Wyoming...

So here is a list of funny and odd things we have noticed about Wyoming so far:

• they have strange building codes. Driving down the street and looking at houses is entertaining.
• The favorite past time of locals, at least in Lander and Riverton, seems to be drinking alcohol. Every Restaurant boasts alcohol as their number one selling point in the advertising. Mainly it is just home brewed beer. Every grocery store, including walmart, has a sepearte, large alcohol store attatched--even the local grocery store. When you ask non-LDS locals about where is a good place to eat, their list of pro's always lists the resturants alcohol as the number one reason for liking the place. I'm guessing the food doesn't matter much after you are drunk.
• waitresses/waiters are confused when you say you don't want any alcohol or cofee.
• They have an Octoberfest celebration, which of course we didn't witness since we moved the last week of October. Another point towards the locals love of alcohol.
• People cross main street on horseback.
• A guy picked up his daughter from school the other day riding his bike, and pulling a trailer thing he had made himself. She was 10 or older, so it was a rather large trailer made of plywood and other materials.
• Houses are expensive here. Our Burley house would be close to $200,000 here.
• Wyoming schools are impressive. Ethan's Elementary school is the fanciest school I have ever been in.
• There seems to be a large percentage of hipsters in this area... A lot of the locals are from Denver, or have ties to Denver, which also has a large percentage of hipsters. Honestly, I think a lot of them look ridiculous, like when they wear their hats barely on their head, so that they look like Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. And the guys all have beards.. the same scraggly kind... they all look the same, which I think defeats the purpose of a hipster as I thought they wanted to be known, which was to stand out from the crowd...
• I don't think the missionaries get fed much. We have had them to our apartment twice now, and one of the elders (who is skinny and boasts constantly about exercising a lot and eating healthy) seriously devours everything we put in front of him, and still looks hungry. Sunday I made lasagna... he finished off the tray himself.
• I'm looking forward to summer here, because it is supposed to be a great area for outdoor activities, though people keep telling us it is not safe to go camping with young children in this area due to bears... and they are serious, not joking trying to see if we would believe them...
• You have to fence your garden and flower beds, and put fencing around your ornamental or small trees, or deer will eat them.