Cody, Wyoming

Cody is a small western town in Wyoming, about 60 miles east of Yellowstone Nat Park. It was founded by "Buffalo Bill" (BB) Cody in 1897 in the hopes of enticing tourists to Cody and also to Yellowstone. The town has a great BB and western influence and was one of our favorite stops so far! We were only going to stay 3 days, but there was so much to do there, we stayed a week!

Our first adventure was a sightseeing trolley ride around Cody. They gave us a hundred year history of the town in one hour. It started and stopped at the Irma Hotel which was built by BB in 1902, and named after his youngest daughter. The Irma has many original features, including a redwood bar given to BB as a gift from Queen Victoria. It was valued at $100,000 way back then, and is exquisite with hand-carved features, including a bison! Each evening there is a gunslinger show in front of the hotel, which we attended. A little corny, but fun!

One of the main attractions of Cody is the BB Historical Center. It is 5 museums in 1, including the BB, Plains Indian, Draper Natural HX, Gertrude Whitney Western Art, and Gun museums. We were there 2 days and still didn't see it all! It was really worth the time!!

I know I didn't mention beautiful scenery yet, but we did take the BB Cody scenic drive towards Yellowstone! It was indeed scenic and we stopped at Pahaska Tepee, where BB built a lodge closer to Yellowstone, where people could drive and stay near the park. It's hard to believe people really drove that far on bad roads 100 years ago! The original lodge is still there, and although you couldn't go in, you could peek through the windows. Pahaska, by the way, means "long-haired man".

Cody is suppose to be the rodeo capital of the world. Although the summer rodeo was over, we were able to catch a college rodeo! It had bareback bronco riding, bull riding, barrel racing, and goat tying. Yes I said goat! We had great seats and lots of fun!

The weather has been beautiful for most of our trip so far! We have been very lucky! Next stop is Estes Park, Colorado. Will talk to you soon!