Evanston Wyoming

[Wyody]

Although I've lived many places in Wyoming it now turns out that I've lived the longest in Evanston. Let me just say a few things about this area and I'll add more if the thread develops:
Evanston is three miles from the Utah border. Of all the towns around here, it is the one with easiest and quickest access to Salt Lake City, to the ski resorts at Park City and to Ogden, UT. Salt Lake and Ogden are the two nearest places to do any real shopping for yourself and for the home.
This is a town of approx. 12,000 although there is a steady flow of transient workers in the oil-and-gas industry, road-crews and construction crews. We are bordered to the north by Utah also - as the road toward Idaho bends into Utah with the tiny towns of Woodruff and Randolph. Woodruff is actually a village - has a post office and an automotive-repair shop and a real nice mountain-road over Monte Christo that leads thru the Ogden Valley and down into Ogden. The road is closed from, usually, mid-Oct to mid-May. Woodruff is also one of the coldest spots in the nation in many winters.
We are bordered on the south by Utah also!! The Uinta mountains lie in Utah and are 25 miles away. There is a road that generally is open all year, leading you on a loop down to Heber City, UT.
In this area, you can go Moose, Elk, Deer and antelope hunting, four-wheeling and dirt-biking in both desert and alpine terrains. You can go snow-mobiling in the mountains. It is 190 miles north to Yellowstone, about 70 miles north-by-northwest to Bear Lake for boating and fishing (it doesn't freeze in winter) and slightly less than 100 miles to Flaming Gorge.
Pay is not generally great. Jobs and housing are both sometimes scarce.
And it gets cold - not cold like Woodruff - but -20 to -30. It heats up almost every day, however, enough to cause melt so that the roads can be treacherous all winter long.
You can maybe get a garden in the ground but forget about trying to grow corn - the season is too short. The last frost is usually mid-to-late April so, planting can't really start until late May (if that). First frosts are often mid-September but sometimes earlier. We're at 6800ft elevation, after all.
Evanston has a railroad running through - that's why/how the town was built since they could water at the Bear River which runs through town - but the trains don't stop here anymore. There are a multitude of motels and gas-stations.
The newspaper is the Uinta County Herald and they are online - but they don't update daily.
End of mssg I.

[Wyoming53]

Take a look at Wyoming on the map. Make sure it's a good map showing all the towns, even the ones that used to be here, but are now gone. All the towns are 32 to 33 miles apart. do you now why? It was the distance that the stage could go. Wyoming towns are based on stage stops. Cheyenne to Chugwater, about 35 miles. Chugwater to Wheatland, about 35 miles. Wheatland on, about 35 miles. I pointed that fact out to my daughter 10 years ago while we were driving. Now, when I say, how far is the next town? She says, 30 minutes. Damn California born girl. I say, ok, then how long will it take? She looks at me and says, I just told you. I say, no, I asked how far, you said 30 minutes, your not allowed to use that anwer again. hahahaha

[Wyody]

Originally Posted by Wyoming53

Take a look at Wyoming on the map. Make sure it's a good map showing all the towns, even the ones that used to be here, but are now gone. All the towns are 32 to 33 miles apart. do you now why? It was the distance that the stage could go. Wyoming towns are based on stage stops. Cheyenne to Chugwater, about 35 miles. Chugwater to Wheatland, about 35 miles. Wheatland on, about 35 miles. I pointed that fact out to my daughter 10 years ago while we were driving. Now, when I say, how far is the next town? She says, 30 minutes. Damn California born girl.

That's good historical information.
I grew up in Ohio - and I'm not sure anybody there knows how far it is in miles to anywhere else - everybody just says it in minutes or hours.
From Evanston, it's 50 miles to Kemmerer and another 17 to Lake Viva Naughton. Dang but they have some big trout!
It's about 55 miles to Cokeville - which sits near the south "Salt River Pass' into Star Valley. There are two towns between approx 25 and 35 miles out. You can also branch off from that way into Idaho and the famous Bear Lake.
It's 30-42 miles to the Bridger Valley which is in the same county (Uinta) with towns of Ft. Bridger - named after the famous mountain-man and guide Jim Bridger, Mountain View and Lyman - which has a back road into the Uinta Mountains and "Black Fork". It's another forty miles to Green River/Rock Springs, Rock Springs being the nearest option west of here for shopping of any reasonable scale.

[cleozmom]

Originally Posted by Wyoming53

Take a look at Wyoming on the map. Make sure it's a good map showing all the towns, even the ones that used to be here, but are now gone. All the towns are 32 to 33 miles apart. do you now why? It was the distance that the stage could go. Wyoming towns are based on stage stops. Cheyenne to Chugwater, about 35 miles. Chugwater to Wheatland, about 35 miles. Wheatland on, about 35 miles. I pointed that fact out to my daughter 10 years ago while we were driving. Now, when I say, how far is the next town? She says, 30 minutes. Damn California born girl. I say, ok, then how long will it take? She looks at me and says, I just told you. I say, no, I asked how far, you said 30 minutes, your not allowed to use that anwer again. hahahaha

Oh my gosh that's my brother! I could have cracked his California skull right through the phone. We were moving my mom out here to Idaho where I'm at a few years back. I was telling him all about the apartment she was moving into when he asked how far it was, I told him less than five miles. So he asks again and I repeat myself, finally he asks me how long does it take to get there. I asked in January or July?

