Visit to Cody, Wyoming

Last week for our days off we drove to Cody, WY which is east of Yellowstone. Since we haven't seen a moose yet this year our first stop was an area in the park where several friends had seen one recently. This is what we saw.

It was a beautiful hillside of fireweed, but no moose.....
As we continued toward the northeast gate we encountered a bison clomping toward us.

Dan stopped the car, and we got a little nervous as he kept heading right at us. The vehicles in the other lane were blocking the way for him to pass us on our left and for some reason he didn't want to go right. Fortunately at the last second he veered off to the left side of the car. Wheew! That was a close one!

Farther down the road a grizzly was tromping through the field.

After we left the park we passed through Cooke City and took the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway to Cody. In 1877 Chief Joseph led the Nez Perce tribe from Idaho through Yellowstone to escape to Canada. They surrendered after a six day battle 30 miles from the border. The 47 mile road crosses the Shoshone National Forest through the Absaroka Mountains. The scenery was outstanding.

There was still a little snow on one far away mountain.

Since it was too early to check into our cabin we traveled 13 miles northeast of Cody to Heart Mountain Relocation Center where the Japanese Americans from the west coast were confined after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. At the Interpretive Center we saw how they had to leave everything behind and live in cramped barracks surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers for about three years. This is a room that a family of six moved into.

Here is a plaque depicting how they felt.

After viewing the displays inside we walked out to the memorial where the housing used to be.

Between 1942 and 1945 Heart Mountain had the third largest population in WY. A total of 14,025 people lived there. 556 babies were born, 148 people died and 800 men and women served in the Armed Forces. It was heart wrenching to see and hear about what these families went through. We were touched by their stories.
On a lighter note.....After eating at the Irma Hotel, named after Buffalo Bill's daughter, we decided to watch the gunfight reenactment in the street.
The gunfight took place to the left of the hotel.

We sat in chairs close to the action, and they began with singing the Star Spangled Banner. Here is the cast in the street.

And here are the girls at the saloon.

A few minutes into the skit clouds formed overhead and the wind began to blow. All of a sudden we were being pelted with hail on our heads. The audience scrambled for cover on the porch as the hail slammed down on the street.

The grass was covered with it.

The cast members took cover in the saloon.

After the hail came the rain. All we could do was wait for it to quit. Eventually it cleared up and the show continued. They did a good job of adlibbing. It was pretty hilarious! The good guys got the bad guys, of course.

That evening we attended a cowboy music concert. It was a flash from the past with songs from back in the day of Roy Rodgers, Dale Evans, Gene Autry, and more. It was fun to reminisce. We were definitely in a western town...."Home on the Range."

Last year we took the trolley tour and enjoyed it so much we decided to repeat the adventure.

The guide pointed out many things in town including the town's largest gun.

We heard about the history of the city and saw the houses that original settlers and founders lived in. We passed the rodeo stands which we attended last year.

We drove through a mountain to the Buffalo Bill Dam and learned more about it. This is the river west of the dam and reservoir.

The tour was as enjoyable and informative as last year.

On the east side of Cody we discovered a war memorial for the veterans of Wyoming.

This is the Korean War monument.

These are individual monuments to other areas of the world.

The Vietnam memorial was quite impressive.

They had a special memorial for the marines.

It was an awe-inspiring sight to see.

After our trip to WalMart, we headed back to Yellowstone through another spectacular route. We enjoyed the beauty of Wyoming once again.