Of all places, why did we pick Wyoming?

We have been asked this so many times! Why did we pick Wyoming? How did we even find out about the land? Did we go see it before we purchased it? Had we ever been to that area before, is that why we bought land there?

I can't believe I haven't talked about this yet, but now is the time!

We purchased the land back in 2012, a little over 2 years ago.  At that time, I was an intern at an engineering company in Cincinnati (a little over an hour drive, one way from home!) and going to school at night for my associates in mechanical engineering.  The company that I worked for was closing (we found out in ~Dec 2011 I think), it was just a matter of time when I would lose my job.  Scott was working a seasonal job doing concrete/construction. 

The end of February, Scott randomly asked me, 'What would you think about moving to another state?' and I said, 'Why not? There's nothing holding us back!.' 

So he proceeded to tell me that for years he had been receiving email notifications about land for sale all throughout the west, from Arizona/New Mexico all the way up to Montana.  He said he had always wanted to buy land, but never had anyone to do it with until me!  That last week in February he had received an email from a land realtor that had land for sale (that we could afford) in Wyoming.  There was land down outside of Cheyenne and then some up near Cody, WY.  When he asked if I would consider moving to Wyoming I said 'Heck ya!! It's horse country out there!!'

We looked through all the land that was for sale and narrowed it down to some of our favorites from 2 locations.  I cannot recall the town  or area near Cheyenne that we were considering, but one thing that drew us to the area was the beautiful land!! It had rolling hills, beautiful grasslands, and amazing areas to ride horses.  However, that particular area was only accessible by vehicle during part of the year and it wasn't equipped with electricity.  So it would have been perfect for someone that wanted a hunting getaway, but not for a permanent residence (unless we would be totally off the grid).

The second place that drew our attention was an area north of Cody, WY.  So after looking at lots of different properties, we picked one that had electrical lines at the road in front of our land and it had lots of character with the rock formation and the natural drainage though the property.

Keep in mind this was all the last week of February when we decided to consider moving and found some land options (that we could afford) in areas that we really liked.

That same week, I received notice that my final day was going to be on Friday, March 2cd.  On Monday, March 5th, we left for Wyoming to look at the land!! 

We had been out to Rapid City, SD the year before for a friend's wedding, but that was the only time I had ever been out west.  Scott had been to Utah, Colorado, through Montana and all around the west, except for Wyoming! 

And we had nothing that was taking us there - no family that lived out west, no friends that lived in Wyoming, no jobs we were moving for.... only open space, the freedom to roam, and the adventure of a lifetime!!

I can't remember the exact date, but I think it was on Wednesday that we met the realtor, went to the land and walked the property (here is a link to the pictures from that day:  http://welovewyoming.blogspot.com/2013/12/first-trip-to-wyoming.html).  That same day we committed to it and purchased it!

We were only out in Wyoming for maybe 1-2 more days to explore the area a little by mainly driving around to check out the town life.  We did meet our new neighbors out there who are the nicest people!  Since 2012, they have helped us with questions we had about all the permits and the companies to use for our build.

When we got back home, we went to talk with our neighbors and found out that Charlotte's daughter Amy lived in Cody!!!  What a small world!  Amy and her husband have been so helpful and we even got to meet them when they came to visit in Ohio.

In a nutshell:  It was completely on a whim that we decided to look at the land in Wyoming which also happened to be the first and only time we've even been to Wyoming!

Side note:  We never did go look at the other piece of land near Cheyenne.  We did look at another piece of land about 2 miles from where we purchased, but it didn't have electricity and the road wasn't graveled all the way to the property yet so we decided against it.


Here is a picture taken from a property that is 2 plots down the road from ours (so they are farther from the mountains than our property and these pictures would look over our land too - our land would be mid-right of the picture).  This gives you an idea of how pretty it is on a clear day when everything is green!

Photo Credit: http://www.rockymountaintimberlands.com/images/5162.lg.jpg