Tag: Buffalo Bill

QUOTABLE: “Somewhere inside, we hear a voice. It leads us in the direction of the person we wish to become. But it is up to us whether or not to follow.” ~ Pat Tillman, NFL Player for the Arizona Cardinals who turned down a multi-million dollar contract to join the Army during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He enlisted with his brother Kevin in 2002, was deployed to Afghanistan in 2003, and was killed in a friendly fire incident in 2004.

Okay folks, hang on to your hats…this is a LOT of pics!

Monday, July 22, we headed out of Kemmerer about 7:30 AM traveling northeast on US-189, then taking WY-372 east over to WY-28. That took us across the Rocky Mountains at South Pass (7,549′). You know these big mountains make me sigh, but thanks to smoke from distant wildfires, it wasn’t quite as vivid as it can be. Along the way we passed through the Red Canyon Wildlife Habitat Management Area (WHMA) along the Southern Wind River Mountains. This is critical elk range in winter, where they say you can see as many as 650 at a time on the hillsides. Wow, wouldn’t that be cool??!! Year-round the area is also inhabited by mule deer, pronghorn, moose, and ruffed and blue grouse, plus lots of other small mammals and songbirds. We stopped at the overlook to take in the breathtaking view despite the haze. While there we met a couple with two teens from Tennessee who were making a big, 2-week loop. It was the first time Dad had been out of Tennessee, and he was pretty darned excited. I don’t blame him. The road circles around the edge of the vast valley We joined US-287 up to Lander, then WY-789 up to Riverton. Just short of town we stopped at the Wind River Casino, owned by the Northern Arapaho Tribe. The place was small by casino standards, but did seem to have some actual tables for playing poker and blackjack. It is funny, but no matter where you are, there are always old women sitting at the machines dropping quarters and drinking. If they allow smoking, these ladies will often have a cigarette hanging out of mouths, too. Honestly, it is a thing. My theory is that men die earlier than women, so a lot of widows have a lot of time on their hands. Mr. Wonderful (MW) and I were once stationed on opposite coasts, so Las Vegas was our meeting place. Gambling for us was really more like an entertainment expense. We were each limited to $20 and, when that was gone, the games were over. Sometimes you could go for hours, though, which is cheaper than going to a movie or a show. On this day our objective was a large parking lot with food nearby, so Wind River fit the bill. We were pleasantly surprised by the really nice salad bar at Buffalo Restaurant, too.

Back on the road we continued northeast to Shoshoni, where we hit US-20 headed north. That took us through the Wind River Canyon, which was another spectacular drive.

Continuing north, we passed through Thermopolis and stopped at the overlook for Hot Springs State Park. The springs are sacred to several Native American tribes and were used for bathing and ceremonies. The tribes, led by Shoshone Chief Washakie and Arapahoe Chief Sharp Nose, gave the site to be set aside as a park. The final leg was further north on US-20 up to Worland, Wyoming, where we ended the day at the Worland RV Park.

Tuesday morning began with an early morning bike ride heading east out of Worland. It was very hazy, but beautiful. This is an agricultural community, and I rode past fields of hay and corn, as well as few horses. The flats butt up to some pretty amazing hills, too. There are a few oil wells, and I also passed a cattle feed lot. The coolest thing, though, was the pronghorns. The first one was alone at the edge of a grassy field and kept turning his body to face me as I rode by. Later I caught two that were really interested in the crazy, singing woman passing by on the strange contraption. When I turned around and came back by, one was still watching for me as I topped the hill. They didn’t bolt, though. The cows at the feed lot actually got up and came to the fence to try to figure me out.

Back at Priscilla I got cleaned up, then we headed out for a ride through the Wyoming countryside. Just a few miles east is the Colby Mammoth Kill Site, which is the largest known Clovis hunter kill site in North America. It is thought that they stored caches of meat here during cold months, too. We drove east over to Ten Sleep, Wyoming, where we stopped at the Ten Sleep Saloon for sandwiches. (See MW’s pork tenderloin sandwich below…holy smokes!)

