Laramie, Wy

The Affordable Ski Town Nobody Talks About: Laramie, Wyoming

Everyone knows that Chevy likes to ski, but Chevy don’t have ski money all the time. We took this trip to show all our budget travelers you can take a ski trip on a budget. Just wait until you read how.

Usually we fly from Chicago to Denver, then we drive two hours to the ski resort of our choice. Usually a big resort where the lift ticket costs about $200 per person per day. But this time we flew into Denver and headed the OTHER way to Laramie, Wyoming.

The main concern most people have when going on ski trips is the drive from the airport to the hotel and ski resorts. The drive for this trip was super easy, only 2 hours from Denver. This year the state had a lack of snow, so the roads were completely bare. We really can’t tell you how the drive will be with snow, but it is MOSTLY flat.

We arrived at the Hampton Inn in Laramie, WY. But we not here for the hotel, we here for the adventure!

After we checked into our hotel, we headed to Hambone’s Pizza and Sports Bar. Kam ordered a beer, rib tips, and cheesy bread for Chevy! Kam said his rib tips were low-key "tenderism". We could not stop laughing! We were not expecting the cheesy bread to be like an entire pizza. LOL. I could not finish even half of it. But it was really good!! Put me right to sleep! It made the perfect cold snack the next morning.

One thing we would note is most spots are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. And everything closes by 9:30 PM. With that being said, this is a college town so there are bars, saloons, and drive-thrus open late.

Tuesday morning, we started our day with lattes and scones at Coal Creek Uptown. The first thing Kam noticed was the Pride flag outside, so it kind of put him at ease. No extra stares or nothing, the people were so nice and welcoming to us.

The drinks were really delicious. Chevy ordered the hot oat milk vanilla latte and Kam got the same thing but iced. The ambiance was really open and quiet. We noticed a lot of seating and plenty of plugs for laptops. Buuut we must say… we might have been the youngest people in this room. Everybody’s hair was silver. Where the college kids at? Likely in class.

We worked for about 3 hours before we headed to our trail of the day, Turtle Rock Loop Trail. Before we get into the trail details, we must discuss the wind! Everybody always saying “Chicago is the Windy City” when that statement has NOTHING to do with wind, but they don’t even know how wrong they are. Wyoming is the windiest place I have ever been. I have never seen signs banning campers because they will blow over. Kinda cool if you ask us! Because we LOOOVE a good quest. One direction, the wind was helping us hike by pushing us up the trail. We were nearly fighting 60+ MPH winds on the way back to the trailhead. We ended up cutting the hike short because we saw warning signs about downed trees. Then we actually had to step over a few freshly downed trees that blew onto the trail. So we decided to turn back. Chevy’s greatest irrational fear is a tree falling on her… On this day, the fear didn’t feel irrational at all.

Medicine Bow National Forest is so beautiful to us. You can camp, hike, and even take scenic drives here. The Turtle Rock Loop is a 3-mile trail that is considered easy for the average person but moderate for beginners. There’s stunning rock formations and pretty trees all around with almost no elevation on the trail. So it’s really chill. Most of the trail is uncovered, so over the summer I expect it to be really hot in the sun.

On the way over to the trail we saw a giant Lincoln Memorial statue on the side of I-80 at Exit 323. We are from the Land of Lincoln, so we had to stop. We were stunned to realize Laramie, Wyoming has out-Lincoln’d us. This statue is huge! The bust is apparently 12½ feet tall and sits on a 30 ft tall pedestal. The best part was taking photos with my camera and seeing just how detailed the statue is. Attached is a free visitor center with panoramic views, where you can learn about the history of the statue and the land it sits on.

While we were here we realized at the last second that we needed to get Kam’s snowboard waxed, so we stopped by All Terrain Sports in downtown Laramie. It cost about $25 to get a wax and sharpen the edges. They only took 2 hours, when in Chicago they would have taken 2 days.

