Reviews & Comments
Dubois, WY
The Perfect Place. -
3/21/2023Before we fell in love with the scenery, we fell in love with the people. We came through Dubois in 2020, because it was the only town in Wyoming that hadn't cancelled its 4th of July Parade. They even had the Governor as the Grand Marshall! We stayed a week and then moved on to a planned 6-week stay in Lake Tahoe. After two weeks of putting up with noise and traffic there, we looked at each other and said "Let's go back to Dubois!" The views are breathtaking, the folks are friendly. We bought property, built a home, and stayed. Wonderful place.
Dubois is about 1000 people officially, with another 1,000 or so in the surrounding area. Everybody knows everybody. We like it that way.
Dubois, WY
re: Unless you were born here, don't bother.
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9/11/2020I'm not sure what Jack was looking for, or if THAT MUCH has changed in 5 years, but my husband and I visited Dubois, Wyoming, over the July 4th holiday and fell in love with the place. We had planned to go on to Lake Tahoe for 6 weeks, but after 2 weeks of crowds and traffic we came back to Dubois and bought a home site. People are friendly here. They smile and wave when they drive by, even if they don't know you, and chat you up in shops and restaurants. Before coming here we lived for 15 years in Lorton, Virginia, in a huge house on a half-acre lot. In all those years we got to know one set of neighbors well enough to chat over the fence. No one else. Yet in 4 weeks in Dubois we've come to know at least a dozen people and they know us, and that's not counting the conversations with vacationers passing through. Yes, there's a turnover in businesses and in a small town it's more noticeable, but I have a sense that the town is being discovered, especially this year. No, I haven't seen a health food store or a Sushi palace, but it has a really nice high-end steakhouse (The Lone Buffalo), a couple of great local cafes for the usual comfort food, several burger restaurants and a Mexican takeout. The local hardware store is becoming an ACE Hardware (my favorite), Twin Pines Lodge is beautiful and historic, and the little supermarket has pretty much everything you need. Most people have dogs (some have the run of the town shops) so they are obviously welcome. As for church squabbling, only about a third of the town is religious so I don't see that being an obstacle to fitting in. If you want more, Lander is 75 or so miles east and Jackson is 85 or so miles west. Dubois fits perfectly in the middle.
Dubois, WY
re: Keep Wyoming beautiful, don't move here.
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7/20/2020I agree with Nancy. "Lifestyle choice" means don't move here unless you're willing to rough it. Doctors and dentists are not available 24/7 (as I learned when I got an abscessed tooth on a Tuesday and found that the dentist in town was only there Mondays and Thursdays) and a private medical specialist may only be available 85 miles away in Jackson. I was told by a supermarket clerk that her first child was born on the pass into Jackson because an immovable herd of buffalo blocked the highway when she went into labor. Winter temperatures here can reach 40 below zero (and more with the wind chill), major highways are often closed because of snow, and winter isolation means that people can get very grumpy. If you're just looking for a fashionable place with upscale restaurants and ski runs, try Jackson.
Mesquite, NV
Where the old go to mark time and be patronized -
12/24/2019My husband and I visited Mesquite around Christmas as it had been suggested to us as a place to retire, but the impression we had was that retirees are a very large part of the population and we prefer a mix of age groups and a downtown with more personality.
If a beautiful golf course and clubhouse, lovely gated subdivisions of upscale houses, convenient hospital and senior center, and little else is what you're looking for this is the place. But to me it feels sterile and the attitude of many of the service people condescending.
Example: My husband and I had lunch in the Eureka Casino, which was nominally decorated for the holidays but playing obnoxious, ratcheting, hip-hop type music. The waitress repeatedly addressed me as "Hon" and at one point put her hand on the small of my back as though I were an inmate at a nursing home and she was preparing to wipe my chin. It totally creeped me out. (Please note that although I have gray hair I was taller, thinner, and in better shape than she was.)
For dinner we went to Peggy Sue's Diner hoping to get a younger vibe, only to find at each table a selection of joke books with titles like (I'm not kidding) "How to Get Along without your Memory: Tips for People Who Are Really Old But Somehow Still Alive," "The Joy of Being Broke: The Book for People who Would be Rich if they just had More Money," and So You Think You Can Geezer: Instructions for Becoming the Old Coot You Always Dreamed Of." Someone may have thought those were funny; we did not.
The town wasn't decorated for Christmas (which is becoming more and more a criterion for me), and - to be frank - gated subdivisions feel not "secure" or "exclusive" but off-putting and an indication that crime is a problem.
The whole town has a planned, no there there feel. Not our kind of place.
Santa Clarita, CA
Going the Way of LA? -
6/11/2019A year ago my husband and I chose Santa Clarita as our base for work in the LA area after areas closer in proved too scarey and dirty (Van Nuys in particular). In general, Santa Clarita is clean and has low crime, but the influx of homeless drug addicts and illegals into LA is changing that. We stay at an RV park part of the year and feel safe, but in recent months there has been evidence of illegals moving up the Santa Clarita river bed stopping and using the showers in the park as a toilet. Also, just two weeks ago, there were two armed home invasions on the same day over in the Canyon Country area of Santa Clarita that targeted the elderly: 3-4 armed thugs in broad daylight. If Santa Clarita responds the same as the rest of Los Angeles (do nothing) then this town too will become just as unlivable. I wouldn't buy a house in California as the word is out on the quality of life here and people are having trouble selling their homes so they can leave. As it is, we will be having to make some hard decisions in the next year about remaining in the area, even part time.
Laughlin, NV
Beautiful Mountains. Small Town Feel. Conservative -
1/30/2019I divide my time between Laughlin and work on the road and I always look forward to coming back. I love the small town feel of the Laughlin/Bullhead City area and the beautiful mountains surrounding it. Well-maintained highways. Watersports on the Colorado River and camping at Big Bend of the Colorado State Park. Just an hour or two from places like Oatman and Valley of Fire State Park. Great restaurants and shows at the casinos downtown, yet drive a mile or two and you're in the desert.
Housing: both real estate and apartments are still highly affordable.
Traffic: you can pull out onto a four-lane highway and see just one car in either direction. Since I spend time in Los Angeles, I appreciate that.
Weather: very windy some days and blistering hot in the summer, but spring and fall are just lovely and even in the middle of winter there are shorts and shirtsleeve days.
Politics: Because Laughlin is included in Clark County its political rating is skewed by the much more liberal Las Vegas. Check Bullhead City for a better comparison. This is a conservative town.