INTERESTING SIDE NOTE: The town of Ten Sleep got its name from Native Americans. Back in the day, the Old Sioux Camp (as known by trappers) was on the Platte River near present day Casper, Wyoming. Near present day Bridger, Montana, on the Clarks Fork River was another large Native American camp. Ten Sleeps is right in the middle. The Indians measured distance by the number of “sleeps” or nights it took to get somewhere. It was ten sleeps from this point to either of the winter camps.

After that, we continued east on the Cloud Peak Wilderness Skyway Scenic Byway into Ten Sleep Canyon, which was spectacular. We stopped to check out the Ten Sleep Fish Hatchery, which has been restocking Wyoming’s reservoirs, lakes and streams since 1939. Although they raise a variety of trout and salmon, their primary focus is management of the actual brood stock for the Yellowstone cutthroat. Those they spawn and harvest around 1.2 million eggs per year, then raise some there and ship some out to other hatcheries. It’s a terrific facility tucked back into the Big Horn Mountains where Leigh Creek joins Tensleep Creek on Old Highway 16, which is gravel. At least some of the employees are given housing due to the remoteness, which would be awesome!

After checking it all out, we continued on the gravel road, zig-zagging around the mountains. At one point I had to get out and open, then close a gate, because there were cows grazing right there. We made our way back to the Byway and continued east a little more before turning around. We stopped to find the Leigh Creek Monument, which took my 83x lens to see. It was erected in 1889 in memory of an Englishman named Gilbert Leigh. The avid outdoorsman went missing in the fall of 1884 while hunting. After a week of searching, the locals found his body at the bottom of a 100′ drop. He was apparently well-liked, because there is a 10′ square monument on the crest of the mountain with an inscribed marble slab. Along this route is also a monument to the Spring Creek Raid in 1909, where a group of seven cattlemen ambushed sheepmen as part of a war against allowing sheep across the fertile grasslands in the Big Horn Mountain area. All five members of the sheep camp were murdered, and five of the seven cattlemen were sent to prison. It is significant, because public outcry on the brutal act made it clear that violence would no longer be tolerated on the open range in Wyoming. Back at Ten Sleep, we turned south on WY-434 and drove 15 miles or so until it turned to dirt, then headed back north. We saw quite a few pronghorns, some fat turkeys, and plenty of horses. On our last pass through town we stopped in at the Ten Sleep Brewing Company, where I did a little writing and MW watched a rodeo on TV. Then it was time to get back to Priscilla. Although it was hot, the day and drive were awesome.

ODD SIDE NOTE: When we walked into the brewery, there was a young woman sitting at a table with a tiny baby in a carrier. It looked like she had been there for a while, and not long after we arrived, she started discreetly breast-feeding the baby. That’s when I noticed her beer on the table. After that one, she ordered another, this time the high-gravity version. (It comes in a different glass.) Has something changed in the “drinking while you are breast feeding department” since I had kids?

Wednesday we were up and out pretty early for a hike at the Gooseberry Badlands Scenic Overlook & Trail about 30 minutes away. As the name implies, the landscape was quite a bit like the badlands in South Dakota, and the trail was fairly easy and well-maintained.

Back in town we went back by Priscilla for a fresh camera battery, then headed over to check out the Washakie County Fair. I really do love a nice fair, with or without rides. In this case, it was all about the locals…kids raising pigs, goats, sheep, cows, ducks, rabbits, and chickens to be judged, and a whole range of baked goods, canned items, quilting, needlework, science projects, art, etc. We watched some of the goat judging, then checked out the displays. Of course, before we left there had to be fair food. I mean, it was a fair. On the way back to the campground, we stopped in at the sporting goods store (more on that later), a bike shop for a new mirror for my bike, and the grocery store. Then it was time to get cleaned up and relax. Supper was a pulled pork experiment. A few weeks ago I had some amazing, juicy pulled pork tacos. The seasoning was not barbecue-like, but more Mexican. No exaggeration…the juiciest pork I’ve ever eaten!! The restaurant owner said they just add their homemade pico de gallo. So I put a pork loin in the Crockpot and added a couple quarts of pico and some water. It was really good, but needed a bit more seasoning. Next time I’ll add fajita seasoning to the mix. We ate it wrapped in flour tortillas with cheese, guacamole, sour cream, and the cooked pico. Yum!!

