Thanks y'all. I have been having a rough time with my sick dog and this forum really helped. So, I wanted to share.

Rules of Wyoming

1) In order to qualify for township you must have a population of at least 3 people, a post office and a minimum of 2 bars. (Will consider granting a waiver on the post office.)

2) During a UW home game, War Memorial stadium becomes the most populous area in the state.

3) The first day of deer hunting season is a statewide holiday. (But we will call it “Fall Break” to confuse all the tree huggers from California.)

4) Speaking of California—we really don’t give a big hairy rat’s *** how you did it back there. If you did it so much better there, then GO BACK and leave us the **** alone. (That goes for Texas, too.)

5) If you are at a stop light anywhere in the state and there are more than 5 cars waiting, it is considered a major traffic jam.

6) We don’t consider guns a right, we consider them a way of life. If you don’t like it, you really should consider keeping your big pie hole shut about it. (Refer back to #4.)

7) Always be polite to the women folk. We like our guns, too, and are usually better shots than the men. (Can’t live with and can’t shoot them-- my ***.)

8) Don’t come within 2 cars lengths of the rear end of my car on the interstate. For Pete’s sake, with 2 cars and 3 Semis every 5 miles do you really think it’s necessary to ride my *** with your high beams on for 50 miles? (Also, refer back to #6 and #7)

9) When you see a sign that says “Last chance for Fuel and Restrooms” on the highways, you better take it damned seriously. 75 miles is a long way to go when you have to **** and don’t have enough gas to get there.

10) Make sure you fuel up before 9:00 pm. Some towns really do shut down at night. (I’m a native and I’ve gotten caught by that one.)

11) If you ask someone, “How are you doing?” be prepared for a full and complete answer that could take 20 min. or more.

12) It only snows once a year here. After that, the wind simply recycles it over and over again.

13) Don’t come here to get you liquor, fireworks and porn then turn around and act like you’re morally superior us. (Hey Utah, at least we’re honest about it!)

Living in rural Maine, I can identify with most of these...

That was the hardest thing for me to get used to when I moved here. I always wanted to go out to dinner at 9:00 and the restaurants were always just closing. I couldn't get it through my head. Things have changed in this town though; even though there are fewer people, places stay open later. Go figure.

Okay, not the porn, but it was a way of life to cross the border to get alcohol and fireworks!! Utah's drinking age is 21 and Wyoming (is/was?) 18 or 19, so us college students spent many an afternoon on this trek! And we were good--no drinking it until we got back home!

The age was raised to 21 about 19 years ago, but that was OK. I turned turned 21 eight days later. Folks still go there though because the state/church runs the liquor dept. here and the prices are ridiculous. When I worked at a liquor store in another city, we always knew that if someone was buying a case of liter bottles they would have Utah plates on their car.

Even the rules on drinking in restaurants and bars are ridiculous and confusing. I was drinking Crown and Cokes one night. I had about six and couldn't even catch a buzz. Now they are changing the laws to allegedly fix that. You can get 1.5 oz in your mixed drink(instead of 1 oz), but you can't get a sidecar unless it is a different type of liquor. OMG talk about hangover induction. I'ld hate to have to clean the bathrooms the next day.

Fireworks are the main draw. I'm was smart enough not to by mine in Evanston(about 1 mile inside the WY border). The Utah Highway Patrol sits on a ridge just the other side of the state line and busts anyone coming into Utah boottlegging. Now I just go back home to enjoy the 4th of July.

Understanding Utah liquor laws requires a phd! Even after they relaxed some of the laws, I couldn't understand them! I remember a few years back I was visiting a friend and we went to a Mexican restaurant. We were having margaritas and when they delivered my meal, I had about 2 sips left and I asked for a second drink. They couldn't even take my order until after I finished the one in front of me. Needless to say, the place was packed and it took so long to fix my second drink that my dinner was done before they delivered the drink! I kind of like to sip them with the food! Gosh. Oh, and the "club" thing--you can't go into a real bar unless you are a member and you can't be a member unless you know someone who is already a member. It kind of makes it difficult for the business traveler (but I guess there are a lot of places that will "find" a member to sponsor you).

I'm rather glad I don't live in Utah any longer.

Alinnell--I grew up in Salt Lake, and yes, the liquor laws were hard to deal with. Also that ridiculous 3.2 beer--never have so many drunk so much for so little!

I left Utah many years ago--and the irony is that now I don't drink!

Jay

I've never been to Wyoming but I would like to visit the Grand Tetons one day. Actually less populated areas kind of scare me a bit so I'd have to get over that fear before I go

Alinell - In So Cal (as you probably know), we always had Tiajuana for alcohol. I too stopped drinking quite a few years ago though.

Nelie~I'd be afraid to go to Tijuana these days. Oh, and I've been to Wyoming--some really beautiful country! Jackson Hole (although quite touristy) was so fun.

Jay~I totally forgot about 3.2 beer! LOL.

Allison is right Nelie...T.J. is becoming the wild wild west!

oh...I could never live in Utah!...wink

I did like it many years ago when I went to Idaho and found out I could drink at 18 I think it was...maybe 19...anyway...fun...not saying under 21 is a good idea though...nope!

Nelie-OMG that fear is so ironic. A few years ago a lady was snowmobiling and got separated from her group. She wound up out in a meadow and had to be rescued because she had an open space panic attack. Couldn't decide which way to go and completely freaked out. When the rescuers got her she was in shock.

Jackson Hole/Grand Teton is beautiful country, but it has been kind of screwed up by second homers. Everything is sooooo overpriced. Homesteaders around that area have even been taxed off land that's been in the family over 100 years because people buy property to "get back to Nature" then have $1-2 million homes on them. The property values get so high that the homesteaders can't afford the taxes. Ordinary workers can't even afford to live there. Some businesses have to supply housing in order to find employees.

You should also look into visiting The Big Horn area in the Northeast part of the state. God goes there on vacation. I visited my ex up there and it is magnificent. FYI-WY is the only state that has rivers running OUT of all 4 borders.

I didn't appreciate WY until I lived in UT. It's beautiful here too. But, I have to agree with the statement that UT is nice to visit, just don't live there.

JayEll-When we mess up and work on certain things we have to pay a beer penalty. I get 2 mistakes though cause I can have REAL Beer.

I live in WY. I always heard people talking about the 'beautiful' parts of WY and never understood it because the area I live in is very plain - we're in the flattest part of the state. I had to go to Lander at the beginning of April and I finally got to see a small part of the beauty that we really do have.

And, by the way, that list? Incredibly (and sadly! LOL) true!

Oh, I miss Wyoming too. My husband might get laid off, so we were looking at some alternatives, and I suggested going home to Rock Springs. But it's crazy, crazy there. Not as bad as Jackson Hole yet, but property prices are increasing rapidly and there's still no housing. And yes, Lander is a very pretty place.

WY is an addiction that takes people by surprise. When I graduated from high school, everyone was going to "get the **** out and never come back." Two years later we were all back. I definately miss not paying state taxes. The mining industry is expected to take care of that. Property and income taxes are horrid here and you get almost no return on the investment. We don't run our mouths about family values in WY, but it seems we take better care of the education of our children. My high school was one of the top 100 in the nation. Here, my DD missed 2 days of school this week and I didn't receive so much as a phone call.