Touching down at Northeast Wyoming Regional Airport in Gillette makes it easy to explore, with the Black Hills, Devils Tower, and the Bighorns close enough for simple day trips. Gillette calls itself the Energy Capital of the Nation, a coal, oil, and gas town in the Powder River Basin with wide streets, big trucks, and a practical, friendly attitude. The country around it is rolling grassland, pronghorn, and sky.

Standout things to do around Gillette: - Catch a rodeo, concert, or the county fair at the sprawling Cam-Plex event center - Tour the Campbell County Rockpile Museum for coal, ranch, and homestead history - Take a surface coal mine tour to see the scale of the Powder River Basin operations - Hike or hunt rocks in Thunder Basin National Grassland - Fish and camp at Keyhole State Park near Moorcroft - Watch for pronghorn on the back roads and the bison herd at Durham Ranch south of town - Swim or climb at the big Campbell County Recreation Center with the kids - Browse the galleries and coffee shops of downtown Gillette

Gillette is centrally placed for a loop through northeast Wyoming. Devils Tower, the first national monument, is about an hour east, Buffalo and the historic Occidental Hotel at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains are an hour west, and Sundance is about an hour away. The Black Hills begin across the South Dakota line, with Spearfish about 90 minutes out and Deadwood a bit under two hours. Sheridan and its polo and rodeo scene are about an hour and 40 minutes. Summer brings the Sturgis crowds rumbling through and the smell of sage after a thunderstorm. Gillette is an honest base for big, open country.