Worland RV Park was much nicer than we expected from the overheads, and I’m sure some overnighters without reservations never actually make it in because it appears very small from the front entrance. However, there is an entire area built up towards the back that is great. Located right in the town of Worland, you can walk or ride a bike downtown easily. The road shoulders are also very wide heading out of town, so long bike rides are safe. Amenities include an office/store/gift shop, laundry, bathhouse, book exchange, DVD rental, area information, horseshoes, pet walking area, picnic tables, and wifi. The campground includes a handful of tent sites and 46 full-hookup RV sites, many of which can accommodate the largest rigs. Most are 50-amp, although there may be some in the long-term section that are 30. This is one of the most well-maintained parks we’ve ever been in, and it is clear the owners take great pride with planted flower beds, nicely graveled sites and roads, and very clean bathrooms. We would definitely stay here again. For this visit in July 2024, we paid $56 per night for a 50-amp, giant pull-through. The horses (see our site pic) were a bonus.

Thursday morning started a little bit different. We packed it all in, then drove down the road to a car wash that would fit Priscilla and gave her a much-needed bath! That took about an hour, then after changing clothes, it was time to hit the road. I was pretty excited, too, because we were going to spend a few days in one of my FAVORITE places. We went north out of Worland on US-20 up to Greybull, then turned east on US-14. That took us through Shell Canyon and over Granite Pass at 9,033′ in the gorgeous Bighorn Mountains. We didn’t make it up to snow level, but there were several spots of the white stuff on adjacent, taller mountains.

We stopped to check out the Shell Falls National Recreation Trail, where you can take a nice little walk and see both Shell and Brindle falls. (Eventually that water will end up closer to home, traveling south in the mighty Mississippi.)

At Burgess Junction, we stopped at Bear Lodge Resort for lunch at their Moose Crossing Restaurant…pretty delicious! The waiter told us to keep an eye out for moose, because quite a few had been seen along the roads. No joy for us, though, but there is still time! Continuing west on US-14A, the route twisted and turned through the Bighorn Mountains following the Medicine Wheel Passage Scenic Byway until we turned off to descend into the Bighorn Basin. This truly is a basin bound on all sides by mountain ranges…Beartooth and Absaroka to the west, Pryor to the north, Big Horn to the east, and Wind River and Owl Creek to the south. It is 140 miles long and 100 miles wide, it is drained by the Big Horn River, which is fed by the Wind River we ran along in the canyon earlier. As has been the case in several locations lately, describing the views is pretty impossible, so I’ve added lots of pics. It had been pretty clear for most of the day, but coming out of the mountains, we began to see smoky haze again. (There was a fire burning west of Cody at the time.) Once in the basin, we finally made it to our destination…Buffalo Bill State Park in Cody, Wyoming. My BFF Tina and I were here exactly 3 years ago for her 50th birthday trip, and I’ve wanted to share it with MW ever since. I’m so excited!!

