I wrote this back in June 2018, about three months after relocating from the Denver metro area to northeast Wyoming. It was originally published in a local, now-defunct magazine.
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Wyoming ... when you think of hunting here, you generally think of elk, antelope, moose and Bighorn sheep ... just to name a few! Hunting is a lifestyle in this great state and people travel from far and wide to experience it. Hunting for food, hunting for trophy, hunting as a family tradition, or hunting with your buddies ... it's what you do.
You may (or may not) be surprised to know that some of us come to the Cowboy State to hunt for a new way of life - a new lifestyle. One that includes wide open spaces, a relaxed way of life, and more. Take me for example.
"Big City Girl" Beginnings
I grew up in the Denver metro area, where I lived in neighborhoods with houses too close to each other. I learned to drive on the crazy highways of I-25 and I-70 (including the disastrous 'mouse trap' where the two conjoined!), the twisting and turning roads of the Rocky Mountains and in the ever-increasing congested traffic found all over the suburbs including Westminster, up and down Wadsworth (aka Hwy 287) and - wait for it - Boulder (home to the University of Colorado).
As my life changed and I moved around the city, I found myself growing evermore impatient with the ridiculous traffic, over-crowded neighborhoods and 'I-have-to-pay-what?!' housing costs.
In 2008, I had the pleasure of meeting and working with a Gillette native at a website design company in Golden, Colorado. She and I got to be friends and stayed in touch when she moved back to Gillette to marry her dream guy.
Fast forward to 2011, and they called to offer me a job in Gillette. I considered myself a liberal "big city girl," but was looking for a change, so I said WHY NOT! I had nothing and no one tying me to Colorado so, after a short weekend look-see trip, I moved - lock, stock and television - to the small town of Gillette, Wyoming.
Talk About Culture Shock!
There were a few things that I instantly appreciated like affordable housing and hardly any traffic - traffic jams here consisted of two pickup trucks and me! Antelope that wandered by our office every day (and proceeded to cross the highway [in front of our office] ... YIKES!) were also something new, different and wonderful.
But I could never figure out which direction I was going (the mountains are still to the west but you can't SEE them from most parts of this city). Plus, I was the bluest (read liberal) person I knew living in a decidedly red state. If that weren't enough, I had to drive a couple hours to do any 'real' shopping. Nothing against big box stores, but when you're used to having 20 of them close by, only having two was rough. I was a fish out of water and longed for my comfy lifestyle back in Colorado. (Or so I thought at the time.)
After about 18 months, I sadly told my friends and employers that I was moving back to the lifestyle I once knew and was decidedly more comfortable with. Once again, I packed up my worldly belongings and headed south to the metro area and comforts of where I thought was home.
When I moved back to Colorado, I spent the better part of three years feeling completely unsettled. I moved from pace to place around the north end of the metro area hunting for the lifestyle I was craving. Hunting for a home, a town, a neighborhood where I could be truly at home and relax at the end of a long day. Where I could feel a certain serenity in my surroundings and lifestyle.
Give me a Home Where the Antelope Roam
I finally landed in Erie, Colorado (a suburb of Boulder). After about two months living there, as I was driving home from the grocery store one afternoon, I suddenly realized what my problem was: I was living in the wrong place.
I stopped at the top of the hill, looked out over the city and thought ... pick this town up, move it farther away from the Rocky Mountains and I'd be in Gillette. I'd be living a laid back, slow, contented lifestyle that would feed my soul and my need for open space - breathing room, if you will.
I spent several months online checking the job ads for Gillette, as did my friends on my behalf. Then, about eight months later ... BAM! I got the call. Yep - my friends - my you-know-you-should-never-have-left-Gillette-in-the-first-place friends - called and offered me a job with them, again.
The Hunt Is Over
Three months later, I'm BAAACK! I couldn't be happier. The slower pace of this little burg is exactly what my soul had always needed. The weather is very comparable to Colorado and, no, the wind is not always blowing!
I see pronghorn antelope, horses and cows on my drive to and from work pretty much every day. I can get across town in 12-15 minutes. If the local big box stores don't have what I need, I order it online. I can drive about 45 minutes and be at the amazing Devil's Tower National Monument. A little farther on and I'm in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Life is slow here. Slow and steady and perfect. This little town includes a wonderful range of white-collar, blue-collar and what I like to call striped-collar workers (a cross between the two, of course). Folks that work hard and play hard. There are lots of community events to attend, including concerts and parades, that really bring the community together.
It took me moving out of my comfort zone to realize what my TRUE comfort zone actually was. I had to hunt for the lifestyle I longed for and found it in Gillette.
Whether you come here to hunt as as lifestyle or for a lifestyle, Wyoming - especially Gillette - will not disappoint.