Since this is my first post I should start out by giving some background...
I was born and raised in Florida, my wife moved to Florida when she was 2. We've been in NW Indiana (moved here to work in chicago so my wife could stay at home and raise our children, now 4 and 2) for 6 years now. Definitely a weather change, lol.
For those not familiar with this area, I've followed weather trends for Idaho and western Montana and the extremes here are worse from everything I can tell. 90+ in the summer (some days hitting 95) and winter nights have been as low as -18 (not including wind chill). The summer here is awful, coming from S. Florida I think you can appreciate that I know about heat and humidity. 90 here is like 97 or 98 in S. Florida, air stagnates, it's awful. Needless to say I really dislike it here and having to go into chicago to work. Luckily Indiana is a relatively free state so it's a treat coming home and out of the 'armpit of the midwest'.
I live in Pittsburg, PA for a year and that was much more tolerable. I've heard some parts of Wyoming can be difficult with weather, I'd prefer milder areas.
Anyway up until reading Molon Labe (actually only on page 250ish, it's hard to keep from reading when not at work), I hadn't considered Wyoming. I was looking at Idaho or w. Montana. So...
I'm planning a family road trip. I want to make the rounds of Wyoming, western Montana and Idaho. My wife and I have been all over the east cost, but never west of ILLinios so we plan on trying to make it out to the west coast to see the Pacific ocean. I'm going to allot 2 weeks for my trip plus a weekend on either side so about 16 days total. If need be I might be able to squeeze another few days of vacation, this is a big undertaking to do it all in 2 weeks IMO.
Looks like it's 14 hours to Chyenne (from NW Indiana) and then another 8 to Yellow stone strait across. A likely trip will take us into Chyenne, snake up to NE Wyoming then over to yellow stone, into oregon or washington to see the pacific, maybe hit seattle and then go into Idaho and Montana.
Oregon/Washington will be roughly a 2 day event, basically whirl wind sight seeing if you will. I want to spend time actually being 'on the ground' in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana and the bulk of our time there.
Where do I NEED to go and what do I NEED to see... both for a vacation and scouting a future home state?
FWIW I work in a large hospital doing a very specific job that I'll likely not find in these states, if I do, it'll probably pay worse than Florida because of very small load of work. I want to move rural and in that light I got my EMT-B taking night classes last year and I'm planning on taking Paramedic next (I've already NFPA FF1 certs) so I can move basically anywhere and have work. Opening a gun shop is another goal my wife and I both have. Working nights as a medic or 24 on 48 off will allow me to be in the shop with my wife several days a week and cut down on hiring extra employees until we are well established. Thats getting ahead of ourselves right now though.
Mostly staying in motels, probably a couple of nights camping thrown in. Time frame would be September.
So, what are your thoughts? Also what are the rules for carrying firearms into Yellow Stone? Does the National Parks CC law apply, meaning we can CC? I need to check if my IN license to carry is good in Wyoming (I know it is in ID and MT) but worse case my wife and I can OC while in Wyoming if we can't CC. I enjoy OC, but as a tourist I'd prefer to stay as 'low key' as possible.
Thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
