Wyoming
Wyoming Bars Nightlife and Entertainment.
Wyoming. Venture to the top of Medicine Mountain and you’ll find the Medicine Wheel with its 28 spokes and 245ft acircumference – an ancient stone shrine built in time immemorial by a long lost tribe – the most ancient, perhaps, of Indians; thousands of years before the cowboys.. Wyoming is a state rich in prehistoric mysteries (including Dinosaur fossils) with evidence of occupation going back 12000 years. Indian tribes inhabiting these lands have included the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, Sioux, Shoshone and Ute. Indeed there is still an Indian reservation remaining, the Wind River headquartered at Fort Washakie – home to more than 5,000 Shoshone and Arapaho Indians.
Wyoming highlighted in redThe reservation spreads over almost two million acres, but that’s ok because Wyoming is the 10th largest state in the US sprawling over just under 98,000 square miles. Bordered by Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska , Colorado, Utah and Idaho, it was the 44th state to join the union in 1890 and was the first state to offer suffrage to women. The capital, Cheyenne, also ranks top in population at almost 56,000, followed by Casper, Laramie, Gillette and Rock Springs. But with Jackson home to two of the state’s best skiing areas: Snow King and Jackson Hole, it’s here, nearby Teton Village, or in Cheyenne that you’re most likely to be looking for nightlife.
Millions of tourists visit Wyoming every year, attracted not only by the great skiing, but also the state’s national parks including Yellowstone and Grand Teton, monuments including the Fossil Butte and Devils Tower, and the many historic sites that remind us this is very much…the Cowboy State.
Flag of WyomingOh yes, come to Wyoming and you’ve come to the wild, wild west. After all, this is Buffalo Bill country. So expect a great deal of the entertainment to be based on this theme – the legendary Million Dollar Cowboy bar or Silverdollar Bar in Jackson, the Buckhorn Bar in Laramie, the Rustic Pine Tavern in Dubois, the Snake River Brewery in Cheyenne, the Elkhorn Bar in Bondurant – expect wood and leather and a lot of animal heads. Outside the main towns, you’ll be best to stick to beer and uncomplicated drinks at places such as this. Ask for a Manhatten and you’ll probably get a blank stare. Ask for a ‘Raging Orgasm’ and you’ll be arrested.
Don’t be surprised, either, if there’s a shootout while you’re in town. Plenty of them stake fake ones for tourists – the old Cheyenne Gunfight takes place most days at 16th Street and Carey Avenue and late July sees a nine day extravaganza: Cheyenne Frontier Days festival.
Nightclubs? Well, to be frank you’re more likely to find yourself line dancing than hip-hopping – go for it at somewhere like The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar and you’re sure to have a good time. Apres ski nightlife is not bad – the Mangy Moose in Teton Village or The Village Café both popular spots and hip hopping is apparently available on Friday nights at Nikai in Jackson.
Seal of WyomingThere’s no shortage of dining opportunities in Wyoming – but this is cowboy country, so expect real Frontier food – bison, venison and wild game are favourites – and there are plenty of opportunities to don your hat and eat under the stars on a cowboy cookout, chuck wagon or dinner camp. Yellowstone National Park is a brilliant sport for a cowboy cookout, but there are plenty of others at ranches around the state. Steakhouses are what Wyoming in renowned for and there are plenty of places to order great ones, including The Million Dollar Cowboy or the Silver Dollar Grill in Jackson. But why stick to steak when you can try elk and buffalo? There’s nothing like a bison burger when you’re feeling peckish. Unless you’re a vegetarian!
Currently, Laramie, Cheyenne and Evanston have all adopted smoking ban ordinances but generally this is still a smoking state – it may not last long.