Cody to Big Sky

Friday, June 1, 2018

Cody was founded by Col. Wm “Buffalo Bill” F. Cody in 1896. We stayed at the Best Western Premier Ivy Inn which was one of the nicest places we’ve stayed. (It was even booked with Tauck Tours while we were there.) There is quite a bit to do in the area including a rodeo and a “famous” chuck wagon supper, both of which didn’t begin their season until the day we left. Bummer.

We did visit the “Buffalo Bill Center of the West” which is sensational and is affiliated with the Smithsonian. It consists of five museums in one: Buffalo Bill Museum, Cody Firearms Museum, Draper Natural History Museum, Whitney Western Art Museum, and the Plains Indian Museum. It would take a good 4 hours or so to see everything in the place, but we saw the majority of it in about 2 hours; but missed a lot.

Dan thought that it was the best museum he has ever visited – and he’s been to lots of museums. The museum offered many ways to draw adults and children into the exhibits, as well as lectures, tours, and even a raptor demonstration. Especially enjoyable for us was the cowboy art which included paintings and sculptures from the 1800’s thru today. One room was devoted to the sculptures and paintings of Frederic Remington. I had never thought of him as a painter.

At the entrance to the Buffalo Bill Museum a ghostly image of him welcomes you. It was some sort of holographic image in a vapor. His life was so fascinating that you essentially learned a lot about the history of the West just by following his life path. Born in Iowa in 1846 at the age of 14 became a rider for the Pony Express (although some historians dispute this), joined the 7th Kansas Calvary, became a scout and buffalo hunter. Of course, he is best known for his Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. The show was not only within the United States; but internationally as well. He even had a private show for Queen Victoria at her palace in 1887. Several hundred people took place in all of his shows. Both Dan and I would love to have seen them…. but we are not old enough to say that we did.

After our race through the museum, we raced through the main street of Cody. I found some nice beaded bracelets at a shop called Native Images. We also snuck into The Irma Hotel’s main dining room. The hotel was established by Buffalo Bill, and the room was filled with memorabilia from that era.

The main reason for our rush out of town was that we had a long drive from Cody to Big Sky. Time estimates varied from 4-6 hours and there was no way we wanted arrive after dark. It did take us 4-1/2 hours of driving time to get to Big Sky.
Like all of our other rides throughout Wyoming and Montana the scenery was beautiful, although it did rain quite heavily at times.

We made a stop in Bozeman, MT for dinner at Mackenzie River Pizza Company. I knew about the place because the manager is my cousin Andrea Rossen’s cousin. Alisson Collins, is the manager of the place. She is a lovely person and came out to see us offering her assistance should we need it while visiting the area. She has lived out here for over 20 years.

After our pizza and salad, we wound along the raging Gallatin River. It is overflowing its banks due to a late snow thaw this year, along with heavy rains. We found the Adler’s cozy home without any problem and moved ourselves in. One problem though, I was ecstatic to finally be able to do a laundry. I tested the washer to make sure it was working and threw our clothes inside. The washer filled up with water and then stopped! So, first thing tomorrow is a trip to the laundromat. Stuff happens.