Buffalo Bill

Devils Tower

A quiet Sunday morning and we head out for Cody, Wyoming, where we are again to meet up with John and Leslie. On the way we passed turns marked for the Devils Tower ... the one in the Close Encounters movie ... but, in a sizeable RV like Wolf we decided not to attempt the probably twisted roads. If we had chosen a cute little Class C we could do things like that and I could even help Geoffrey drive. Ah well, hindsight is 20/20! We did find out later that John and Leslie did take the turn and took a look at it.

In both South Dakota and here in Wyoming we did see deer and/or antelope in the pastures along the road. We think what we saw were mostly pronghorn antelope but some of them may have been mule deer or white-tailed deer as well. It is hard to tell when you are past them almost as fast as you spot them. I think perhaps the solitary ones were the pronghorn and the small groups running fast the other way were mule deer.

The scenery is stunning. You can see the layers of time in these mountainsides. One can imagine there are lots of stories hidden in these valleys like the Leigh Creek Monument which was erected in 1889 in memory of an Englishman, Gilbert Leigh, who fell 200 feet to his death over the canyon wall in 1884, while in pursuit of mountain sheep. Hmmm, about this same time, my great grandfather Edward Haggarty was herding sheep and prospecting for silver in the southern part of the state.

There was also the Spring Creek Raid at Tensleep near Worland where cattlemen attacked sheepherders, said to be the last of the major conflicts in the Wyoming sheep wars. Life was not easy on what was then very much a frontier. Sometimes it isn't so easy these days although less fatal I think. It was in Worland that our GPS lied to us and tried to send us off in the wrong direction. With the help of a nice man at a service station we found the right route finally. He did say we had not been the only ones misled by their GPS!

We finally got to Cody and the Ponderosa Campground and connected with John and Leslie for dinner at the 8th Street at the Ivy restaurant which turned out to be right across the street from us! By this time we were wiped out, it had been a long trip, almost 400 miles, and not all easy driving. Back at the campground, Geoff just plugged in the electric leaving the rest for the morning and we hit the pillows.

The next morning Geoff hooked up the water and sewer and prepped Blue-GoGo. At dinner the night before we had decided that since our destination was just down the road with sidewalk all the way, it would be easiest for me to just ride/drive down to the Cody museums and John and Leslie would pick Geoff up about 9:30. Much easier then loading/unloading Blue for sure.

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West, our destination, was about 15-20 minutes away by GoGo. I left Wolf about 9 and had a few minutes to look around at the center before being joined by everyone else. The grounds are beautiful and the parking looks to be reasonably close to the two entrances to the museums. All around the landscape are statues like the one pictured to the right.

The Center consists of five different museums: the Buffalo Bill Museum, the Whitney Western Art Museum, the Cody Firearms Museum, the Draper Natural History Museum, and the Plains Indian Museum as well as the McCracken Research Library and the Raptor Experience, an introduction to eagles and other raptors. There are Skype programs to schools and many other special events as well.

All five museums are excellent, well planned and excellently designed especially for the handicapped. The four of us split up to our different interests. For myself, I skipped the Whitney, art museums not being my thing at all and started with the Draper Natural History Museum. The Draper explores the flora, fauna and terrain of the entire region. 

The Draper's spiral design draws the visitor around the displays and exhibits showing the area and I am sure I missed some of what was shown as there was so much to see. For example, the online description  mentions the tall rotunda housing much of the spiral is topped with an ever-changing Yellowstone sky and I never even noticed that as there was so much else.

I finally dragged myself away from the natural history and tackled the Buffalo Bill Museum keeping an eye on the clock as we were all to meet at the dining area at noon. I learned a great deal not only about Buffalo Bill and his life but also about that time period and others involved with his life like Wild Bill Hickok and Annie Oakley. I had to interrupt my visit to this museum for lunch but soon returned to learn more!

From here I went to the Plains Indian Museum, also fascinating, showing objects and history of many of the Plains tribes, not just the well known Sioux. My energy and information absorption levels were topping out by now and I made a superficial run through of the Cody Firearms Museum knowing I could always ask more about that of Geoff who started there!

Of all the places we have been the last few years, the Buffalo Bill Center is the very best. Some places I mention are of the sort I say to visit if you are in the area, others are worth going out of your way for but this is one I would say plan to make a trip to see it. My only regret is that we had only the one day to spend there.

That night we had dinner with John and Leslie at the Irma Hotel, built originally by Buffalo Bill in 1902, which is still open both as a hotel and a restaurant. The next day we had laundry that had to be done or we would be nearly 'nekkid' and John and Leslie were headed for Yellowstone.