ydoc

Anyone familiar with the Cheynene area? We have friends who are retiring there in two years. Says the highest priced home is $500,000. Is this in the middle of no where or is there substance? Thanks!

Anonymous

What exactly do you mean by "substance"?

stjohnbound

You might want to repost with the location in the title, and include the state. I've never heard of Cheynene. Where is it?

ydoc

That did sound very nondiscript. I guess I mean, near a larger city, lakes, entertainment, good restaurants. I imagine this is a very isolated area or am I wrong?

ydoc

This should be under Wyoming. No?

jlm_mi

No. Under Wyoming means, unfortunately, very little.

Go to http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=1
and notice that you see absolutely no designation as to what state was chosen as the search subject. You see all posts for all states.

If someone restricted their view to Wyoming posts, this one would come up, but many, if not most, people who look at this board view the entire US at once.

ydoc

Got it! thanks

fehgeddaboudit

Good job, cody.

jtrandolph

Hey, youse guys, Cheyenne is the CAPITOL of Wyoming. No, there is not much there, actually, except maybe nice people and I imagine they have a symphony orchestra or something.

It is less than a day's drive to Denver, but I don't know the exact distance. A check on MapQuest, maybe?

Catbert

It's 2 hours to Denver and has one of the highest problems with methamphetamines in the country. Other than that, I'm sure you'll find lovely areas and houses are not terribly expensive. It's got a definite Western/Cowboy feel.

Softato1

Cheyenne is my home town, but I haven't lived there for 30 years. It is not in the middle of nowhere. It is a small city, 2 hours from Denver.
I wouldn't retire there if they paid me because I could never go back to winter weather.

Anonymous

I've been researching Cheyenne (population abut 50,000) for a trip there next June. Gotta love a state capital whose Chamber of Commerce lists among its key features 12 tennis courts.

starrsville

Brother and family moved from Cheyenne. No matter what else you say, it's a small town in the middle of the prairie. To shop, you need to drive down to Denver - at least as far as Fort Collins, Colorado. Along with the 12 tennis courts, you'll fine ONE mini-golf and arcade location. When I say there isn't much there - there isn't much there.

The drive to and from Denver is one of the windiest routes in the country. Travel warnings are issued to 18 wheelers when the wind is bad - not to drive the route. The wind can flip the trucks. We were part of a caravan to the stockyards and the trucks hauling trailers had to leave them at the stockyards (when empty) and come back in a day or two - because the wind was too brisk - would flip the empty trucks.

My brother bought one of the mini-ranches found on the outskirts of town. When they moved in, I was surprised to see little v shaped wooden structures planted in the yard. Discovered they were windbreaks to shelter the saplings edging the property. Years later, they were ready to remove - the saplings had grown enough to survive the wind...but not grown very much.

One Easter my nephew awoke to dogwoods in bloom outside his grandmother's window down south. He's first response was "oh, it snowed last night". Wind and snow...even through the spring. As a teen, if you ask him now what he misses from Cheyenne, he will respond "the wind". Sarcasm.

But, the public schools are very good. When they lived there I thought it was the closest you'd find to "Mayberry" in today's world. That could be a plus or a minus depending on what you are looking for.

Softato1

Starrsville:

I don't think you were in the Cheyenne I know. It is not a small town and definitely wasn't Mayberry even when I lived there 30+ years ago.

Yes, indeed, the wind blows constantly.

I believe there is no state income tax in Wyoming which would be a plus for retirees.

starrsville

That's what's great about this board. One can share their opinions and to me, Cheyenne felt like a small town.

I did just check out some population counts to see how "off" my opinion might be. Cheyenne is SMALLER than Albany, GA and Asheville, NC. IMO those two cities/towns feel more like "towns" and less like "ciites".

I spent a week entertaining kids there and was very surprised at how few options there were. Just my opinion though.

I was surprised that we drove quite a distance to Fort Collins, Colorado to go shopping at a small mall and for furniture. Fort Collins?

For a state capital, it just seemed very, very small. Juneau is the only smaller state capital that I've spent time in - and it is tiny (IMO) in pop, roads and options.

For a state tax free option of the appromixate same size, Pensacola, FL could be used as a point of comparison (based on population). Again, Pensacola seems more like a small town rather than a "city" to me.

Here's a link to Cheyenne demographics I found when I googled -

http://www.city-data.com/city/Cheyenne-Wyoming.html

ydoc

wow! Thanks to you all for the comments. I have a good picture of what that area is like now. As I mentioned in the first message, I was curious as to what that area was like since our friends said the housing costs are very low. I now have an idea as to why that is. There really aren't any deals anymore. Seems all the great places have been discovered and have driven the real estate prices sky high!

Thanks for all the feedback!

sylvia3

The Cody area is lovely; I'd go there before Cheyenne, if I had my druthers.

Softato1

All the retirees I know in Cheyenne go somewhere warm for the winter months.

Dayle

Wyoming is the least populated state in the lower 48, how big would you expect their state capital to be?

If you are concerned about living close to a "major" city, nowhere in Wyoming would be for you, but lots of people like it that way!

Thank goodness for the wide open spaces.

JSLee

Wyoming's populations is 550,000 +/-. By population to the size of the state, it is a territory, not rural or urbon.. The two largest cities are Casper(area) and Cheyenne both with 50,000-53,000 people.

Cheyenne is only 90 minutes from Denver Colorado which is a very large city with lots to do. So would be a small area close to things. This would be good, but there are some problems. See below.

Wyomingites consider every thing perfect; low population and wide open spaces. BUT Wyoming has the hightest suicide and alcoholism rate in the US. Rapidly increasing drug problem. Very high depresion rates. Some of the lowest paying jobs. Bar hopping is the main, and nearly the only, entertainment. Cheyenne has half the crime that Casper does.

Their general attitude is that if you are not a native, you do not belong here. When we moved to Wyoming in 1977, we had a $1100.00 purchase rung up. When the sales people found out we were moving in from out of state, they voided the sale and walked off.

In Casper, at least 30% of the people do not go to the mall, you can walk the length in 4 minutes or less. They get lost, 4 entrances. Being around crowds, 400 people at once gets them nervous.

I would recommed some of the small cities in Colorado that are north of Denver.