the western states it seems like the eastern side of the state is desert like and the western is more green and wet. We live in Alaska right now but I don't think it will be forever. I think due to the extra cost of living here and with us having such a large family Wyoming might fit us better in the future. Good Luck on deciding where you want to settle...I'm still trying to myself. 
Have you considered California?