FUNNY SIDE NOTE: Moose Crossing Restaurant’s menu had Rocky Mountain oysters, AKA prairie oysters or calf fries. For the uninitiated, it is deep fried testicles from when young bulls are castrated. I’ve had them before, but for MW, that’s a hard NO! He cracked up when he read the description, though. “Buffalo Bills original sack lunch served with cocktail sauce.” Bahahahahh

Regardless of whether there was a lot to do in town, Friday was laundry day. I mean, we need to be wearing clothes to do it, right??!! MW dropped me off at the Cody Laundromat, where I also got a little writing done. Not much, though, because I met an older fellow who was a pilot and wanted to chat. You know how it is. While I was there, MW went to the Cody Visitor Center and the Old Trail Town. Tina and I checked this out on our visit a few years ago, and it is pretty cool. Bob Edgar, an archaeologist and native of the Big Horn basin started gathering historic buildings and relics all the way back in 1967 to save them from disappearing. As he brought them in, he put them just west of the current town of Cody, which was the original site of “Cody City” chosen by Buffalo Bill in 1895. Today there are 28 buildings dating as far back as 1879, plus hundreds of authentic frontier and Native American artifacts. They also have a nice gift shop, where of course, MW found a book. Some interesting notes:

• There is a small cemetery where remains have been transferred from remote areas. The most famous grave is that of Jeremiah Johnson, born John Jeremiah Garrison. I suspect that is because of the fame and reputation given to him in the movie with Robert Redford in the title role, a favorite of mine. With the exception of the courage and survival skills attributed in the movie, very little of the real Johnson made it onto celluloid. By all accounts, he was uneducated, unprincipled, brutal, hated the Natives, and was even thought to have made smoked jerky out of parts of a Blackfoot Indian he killed! Blech!!
• The Buffalo Hunter’s Cabin originally belonged to Jim White and Oliver Hanna and was located on Shell Creek. Jim, called the Boss Hunter by acquaintances, had records of over 16,000 buffalo kills in the mid-to-late 1800s! He was shot in the back of the head at his cabin in October 1880. His murderer was never caught. His remains were also moved to the cemetery in the Old Trail Town.
• Peter McCulloch, who built the cabin below, brought the first cattle into the Cody area for the Carter Cattle Company of Fort Bridger, Wyoming.
• The Rivers Saloon was frequented by Butch Cassidy, W. A. Gallagher, Blind Bill Hoolihan, and other outlaws and cowboys. You can still see bullet holes in the door.

MW really enjoyed looking at the buildings and decorations. He said they give you a great appreciation for the level of craftsmanship and resourcefulness in building back then.

After he picked me back up we stopped back in at the Visitor Center because he said there were things I needed to see in the store. He wasn’t wrong, it was pretty nice, local artist stuff. By then I was ready for some lunch, and we headed over to Bubbas Bar-B-Que. (His ribs and my sandwich were both too sauced for our tastes. Their “famous” beans were good, though.) Next we headed over to check out the Historic Cody Mural and Museum. Although it sounded like an overall Cody history museum, it was more a history of the Mormons migrating to the area. In the late 1800s a handful of people including Bill Cody were entranced by the Big Horn basin. They could see the land potential as well as the possibilities for tourism due to its proximity to Yellowstone. BUT…the lack of water was a big problem. This is, after all, basically a high mountain desert. So a deal was made with the Mormons. In exchange for digging miles of irrigation ditch in the basin, Buffalo Bill would relinquished water rights, and they would be given land. A hundred families came to work and lived in tents and sheep wagons while the ditch was being built, using all of their energy to get the job done. The resulting Sidon Canal still diverts water from the Shoshone River (then called the Stinking Water) along a 37-mile course between the towns of Byron and Cowley. The same group of Mormons was hired by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad to build railroad track from Montana to Cody.

After that, it was time for the main attraction for the day…SHOOTING BIG GUNS! When Tina and I were here, we found the Cody Firearms Experience and went to check it out. It looked really cool, but I decided not to shoot anything until I could come back with MW. Don’t you think it would be mean to go home from a girl trip and say “Hey, I shot a (insert cool gun name here).” I’m nice that way. (Tina decided against it too, although she has regretted it since.) Well, this was the day. I walked in and told the guy, “I was here three years ago and went home to get my husband.” LOL They have a menu of firearms, most of which are not your ordinary, every day guns. Things like an M-1 Garand, several flintlocks, a Tommy gun, and a whole lot more. The reason we came was to shoot a Gatling Gun. I mean, who wouldn’t want to fire a weapon that was used as far back as the Civil War?! My plan was to just let MW do the shooting and me video, but I ended up firing that one myself. MW also got his hands on a Browning M1919-A4 machine gun, too. It is one of the big guns used in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam and makes quite a racket. I thought it was the coolest when fired. Seriously, were it not for the cost, MW would probably have gone with the OWE option…once with each. It was really pretty darned cool.