While we waited we went to Nu2U Thrift Store. We wanted to go here because we saw a video about visiting thrift stores in ski towns to find the best ski wear and gear. They had a wide variety of Western wear and amazing gently used name-brand ski gear. Kam got a jacket for just $50. Some of the prices were really high, like $15 for a used sweater. Now we see why the girls are on Shein so much. You can get a brand-new sweater for $10 on there. If you sift through, you will find something in your price range, but this store was generally expensive for a thrift store. Granted I have not been to one in a while, but I furnished my entire house from the thrift store and I didn’t remember the prices being nearly identical to new prices. Either way we played in this store for hours! It was HUGE! Multiple floors, clothes organized by occasion. I saw some $300 Sorel boots for only $50. Everything I looked at was in excellent condition. Western wear is so fun! They had a ton of boots and hats for when you wanna dress it up. This place is better than your average thrift shop, that’s for sure.

We shopped so much and worked up an appetite. We went to Anong’s Thai Cuisine. This was our favorite meal in Laramie. We got the beef fried rice and the curry chicken. The curry was so good we had to ask for another bowl of the sauce alone. We should have known it was going to be a great restaurant because people were waiting outside until they opened for the evening. After dinner we relaxed in the hotel and went to bed early because I like a lot of sleep before my ski days

The next morning we woke up and went to the highlight of our trip: Snowy Range Ski Resort. This might be the best ski resort I’ve ever been to, but the price was actually the part that shocked us the most! If you’re a skier on a budget, this ski resort is for you! What if we told you a lift ticket is only $55 here!? Located just outside Laramie, WY, this hidden gem has 5 chairlifts, 2 terrain parks, and over 250 skiable acres. With 33 named runs for every level, from smooth beginner slopes to thrilling black diamonds. No long lift lines, no big resort crowds, just pure mountain vibes. A lift ticket will only run you $55–65 every single day. No gimmicks, no promos, no small print, just accessible slopes. Perfect for people and families wanting to try skiing without spending the entire vacation budget on one activity.

We skied here all day long. We took lessons with Parker and Brooke. They were so sweet and very young. They really brought out the kid in us. We were out there making snow angels, throwing snowballs, just dillydallying and having fun! This is the best ski resort we have ever been to. It was also very windy here which made for a super fun experience. The wind blew and provided fresh tracks everywhere we went. Our favorite part was skiing powder for the very first time. A feeling that can never be mimicked by anything. We went about 14 miles and had a total vertical drop of over 4,500 ft for the day. The longest run was a little under a mile, which is perfect for beginners. We will be back here!

Unfortunately, we did not eat or check out any of the cafés because we had a big breakfast at this place called Sunshine Coffee, which was inside a repurposed school. It was super cool, actually. We both got the “Laramigo” (with oat milk), a breakfast burrito, and a bagel sandwich. Then we drove 30 mins to the ski resort and stayed until they closed.

We came back to town starving since we skipped lunch for the slopes. So we stopped by Andale Rapido Mexican Restaurant for dinner. It was a quick order-at-the-counter spot. The prices were really amazing, we felt like we were getting a deal on our taco salad and bistek platter. The food was very delicious. We will be back.

The next morning we had to say goodbye to Laramie. We checked out of our hotel and headed to 17th Street Café for breakfast. We ordered a waffle with blueberries and French toast with strawberries. We met the sweetest waitress. We talked for so long about her life in Laramie. It really helped us get a better understanding of the kind of place we were visiting. Hearing stories from locals is our favorite part about traveling. We even chatted with the snowboard shop guys for a few seconds when we dropped off the snowboard. The people here seemed so interested and happy to chat with us. We love how friendly Laramie is.

One thing about being Black travelers, we always worry about how we are treated, sundown towns, and so much more. As a Black couple we felt like Laramie was safe and welcoming to us. We always felt a true sense of hospitality whenever we interacted with anyone. We loved it here and we will be back for the many things Laramie has to offer during the other seasons of the year. On top of that, Laramie is an affordable place for a ski trip off the beaten path. 

See Ya Out There!