Wyoming has many nicknames — Suffrage State, Equality State, Sagebrush State, Cowboy State — but the one I think captures its essence is, Big Wyoming.The enormity of the state is staggering. Not just in real estate, it’s ranked as only the 10th biggest state in the country in size, but in the character of that real estate. Rugged mountains. Verdant prairie grasslands. Forested hills. Even an arid desert. The vastness of Wyoming is staggering.
We’ve bisected the state, traveling across plateaus at elevations above 6,000 feet, from the Colorado to Montana border, paralleling mountain ranges that boast some of the tallest peaks in the country. There were times, as I sat spellbound in my navigator’s seat staring out the window, that I couldn’t see any visible evidence of human habitation. Just sage brush, from the highway to the horizon. We passed a number of historical markers, identifying segments of the Oregon Trail. It made me reflect on early pioneers, crossing the west on that rugged thoroughfare. What were they thinking?
Well, here’s what I’m thinking as I travel across Wyoming. The appeal of a landscape as awe-inspiring as this in the least populated state in the country provides an opportunity to really experience quiet moments. The cacophony of the 40 million people in my home state of California is overwhelming. Dissonant noise is ever-present. But here is quiet, broken only by the harmonious sounds emanating from the “wide open spaces” (thank you Dixie Chicks) that populate the state.
Stand still long enough and you just might hear the sharp whinnying call of a pronghorn or the chattering of a magpie or the bugle of an elk. Stand still even longer in the right spot and you might hear the grunt of a moose as it wanders into view.
I’m also thinking that Wyoming’s terrain just makes me feel good. It’s a landscape that says, “take a deep breath and rest in the stillness, for just a little while.” Something we all need, more often than we think.
But in between finding peace and solitude, be sure to stop at the Farson Mercantile in Farson for a colossal ice cream cone. That, too, is a feel good moment.