Saturday we headed to town first thing to check out the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. This Smithsonian Affiliate is actually several museums in one on Native American culture, famous cowboys and cowgirls, western art, natural history, and firearms. You could spend an hour or a couple of days, depending on how detailed you want to get. MW said the Cody Firearms Museum is the best, which has over 7,000 guns in their collection with 4,200 on display. Wow! It really is a don’t miss when in Cody. A couple of interesting things:

• Have you ever heard of “Hello Girls”? Okay, get your mind out of the gutter. During WWI, telephones began to appear on the battlefield. General Pershing needed people to operate switchboards linking them across the front. They brought in women for the task. Odd fact for a western museum, but war equals advancements in guns.
• As weapons advanced, we went from flintlock muskets to automatic rifles. During WWI, semi-automatic and automatic rifles saw some action, but most were bolt action. Twenty-three years later when we entered WWII, only the United States and the Soviet Union had plenty of semi-automatic rifles for soldiers. The other countries were still using bolt-action, which had a decided disadvantage.
• The Gatling Gun was patented in 1861, but that isn’t where Richard Gatling’s innovation ended. In the 1940s, one of the Model 1883 guns was fixed with belts and tested. It became the Vulcan Cannon Project, which was the basis for modern jet armaments.
• In 1888 Buffalo Bill was performing on Staten Island. Between shows, a stranger walked into his tent and aimed a gun at him. Thankfully, an alert employee knocked the intruder aside just as he pulled the trigger and the shot missed its target.
• The Greater Yellowstone Region produces more than 1/3 of the country’s coal. A pound of coal will light ten 100-watt incandescent light bulbs for an hour. I had no idea on either count.

William (Bill) Frederick Cody, AKA Buffalo Bill, was born in 1846 in Iowa and lived in Ontario for several years. I know, that’s not where you thought the most famous of western entertainers got his start, is it? After the untimely death of his father when Bill was 11, he found work on freight wagon trains. Beginning at age 11 with the untimely death of his father, young Bill wore many hats…freight wagon train worker, Pony Express rider, Union soldier during the Civil War, Indian fighter, civilian scout (along with his friend Wild Bill Hickock), etc. It wasn’t until the 23-year-old Cody chanced upon the same man who legend says gave Wyatt Earp his Buntline Special (a .45 Colt with a 12′ barrel) that his fame began to grow. Ned Buntline (born Edward Zane Carroll Judson) took Bill’s stories of Indian fights, buffalo hunts, scouting, prospecting, survival, etc., and created a larger-than-life persona that Easterners couldn’t resist. In articles for the New York Weekly and a serialized novel in the Chicago Tribune (later made into a play), people read fascinating stories about the cowboy. They were enthralled. After seeing the play, Cody caught the acting bug and attempted for many years to get a play or variety show going. Then in 1883, he founded Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, which could best be described as a circus with cowboys and Indians instead of clowns and elephants. There he found his niche, touring the world with the likes of Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull, and Calamity Jane. In 1895, Cody was instrumental in helping to found the town that has his name, then opened the Irma Hotel (named after his daughter) in 1902. He established several other businesses, and founded the local newspaper, too. It is said that he was the most recognizable person on Earth at that time.

By the time we finished up, lunch at the Proud Cut Saloon was calling. The food was pretty darned good, and fueled us up for walking around town and checking out shops.

