Wyoming

Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Have you checked to see if Cody has a newspaper with a web presence? Newspapers often have a lot of local gossip...and weather.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Snowstorm is in WY, but she's in the 'back of beyond'. If I see her around, I'll direct her over here.

MM

I live in Wyoming, but I'm on the opposite side of the state. Here is a good link with lots of data about the city. Things like snowfall averages, temperature, schools, average income, etc.
http://www.city-data.com/city/Cody-Wyoming.html

It's a relatively small town, with around 10,000 people. High school sports and church functions would be important, as well as annual events such as rodeo and town celebrations.

Like most small towns, gossip would be high on the day to day list.

They're close to Yellowstone, so they have a lot of tourists.

The Chamber of Commerce website has a calendar of events listed. http://www.codychamber.org/events.cfm

Here's a blog about life in Cody: http://athomeinwyoming.com/

I've only traveled there (I live in an RV, and twice I've done big, long sweeps around the continent; I've hit a lot of places on U.S. highways) and I remember one thing: wind. Pity's sake, how do they live with all that wind?

When I do research on a town, I go to google maps and ask for "restaurants" in a city and read reviews. If locals are reviewing, you get a sense of the town. and perhaps the name of a restaurant to mention. I have map software that will show me every hospital, car repair place, restaurant, campground, school, etc. I look at the map and think about its layout. I go to the Chamber of Commerce site and see what they'd like people to think about them. I google. "Cody wyoming" and "sucks" and other odd little phrases, hoping to get some teenager's rant about life in the town. I google images on the town. It all adds up.

I live in Laramie, WY, which is about 6 hours south east of Cody. I can attest to the wind!

But it is only bad when you are trying to smoke a cigarette.

I have a cousin who used to live in Cody, it's likely nothing has changed. Small town, big mountains, deep river gorge and always windy.

It actually got very hot the last summer I visited, which was probably 20 years ago. Touched 100F a couple times. Almost no snow, which seems strange for the type of area.

Life for them revolved around kids, school, sports and church. Not unusual for a small town. The economy is tourism-based, hotels, tours, restaurants, etc. They lived outside of the town area, actually in the county and not the city, so everything was a drive to somewhere.

I remember no minorities that weren't visitors. The times I was there, all the talk was about tourist numbers, employment and what they were doing with the old ghost town. That and whether Jimmy would heal from the last tumble in the rodeo.

Most of the tourism was related to Yellowstone. Which meant the town died in the winter. Skiing was a long way from town, but they still got visitors who were skiers. Summer had a lot of RV/Camping/Outdoor tourism.

Everyone in Cody hunts and fishes. They don't all drive pickups, but they're popular. Never saw any Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, etc. for the people who lived there, the luxury cars were caddies and big SUVs. Lots of western wear, boots, hats, jeans, but the kind you buy because it's the right work clothes, not because it's stylish.

My cousin taught school and her husband drove a truck. Normal 3 bedroom/2 bath ranch with a fair amount of acreage. Middle-income, maybe better than some since they didn't depend on tourism. Lots of seasonal work for wait staff available, not a huge amount of year-round work it seemed.

Hope it helps. One trick to try is to send an email to someone who works for the City of Cody or the Chamber of Commerce. Those resources have worked for me on more than one occasion.

Jeff

I live in Casper, WY. My kids have been in Trooper Cadets for several years so we have spent many 4th of July's there for the Cody Stampede, which is a huge event in the town, People come from all over for the rodeo and festivities. Cody is a pretty town, tourist-y, nice coffee places, bars and restauants, really wide streets. Powell is just 20 miles from Cody and has a community college and hosts lots of high school events.

One thing about the weather in addition to wind--Wyoming is arid. Humidity is virtually unheard of. I thought I was going to to die when I moved to Kansas. Summer storms often carry hail, not tornadoes. Days can be hot in summer with much cooler nights.

Also, prong horn antelope are pretty unique to WY/CO. Herds are easy to see from the highway.

If you travel to Cody through the Big Horns, you can run into snow and the hairpin turns slow you down to 15 m per hour--much longer drive time than the mileage suggests.

Thanks for the heads-up, MaryMumsy!

I live south of Cody at the tip of the Wind River Mountains (it's not paradise, but I can see it from here!). I'll echo the others up-thread about the wind. Cody is a tourist town with plenty of non-Wyomingites moving in, yet there's a lot of what remains in many small towns in Wyoming: pride.

A lot of folks move to Wyoming because it's beautiful and not very populated (thus ruining what they love). With this influx, there's a lot of standard US attitudes (me first, who cares about ... anything). Often with the old ranching families, you'll see vastly different attitudes: hard work, caring about the natural resources, caring about each other as a family, respect for elders and for other people that's remarkable to watch. Granted, not everyone is like this, but when you have a chance to observe old families like this, it's a life pleasure. There's a great deal of pride in families who've been here for generations.

Even in formal affairs, men (including the governor) wear jackets, bolo ties, blue jeans and boots. I think there's only a couple shopping malls in the entire state. I don't believe Cody has one.

Weather: anything can happen: usually in the form of very high, unending winds and a lot of snow (or none!). Incredibly low humidity: lips crack. Hands crack and split. Dry skin. Hoarseness. Nose bleeds. Hair can dry out without a lot of conditioner. Sounds awful, but it's only an annoyance. No mold in the shower, and any spills or damp clothes dry in minutes. Log cabins can last for centuries because there's little humidity/moisture to destroy the wood (depending upon where the cabin's located, of course).

That's all I can think right now. If you have any specific questions, please let me know.

Also, no fireflies, cardinals or roaches like the midwest has!