For years it has seemed like a pretty good idea to escape Wyoming for a few winter months and head somewhere warmer, places like Las Vegas or Dallas.
After all, it’s a great way to get away from the cold.
Funny thing though, there have been quite a few days this winter when it was actually warmer back in Fremont County than where we had escaped to.
This truly has been the winter without winter in my part of Wyoming.
Seen Some Things
We can’t help traveling and we cannot help writing about the places we see.
I’m writing this after enjoying two of the tallest things in Las Vegas: the Strat and the Fontainebleau Hotel.
It was 82 degrees as we ascended the 109-story tall Strat (formerly known as the Stratosphere) and took in the amazing views from the top. The busy lights of Vegas never looked better. Sin City was really putting on the dog that night.
From 1,000 feet up it almost looks classy.
We were walking off an excellent steak and shrimp dinner at McCall’s Heartland Grill inside the Strat. Chef Fernando outdid himself. I had a 16-ounce ribeye while my friends dined on tenderloin medallions.
The Strat is the tallest structure in Nevada. Earlier we had stayed at the massive Fontainebleau Hotel, which is the tallest hotel in the state. While there, I had my first Tomahawk Steak at Don’s Prime. It was delicious. Our room looked down over the Sphere, that amazing new landmark on the Vegas skyline.
While there we went to the Sphere to see the movie “Wizard of Oz,” which has been reimagined for that incredible $2.3 billion venue. It was an absolute masterpiece and well worth seeing.
We also just missed my brother Jerry and his family from San Diego. They had been there the night before watching the Eagles perform at the Sphere. They said it was wonderful. I bet it was.
We love old Las Vegas down on Fremont Street. We ran into Tom and Rita Lubnau of Gillette while there. They also had attended the Wizard of Oz show at the Sphere.
For entertainment we attended Wayne Newton’s “Up Close and Personal” show. I can honestly say it was one of the best concerts I have ever been to. Much of the evening involved Newton telling the story of his remarkable life. It was surprisingly personal and extremely entertaining.
While in Vegas we spent quality time with our long-time friends Dan and Cindy Whetstone, who live the rest of the year near Kalispell, Montana. It was sure great seeing them.
Around Dallas
Despite one horrific five-day ice storm, the weather in the Dallas area has been pretty splendid over the last few months.
Our daughter Amber and her husband Craig live in Allen, Texas, and it has been good spending time there.
My wife Nancy has been having some health issues connected with her MS and the medical facilities in Texas have been superb, especially in helping diagnose and treat some of her rare conditions.
But while there we also managed a few field trips.
One of our first was north to Durant, Oklahoma, to visit the Choctaw Casino. It is a Vegas-style resort owned by the Choctaw Nation and it is absolutely enormous.
You can be driving through quiet ranch land and small towns and suddenly — boom — this gigantic casino appears out of nowhere.
It looks like someone dropped the Las Vegas Strip into a cow pasture.
Gulf Of America
We had not been to an ocean in many years, so we took a long weekend trip to Galveston to check out the Gulf of America.
It was great.
We stayed at Moody Gardens, a fantastic resort that includes a huge aquarium and a large rainforest exhibit. It was an outstanding facility and a real surprise in terms of quality. For a smaller city, Galveston and Moody Gardens offered a world-class experience.
Galveston is also a true cruise capital of the United States.
Nancy and I have never been on a cruise. Most of our friends have, but we have always chosen other ways to travel the world.
While we were there, we saw three giant cruise ships in port. One of them, the Royal Caribbean Jubilee, holds more than 6,600 passengers.
Now that is a boatload of people.
That’s about the population of my Wyoming home town floating around in the Gulf.
We are still not sure we are ready to take a cruise ourselves, but after visiting Galveston we at least feel like we know how it works and where to start if we ever decide to do it.
A Few More Stops
On our way back to the Dallas area we spent the night with our friends Alan and Laura Lockyear, who live west of Houston.
We drove past the Houston Space Center and I made a mental note that it is going on my non-Wyoming bucket list for 2026.
They also treated us to dinner at a wonderful little restaurant called Lulu’s in the antique town of Round Top, Texas. The town is filled with antiques and historic buildings that have been moved there from all over the region. It was a treat to see.
Despite getting older and dealing with a few medical limitations, Nancy and I still maintain our wanderlust.
We enjoy seeing new places, meeting good people and collecting a few more stories along the way.
And as long as we can keep doing that, I suspect there will always be another column to write.
Thanks for coming along for the ride.
Bill Sniffin can be reached at bill@cowboystatedaily.com