INTERESTING SIDE NOTE: I recently read “Custer” by Larry McMurtry. As you may know, he is amazingly versatile and my all-time favorite writer. He wrote “Terms of Endearment” and “The Last Picture Show” both award-winning modern stories, and later penned “Lonesome Dove”, a western epic, and my personal favorite, which won the Pulitzer Prize. He also wrote quite a bit of non-fiction including the biography “Crazy Horse: A Life”. After publishing nearly 50 books and writing scripts for many movies and TV shows, he said that he really wasn’t much of a writer. How humble!! On our first road trip in Texas many years ago, MW took me to Booked Up, the massive bookstore he owned in Archer City. The guy working there told me that, when in town, McMurtry could often be found in the store, but alas, not during my visit. I’ve squirreled a bit here, but I did start with a direction. I’ve read a bit about the Battle of the Little Bighorn and been to the knoll where Custer fell. As I’ve said before, I think he was an arrogant glory hound whose hubris resulted in the wholesale slaughter of all FIVE of the 7th Cavalry companies he commanded at the hands of the combined forces of the Arapaho, Lakota Sioux, and Northern Cheyenne tribes. Oddly, the Visitor Center where he made his last stand doesn’t tell it that way at all, making him into a bit of a hero. BUT, McMurtry took my tack. In addition, he pointed out something I had never thought of. There are untold numbers of writings, paintings, and movies that describe that fateful day. But there is something missing in almost all of them…dust and smoke, and a LOT of it. Have you ever driven down a dirt road and seen the dust kick up behind you? What about watched horses or cows moving en masse? Have you seen pics of a military battlefield where the smoke hangs thickly in the air? Well, all of that was going on at the same time during this great battle. Mounted soldiers and Indians charged into the arena with guns blazing, and in fairly short order, chaos would ensue. Eyes would have been burning with smoke and grit, and airways filled with the same. The appearance of friend and foe would have merged in the thick clouds. So who shot Custer? Although stories from various surviving Indians offered several options, it is just as plausible given the conditions that it was one of his own men. If that happened, it would definitely be considered karma.

After heading back out to Priscilla for part of the afternoon to rest my dogs, we were back in town for our dinner reservation at Buffalo Bill’s Irma Hotel. On the National Historic Register, this Cody fixture was built in 1902 by Buffalo Bill and named for his youngest daughter. The construction cost $80,000, a pretty penny in that time. When not out touring, Bill often stayed in the hotel, which kept the place packed. Today Cody’s two suites have been restored and are available to guests. You can also belly up to the bar and gaze at the original cherrywood backbar presented to the entertainer by none other than Queen Victoria after a command performance. It is a beautiful hotel and very interesting. However, the dinner bar leaves something to be desired…bland, unimaginative. (I’d just skip that and order from the menu.)

For the last two days smoke had drifted into our area, although for the most part, we couldn’t smell it. Sunday, though, dawned cool and clearer, making it perfect for an early morning drive. The North Fork Highway or Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Byway, runs from Cody west to Yellowstone’s East Entrance and was dubbed by President Theodore Roosevelt “the most beautiful 50 miles in America”. He wasn’t wrong. The road runs along the North Fork of the Shoshone River, and depending on the time of year, offers wildlife viewing opportunities including bison, elk, and grizzlies. We headed west, taking it all in. At Wapiti we saw the Smith Mansion, a 75′ tall, hand-built log house that is only partially completed. Francis Lee Smith was building it himself without benefit of plans in 1992 when he fell to his death. It’s still there and is unlikely to be completed, because no one really knows what he did and didn’t do. Today it is a kitschy landmark. We also got a gander at the Wapiti Big Boy, an actual Shoney’s statue that the owner placed in the middle of a big cow field. The locals are so attached to it now that, a few years ago when the owner took it down for some refurbishment, they had a fit. He quickly finished the job and put it back to stop the questions. LOL

We continued west enjoying the scenery, but not seeing any animals. Pooh! We went all the way to the Pahaska Teepee Resort, which was also built by Buffalo Bill as a hunting lodge and hotel just outside of Yellowstone. There we got a snack, walked around for a bit, and chatted with the clerk before heading back. Oh, and we saw something you almost never see these days and some of you might not even understand…

On the way back we stopped to check out the Fire Fighters Memorial, which honors the firefighters who died in the Shoshone National Forest Blackwater fire in August 1937. It was small by most standards, just burning 1,254 acres, but fifteen fire fighters died and 39 others were injured when a sudden gale whipped up the flames.

