Retire in Wyoming?

Wyoming is my choice of a retirement state. Wife gave it the go-ahead as long as we bought a house in Belize for the winter months.
 
I’ve only been to Wyoming once for our honeymoon 4 years ago. Spent 10 days in a cabin in the Bighorns. Just long enough to realize that that’s where I’d like to retire.

Persuading the better half to do it...now that’s a different story.
 
Thermopolis is not to bad. It sit in a place that is sheltered somewhat from the wind, but it can still get some big blows. Much of Wyoming has wind speeds over 50+ mph at times. Riverton area is one of the best overall and the area around Shoshoni is I think the best but then it is also one of the coldest because of having less wind. I base my feelings on having lived in 6 different parts of WY and traveled for work over the entire state.
 
I’ve only been to Wyoming once for our honeymoon 4 years ago. Spent 10 days in a cabin in the Bighorns. Just long enough to realize that that’s where I’d like to retire.

Persuading the better half to do it...now that’s a different story.

If you brought her to that same cabin this week, after 10 days she might want a divorce.

It's easy for NR's fall in love with Wyoming on summer vacations and think how nice it would be to retire. Then the reality of Jan/Fab hits and you can barely get your car started, everything becomes a PITA, roads are constantly closed, etc... There is a reason less than a million people live here.
 
If you brought her to that same cabin this week, after 10 days she might want a divorce.

It's easy for NR's fall in love with Wyoming on summer vacations and think how nice it would be to retire. Then the reality of Jan/Fab hits and you can barely get your car started, everything becomes a PITA, roads are constantly closed, etc... There is a reason less than a million people live here.

Unfortunately the winters aren’t much worse than what I have here in Upstate New York so she’d be right at home. We get as much winter weather here as anyone with just as long of winters. If you’ve ever experienced lake effect snow then your missing out. Wouldn’t be any different temperatures wise than what I get here at home. We have projected -35 degree wind chills for Wednesday into Thursday.

She wouldn’t have any issue dealing with the winters, it’s the lack of shopping potential nearby that would be a deal breaker for her I’m afraid.

We went on our honeymoon the end of September and the weather was pretty cool but beautiful IMO.
 
If you brought her to that same cabin this week, after 10 days she might want a divorce.

It's easy for NR's fall in love with Wyoming on summer vacations and think how nice it would be to retire. Then the reality of Jan/Fab hits and you can barely get your car started, everything becomes a PITA, roads are constantly closed, etc... There is a reason less than a million people live here.

I just spent a week outside of Laramie hunting elk and would move there tomorrow if I could. My wife says I'm strange. Based on my statement I guess I am a little weird.
 
If you brought her to that same cabin this week, after 10 days she might want a divorce.

It's easy for NR's fall in love with Wyoming on summer vacations and think how nice it would be to retire. Then the reality of Jan/Fab hits and you can barely get your car started, everything becomes a PITA, roads are constantly closed, etc... There is a reason less than a million people live here.

Half a million plus or minus.
 
A January in Wyoming where the wind never subsides and it's colder than hell can cure a lot of folks from wanting to live there.
 
Benefit of being retired allows you to bug out for warmer places if the wind and cold start to get old. I don't enjoy the winters as much as I used to. Poor circulation of frost bit toes from years working outside trouble me more and more each winter.

Biggest negative for Thermopolis is no trees for miles around. Won't completely rule it out though. Dubois is still on the top of my list.
 
Shoshoni is I think the best but then it is also one of the coldest because of having less wind.

The worst part of living in Shoshoni would be living in Shoshoni...

If I could choose to live anywhere in this state, it'd be Sheridan with no close second choice.
 
It's not just that winter's are cold, windy, and snowy depending on where you are...obviously there are other places that have winter. Though I'll put my Bondurant winters up against anyone's :).
It's the whole combo of stuff on top of it. People are fiercely independent aside from their century long local cliques, service are SPARSE outside of the big population areas, any highway is liable to shut down for days at any time, etc. It's hard to understand until you're here. I often say the pros and cons of WY are equally outstanding.
 
It's not just that winter's are cold, windy, and snowy depending on where you are...obviously there are other places that have winter. Though I'll put my Bondurant winters up against anyone's :).
It's the whole combo of stuff on top of it. People are fiercely independent aside from their century long local cliques, service are SPARSE outside of the big population areas, any highway is liable to shut down for days at any time, etc. It's hard to understand until you're here. I often say the pros and cons of WY are equally outstanding.

Great points SM.

I always hear people that visit Wyoming say, "the people are so friendly". While that may be true to a point, I think it is really more that people in WY are cordial, they will say "hello" when they meet you on the street, etc., but when you move to a smaller town it may be just as hard to make friends, etc. in any part of WY as it is anywhere else in the country. Don't interpret people being cordial as being "friendly"; there is a difference!

ClearCreek
 
The worst part of living in Shoshoni would be living in Shoshoni...

If I could choose to live anywhere in this state, it'd be Sheridan with no close second choice.

lets see less than 600 people, 6 miles to the lake with the state record walleye, crappie and perch, elk hunting under 20 miles, antelope in my yard, and great people not to bad. Sheridan is a very pretty area to.
 
I believe I've been through Shoshoni a grand total of once. Pretty canyon there but no trees. :) Sheridan is too far from the best part of the state and too close to the worst. Cough Gillette cough. :D
 
Really the only decent sized town in Wyoming that stands out is Cheyenne. Being so close to Ft Collins, Denver, etc... it's more like Colorado in some ways than Wyoming. Also why it is growing so fast. Between having the capitol and AF base it also has some benefits, as well as a refinery in town.

And now with direct flights to Dallas it has even more advantages.
 
Gastro Gnome - Eat Better Wherever

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