[cleozmom]

BTW, when I was still driving truck with my husband we used to stop in Evantson all the time and eat at Shakey's Pizza, is it even there still?

[Wyody]

Originally Posted by cleozmom

BTW, when I was still driving truck with my husband we used to stop in Evantson all the time and eat at Shakey's Pizza, is it even there still?

No, Shakey's has been gone about ten years now. They have a Papa Murphy's - which is voted the best pizza in the country (I concur) - which you take home and bake. They also have Pizza Hut and Domino's. The KFC/Taco Bell moved out but are supposedly coming back. Burger King moved out. Dang demographic studies anyway!
So, for fast food, it leaves McDonald's, Arby's, Wendy's, a Taco Time and THREE Subways!
They've added a steak-house downtown (Bon Rico's) - usually need reservations. A great little bar & grill called Michael's, TWO "Don Pedro's" Mexican restaurants - one downtown and another on the east end where "The Last Outpost" Bar & Restaurant used to be and a new steak/grub operation in the same log-cabin building on the east strip that has operated under several different names over the years. For the past three or four years it was "Kelly's Biker/Cowboy Friendly Bar & Steakhouse". There's also a newer Truck-Stop on the east end in addition to the Flying J on the west end (years ago, it was the Husky Stagestop). They've also added a Ranch/Farm/Home store in the old WalMart building in front of the newer SuperWalMart. Everything else is about the same though - except the trains don't stop here no more and Union-Pacific RR donated the old round-house and machine-shop to the town. They turned the machine-shop into a hot-spot for receptions, galas and the like. They also expanded the golf-course to 18 holes.

[Wyoming53]

hahaha I did a project down in Texas. They other engineer asked me if Golfed and what was my handycap. I said, last time I played, I shot a 76. he said really????? I said, yup. but last time I was home I noticed they added 9 holes, don't know how I can do now.

[Wyody]

The golf-course here in Evanston is not real hard to play. I haven't played since they added a back-nine. Afton city course is absolutely the easiest I've ever golfed while Thaynes "Star Valley Ranch" course is the toughest I've seen!
You would want to check first but I think all of them allow cross-country skiing in winter.

[RodFarlee]

Congratulations to you in Evanston on winning The Corner War!

For those who might not know, the war was fought over who had the right to be a rectangular state. And if Utah had won...

...Wyoming would be the one that looks funny on the map, but Evanston UT might not be much different, eh Wyody?

[Wyody]

Originally Posted by RodFarlee

Congratulations to you in Evanston on winning The Corner War!

For those who might not know, the war was fought over who had the right to be a rectangular state. And if Utah had won...

...Wyoming would be the one that looks funny on the map, but Evanston UT might not be much different, eh Wyody?

Rod, in Evanston Wyoming, we can scream YEEEEEEHAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
Utahns aren't allowed to do that.
If Evanston was in Utah, we'd be paying state income-tax. No income-tax in Wyoming.
Evanston is still largely influenced by Utah as are nearly all border areas near Utah. It's sometimes not the best of combinations due to Wyoming's anti-authoritarian character and Utahs "sit down and be still" tenets.
Utah and Idaho still aren't at peace over the NE border - not a comfortable, secure peace anyway.
There are two Utah towns - Woodruff and Randolph - that really should be in Wyoming. They shop here and mostly, work here. In winter, they have to come through here to go to any other part of Utah unless they can make it over the pass back up into Logan UT. It's a 35mile bus ride through the mtns for the middle-schoolers when they could just come here - it's a 22 mile flat ride from Woodruff Utah and 32 from Randolph.

[cleozmom]

Originally Posted by Wyody

No, Shakey's has been gone about ten years now.

No more Shakey's? That's too sad. I remember watching the pizza makers toss (spin) the dough through the window when I was a kid out in CA. I'd stand there thinking that's what I want to be when I grow up And I did for a while at Domino's back when the 'Noid was the rage

Yes, we have Papa Murphy's and if I don't feel like making a homemade one that's what we have. The other jonits just bite.

[Wyody]

Originally Posted by cleozmom

Yes, we have Papa Murphy's and if I don't feel like making a homemade one that's what we have. The other jonits just bite.

I had finally talked my wife into moving to the Cincinnati, Ohio area in May of 2005. I went to college in Cincy and at the time was really impressed with the city, the shopping and the style and always missed living there.
We moved there. In college-days, I'd always gone to this quaint, romantic-ish, little pizza shop ran by the owner called "LaRosa's". When we got back to Cincy, LaRosa's had about thirty stores just in the Cincy area! After three-decades away, I couldn't wait to go. We went ... I don't know what happened in those 30 years but the pizza sucked! It took a while but I finally found a Papa Murphy's nearby. I've never been so pizza-happy in my life! I wish I could start a franchise because, next door to every Papa Murphy's, I'd put a "bake-shop" where we could bake their pizza for folks on the road or living without an oven or simply looking for convenience and eating out!