After getting cleaned up back at Priscilla, we headed over to the Cody Cowboy Church. Pastor Pat Alphin gave a wonderful sermon on the dangers of getting too far from the cross and allowing the devil to put things in our path to deceive and misdirect us. Makes sense to me! Afterwards, we went to China Town for lunch (mediocre buffet) and checked out the veterans memorial .

On the way back to Priscilla, we stopped to check out the Buffalo Bill Dam. It is a National Civil Engineering Landmark, and when built in 1910, it was the tallest dam in the WORLD at 325′! This was another of Bill Cody’s plans for irrigating the land around Cody and the first of the major dams built by the Bureau of Reclamation. It is 70′ wide at the base and 200′ wide at the original crest. Back then it cost $929,658, which was way over budget by completion. In 1993 they completed an 8-year project to increase the height by 25′. There is a nice visitor center and you can walk out on the dam for some great views of the Shoshone River and reservoir.

INTERESTING SIDE NOTE: The Shoshone Falls, Shoshone River, and town of Shoshoni, Wyoming, and Shoshone, Idaho, are all named for the Shoshone tribe. I watch a LOT of westerns, and the tribe is always pronounced Shoh-shoh-nee. The town in Wyoming follows suit, and even uses the alternative spelling of the tribe. However, the town in Idaho, the river, and the falls are all called Shoh-shone, as in “hone”. I have to say, it’s a little confusing.

For our final night in Cody, we headed over to the Cody Nite Rodeo. The self described “Rodeo Capital of the World”, Docy hosts the PRCA Cody/Yellowstone Xtreme Bulls event at the end of June and the Cody Stampede Rodeo for 4 nights around the beginning of July. So what do they do every other night between June 1 and August 31? Have the Cody Nite Rodeo, of course! That’s right…you could go to a rodeo event in Cody, Wyoming, for 92 nights in a row EVERY SUMMER!! Ya gotta love that! This is an amateur competition where anyone interested in the sport can practice. There is a 12 and under class, and one of the barrel racers was 6 years old. In bull riding, there was a 12-year-old young lady who was amazing. She got thrown and was crying as she got up. Her Mom came running out, and that girl swatted her hand away and walked off on her own. Guess you can’t call yourself a bull rider if you let your Mommy pick you up out of the dirt. I can just feel some of the Mom’s reading this cringing, but that girl is very independent, confident, and strong.

Buffalo Bill State Park is a pretty nice, mostly seasonal park. It wraps around most of the Buffalo Bill Reservoir and is divided into several sections. Amenities include playgrounds, boat ramps, picnic pavilions, trails, picnic areas, a dump station, wildlife viewing areas, and plenty of places to fish. The reservoir is huge and uncrowded, so boating and water sports would be great. Lodging includes cabins and several campgrounds with a variety of options. With the exception of the dry camping area in the Stagecoach section, all are by reservation only. We stayed in the North Fork Campground at the west end overlooking where the North Fork of the Shoshone River comes into the reservoir. There the 60 sites were all pull-through and had 50-amp electric, some with water. They were all nice and spaced out pretty well, although the water facing sites definitely had the best view of the lake/river and mountain beyond. This place was pretty quiet and absolutely gorgeous. The only negatives were that the mosquitoes were crazy and there was only one bathhouse for the entire park, including all of the campgrounds. There were plenty of vault toilets, though. We would stay again, though maybe earlier when the bugs weren’t out yet. For this visit in July 2024, we paid just over $45 per night for 50-amp electric only facing the water.

See…a LOT of pics for just one week! Next up…more Wyoming! See you on the path!!

Talisa

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