A Postcard from Wyoming

It’s a billionaire’s playground here—home to some of the most expensive real estate in the world—but there’s still a little bit of the Old West in Jackson, if you squint.

We’re sat on the bleachers at the Teton County Fairground, a frigid wind blowing through the empty stadium in the late afternoon. During the summer months revellers will be sat Stetson to Stetson as the rodeo heads to town, but today there’s just the faint whistle of the wind, the hot dog and chuckwagon (that’s a good ol’ Wyoming breakfast to you and me) stands and ticket office boarded shut for the low season. 

A bumper sticker on a battered Ford truck ahead of us reads, “I drove through Wyoming once. I think I’m still driving through it.” It’s vast here, flat tundra interspersed with towering peaks, an end of the world feel as you cruise through Grand Teton national park, save for the expensive SUVs and multi-million dollar ranches pockmarking the hills. Moose huddle on the side of the road and the occasional bald eagle scours overhead. The ‘Cowboy State,’ you come here to get far away from everything, or at least fulfil a fantasy of wearing denim and a big hat while driving an even bigger truck with a funny sticker on the back. 

The Silver Dollar Bar is attached to the slightly less romantically-named Wort Hotel on the main strip of Jackson, a long-standing gathering place for locals and those just passing through. The lights dimmed to a low flicker, couples young and old twirl and step to the music, a wisened old timer in faded overalls taps his foot to the strings and keys, a pink sunset casting long shadows across the wooden dance floor. 

Home to native tribes for thousands of years, the trappers and prospectors didn’t show up until the 1800s. You’ll pass signs for Cowboy Gas, and the Snow King Motel, there’s a ski-in church at the top of a mountain, and at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar you order your drink sat on an actual horse’s saddle, which is good fun until you need to manoeuvre off to use the bathroom. You can see how people get drawn to this place, the authentic beauty and harshness of the Western frontier, and a toy town to play yeehaw fancy dress. Another few days and we might have started walking with a limp and calling people pardner. 

"No matter how sophisticated you may be, a large granite mountain cannot be denied. It speaks in silence to the very core of your being,” said the great photographer Ansel Adams, who captured much of his most enduring work around these parts. Frozen in time, those peaks and tributaries are still a sight to behold. For all of the changes, and we’ve been told by the locals there have been plenty, this is a special place that should be experienced. 

We’ll try and catch the rodeo next time.