Cheyenne would be better for a lot of us, although I would personally prefer to be close to mountains. But Cheyenne IS the capital, and any potential for effectively lobbying the legislature will be there.
Judging the distance on my map, it seems like Cheyenne is only 20 min from the mountains. I know, these are not amazing mountains, but they are still mountains. Less than an hour away you have amazing mountains. Less than 2 hours away, in CO, you have Rocky Mountains National Park, which is another amazing place.
Here is some more info on Cheyenne:
Cheyenne in Laramie County
population around 54,000 in city, MSA over 80,000, and Wyoming part of trade area is over 180,000
cost of living index (lower is better) 90 out of 100 as the national average (source, homefair cityreports)
sales tax 6% (source, monstermoving)
property taxes for 2000 sq ft home $1,859 yearly (source, monstermoving)
property tax rate 0.80% with 1.2 - 1.4 common to nation (source, homefair citymoving)
Living in a small community near Cheyenne and commuting to the city for work and shopping is definitely an option. Many small communities are less than 30 minutes from Cheyenne (Federal, Orchard Valley, Burns, Carpenter, Hillsdale, Speer, Borie, Archer, Altvan, and Granite Canon). Also, other small communities are within a 45 minute drive of Cheyenne (Chugwater, Buford, Horse Creek, Egbert, and Meriden). Even the 3rd largest city in Wyoming, Laramie, with over 27,000 people and home of the University of Wyoming, is just over 45 minutes from Cheyenne. Cheyenne has all of the common big city stores such as: Sears, JCPenny, Wal-Mart Supercenter, Target, Sam’s Club, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Radio Shack, Electronic Boutique, GNC, Victoria’s Secret, Dillard’s, and Circuit City. The largest shopping center in Cheyenne is the Frontier Mall with 83 stores.
If you are from a large city and do not want to give up your current lifestyle, Cheyenne is the place for you. Cheyenne is home to both cowboy folks and city slickers. Ft. Collins, CO is around 40 minutes south of Cheyenne and a commute of this length is less than the average Atlanta commute. Denver is less than 2 hours south of Cheyenne. Because of Cheyenne’s proximity to other large cities, Cheyenne is the perfect place to bring or start up a franchise.
and here is a Cheyenne Information and Picture page:
http://member.aol.com/wyomingliberty/cheyenne.html