The first afternoon we drove downtown, parked and walked to the visitor center. I thought I got a photo of it, but apparently I didn't. The exterior looks a lot like the CCC visitor center at Devils Tower, pictured in a previous blog post, and it turns out that this one in Cody was built in the same era and was the Buffalo Bill Museum before the FABULOUS new museum was built. Here is a photo taken from a web site.
We walked around downtown and had dinner at the Irma Hotel which was built in 1902 by William Cody (Buffalo Bill) and named after one of his daughters. I took this photo off a web site.
We had a hamburger and beer seated under the covered porch that you can see in the photo. Great spot for people watching.
The next day we toured the Buffalo Bill Museum. It is a museum of five parts and a central area known at The Hub. We got through the Draper Natural History Museum and the Buffalo Bill Museum. There is also a Plains Indian Museum, a Wester Art Museum and the Cody Firearms Museum. The two we toured are wonderful - new with great exhibits. Buffalo Bill Cody was a wildly successful showman in his later life, after being an early frontier guide and buffalo hunter (only for food - he hated the wonton slaughter of the buffalo for only their hides, which resulted in their near extinction). His road show toured many many towns and cities in the US, and toured Europe, Russia, and I'm not sure where else. It was very successful, but William Cody was not a good businessman and he died in poverty. He founded the town of Cody, and wanted to live and die here, but he died in Denver at the home of his sister, and he is buried on Lookout Mountain just west of Denver in the foothills, which was maybe not what he wanted, but it apparently was expedient for his family.
These are photos of the exterior of the museum:
They had a great 20 minute talk in front of a chuck wagon. The docent explained about how the chuck wagon was used at round-ups of cattle and cattle drives. The cook was king of his domain and his word was law. Food cooked was sometimes meat, beans, rice, and the favorite of all, sour dough biscuits which were baked in a dutch oven over the embers of a fire. They were adored by the cowboys. We learned that the name "chuck wagon" was started by someone named Charles. His nickname was Chuck, and his kitchen wagon was Chuck's Wagon, and later just chuck wagon. Who knew?!
Last night we went to the Cody Cattle Company dinner, show, and the Cody Night Rodeo. Great dinner in the music hall and a great foursome playing fiddle, guitar, bass, and sometimes mandolin and another guitar, performing country western music. This is largely a family affair - mom, dad, 3 sons, and 6 year old daughter (one song), and the dad's best friend, the real emcee and star of the show. Then after that was over, we went to the rodeo. I snapped this photo during the national anthem.
The impressive thing about this rodeo is that it runs EVERY night for three months - that is 90 shows!
Today we hiked Heart Mountain. It is a steep 7 mile round trip climb. We did 6 miles. This mountain is just north (I think) of Cody and one can see it from a distance. From certain angles it looks a little like Devils Tower, but trees do grow all the way to the top. The mountain is surrounded by plains, so it is quite prominent.
It was an absolutely beautiful hike.
Tired tonight!
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