Buffalo Bill's Cody, Wyoming

Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming, June 19 & 20, 2010

We had had our nice lunch ending with the World's Best Banana Cream Pie (in Bearcreek, Montana)

on Saturday, June 19, and then reconnected with Buster. We retraced our path back southeast down Montana 72 and Wyoming 120, once again through a little drizzle along Clark's Fork,

and in about an hour, we were in Cody, Wyoming.

We were a little bit disappointed that our route wasn't going to take us back west to Yellowstone (afterall, in general, we are now trying to get home ..... and that would be north and east!). But the road between Cody and the east entrance of Yellowstone is supposed to be another gorgeous drive.

So we got to Cody about 3:30 in the afternoon. It was one of the few places where we had difficulty finding a campground. We first went to Absaroka Bay Campground, but they were full. They called the KOA for us, but they didn't even answer the phone. Later we learned there were extenuating circumstances ...... a Pow-Wow of Plains Indian tribes was taking place in Cody that week-end, and then we learned that they were about to close Yellowstone. There were so many people in the park, there wasn't enough food or lodging and bumper to bumper traffic, so they were just about to close the entrances and let people drift out, before others could be let in. So the peripheral towns like Cody were packed. We did ultimately find a spot, but it was probably the most questionable campground we stayed in all year. We didn't run into any problems, but we were very careful to lock our vehicles!

Somewhere Gary had heard from somebody in a campground that Cody had 3 or 4 excellent museums. Well, what they have is the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. It is a wonderful assembly of five great museums: the Buffalo Bill Museum, The Cody Firearms Museum, the Draper Museum of Natural History, the Plains Indian Museum, and the Whitney Gallery of Western Art.

We were happy they were so flexible, and because we got there so late in the day, after 4 pm, they stamped our hands and let us return the next morning.

Liz and I decided to go first to the Whitney Gallery of Western Art; Gary hit the Cody Firearms Museum.

In the entry of the Gallery is a beautiful bronze elk.

I love Thomas Moran, the Grand Canyon artist, and they had a couple of beautiful ones.

I really liked this sculpture; it wasn't Remington, but it was similar. They had many works by Frederic Remington and Charles (Charlie) Russell. The theme of the sculpture was touching .... a cowboy's devotion to his horse, giving the last drop of water on a long dusty ride to his trusty mount.

About half way through the exhibit, there was a replica of Charlie Russell's studio. It was fun picturing Charlie creating in the place just like this ..... seeing what an artist surrounds himself/herself with to spark the muse.

There was a featured artist, James Barna, whose featured realistic oils of Native Americans were just stunning.

Liz and I loved the realism of this cougar, too.

There were a lot of paintings of horses. I liked the realistic one, and Liz liked the jazzy one!

We saw some unbelievable beadwork. This little bag is circa 1925 by a Plains Indian.

We didn't have too much time for the Plains Indian Museum, but there were some very nice 3D exhibits depicting tribal life.

When we left the museums, we walked toward our car and happened upon the Pow Wow. It really was special to see ancient rituals still be enacted in modern times.

The next day, Sunday, June 20th. was Father's Day, and Liz dressed up a little bit for her Dad. We had stopped at a hardware store on our way to Red Lodge the Friday before and Liz had got her dad a tripod flashlight and a tool belt. Our Mr. Fix-it had never had one.

After a little breakfast in Buster, we headed over as soon as the Buffalo Bill Historical Center opened to see the rest of the exhibits. We headed to the Draper Museum of Natural History. There was a virtual expedition through habitats as you descend from the mountain top down to the valley. Many of the exhibits were 3 dimensional.

The museum answered the question I had asked Gary back in The Tetons: "Is a pronghorn an antelope?" It actually is NOT a classic antelope from Africa and Eurasia as you can read. But it IS beautiful.

There was a sculpture of a Buffalo Jump (like the one we had seen near Three Forks), and then this oil painting depicting it.

They had a special traveling exhibit of Native American crafts and we saw more amazing bead work.

We moved on to the Buffalo Bill Museum. Buffalo Bill lived in Cody, of course, and raised his family here. And from here he created his Wild West shows. They still have a nightly performance in the summer .... we missed it.

There was terrific Buffalo Bill memorabilia. Here's the stagecoach he would ride into the shows in.

I really liked Annie Oakley when I was a little girl. Jimmy (my twin brother and I) have a great twin picture from when we were about 5 where we are wearing our cowboy stuff including fringed vests, cowboy boots, and a gun in a holster! So it was really fun for me to see the REAL Annie Oakley outfit!

Outside in the sculpture garden was this very elemental, spiritual, beautiful sculpture.

We were so glad we went to Cody and spent some time at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. It is a tremendous resource. We'd love to go back, and see the Wild West show, go rafting, hiking, and take the drive west into Yellowstone. We'll do it!

We're really heading home now!

Julie, Gary and Liz

The Beartooth Highway: "The Most Beautiful Drive in America"

That's what Charles Kuralt .... famed Sunday Morning correspondent and story teller ... has said. Gary had previously ridden his motorcycle from south to north, from the northeast entrance to Yellowstone at Cooke City to Red Lodge, but we wanted to do the ride from north to south.

Our original plan had been to drive the motorhome over the pass. But after we camped at the Red Lodge KOA, and had a chance to gather local intelligence, we decided to just do it in the car. It is very steep, with major switch backs, and you run the risk of not being able to stay in your lane, to go over the middle line, on the curves.

So Liz and I indulged in the home cooked breakfast on the KOA back porch, played a little tetherball (I LOVED tetherball at her age!) and then we loaded into Bella. We thought it would probably take about 4 hours to do the approximate 150 miles down US 212 to Wyoming 296, left at Wyoming 120 which turns into Montana 72, and then west for the last 15 miles west on County 3o8 back to Red Lodge. We were right.

The mountains came up gradually as we headed south from Red Lodge, named after the Crow Indian council tepee painted with red clay.

So my plan is to simply download the best of the 100+ pictures I took this morning, and let them do the talking ...... then you can decide for yourself about it being a beautiful drive or not!

We moved toward the mountains gradually, initially seeing beautiful rolling hills.

We think this might be a marmot!

We saw folks walking with their skis in back packs, and then skiing down!

The Most Beautiful Drive in the Country (I think it's an accurate label!) ended and we looped back to Red Lodge. In Bearcreek we saw this sign: World Famous Banana Cream Pie. It was a very effective marketing ploy .... several other people came in because of the sign. None of us demanded proof or evidence of the claim .... we just decided to try the pie and decide for ourselves!! It was pretty darn good! We had hamburgers before the pie, so were all squared away for lunch.

We returned to the Red Lodge KOA, and hooked up Bella. Then we retraced our steps a bit, going south down MT 72 and Wyoming 120 to Cody. Gary had remembered Cody as a great Western town, and we had heard that there was a great western museum ... the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. It really was ..... we'll show you in the next post.

We have only about 10 days left of League's Excellent Adventure. It's ticking down!

Julie, Gary and Liz