FTJ, Entry 114: Why Not Wyoming?

When do North Easterners become wannabe Westerners? Perhaps when they see Wyoming. Well, in our case that's how it happens. The mountains, the golden green/light umber fields, the sky, the dry summer weather with warm days and cold nights -- it was great. And Cody as a destination has a lot going for it.

But I am becoming bored with writing the same stuff over and over, and am at a loss right now to come up with any new adjectives for what we are seeing and experiencing. Yawn. I need to channel Ernest Hemingway: Strong stripped-down writing (damn -- see, there are those adjectives again). 

Alas, my internal Hemingway is unavailable at present. So Beau will handle the rest of this blog....take it, Beau.

BEAU: I will gladly sit in for you, my brain-dead bride. Hmmm. Makes me think of a poem:

Alas the plight of the brain-dead bride,
Whose burnout left her quite tongue-tied.
So piteous and mum was she...
But such a blessing rare for me!

(Uh oh, I might be in trouble for this.)

Pardners, here is my version of the Cody experience.

Cody was founded and developed by William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, whose famous Wild West show was staged all over the country and even in Europe. In fact, the cherrywood bar that graces the saloon in the Irma Hotel in downtown Cody was a gift given to him by England's Queen Victoria. It was rumored that there was more than just polite courtesy between the two...doubt it. Have you seen pictures of ole Vickie?

Anyway, he had been a Pony Express rider, distinguished Civil War veteran who won the Congressional Medal of Honor, Army scout during the Indian wars, and expert buffalo hunter (hence the name, well duh!), hired by the railroads to shoot buffalo to feed their many hundreds of workers. Wound up dying nearly penniless, but wow, what an exciting life.

Me and Buddy with Buffalo Bill look-alike/re-enactor, in downtown Cody.The famous Irma Hotel is in the background. By 1900, more than 1 billion words had been written about Cody. He was one of the most famous men in the world -- more famous than Lincoln during his time.

The aforementioned bar.

Located on the edge of town, Old Trail Town is made up of many buildings and artifacts gathered from all over the countryside and re-assembled on the site of the original "Cody City" settlement in 1895, before the town was re-established nearby.

The Hole in the Wall gang hung out in this very building, which was relocated to Old Town. Below, Butch (far right) and the gang.

The grave of mountain-man, hunter, trapper Jeremiah "Liver Eatin'" Johnston, so named because he was said to eat the livers of the Indians after he killed them (in revenge for Indians killing his wife and children). He ate the livers in order to strike fear in the hearts of the other Indians. He was one of the early white men in the area. Robert Redford played him in a movie of the same name, and was on hand for the re-burial of Johnston's remains at this monument.

Barkeep, gimme a whiskey! Seems I hang out at bars a lot, doesn't it? This is the Rivers Saloon, built in 1888 and originally located west of Meeteetse, WY. It was frequented by Butch Cassidy and many other outlaws and characters of the Old West. Note the bullet holes in the door (photo below). Maybe one or two from old Butch's gun...?

Just outside Old Trail Town is Colter's Hell, a gorge formed by the Shoshone River (translated as "stinking water" -- and it does). In the early 1800s, John Colter (later part of the Lewis and Clark expedition) was the first white man to explore Yellowstone Park. He is known as the first "mountain man." Bet the Indians called him Shoshone Man....

The Yellowstone Inn and RV Park

Just a few photos of our RV park, which was located in the Wapiti Valley outside of Cody.

Sunset as seen from our RV campground.

Other Sights...

The Bill Cody Reservoir. Not too beautiful, eh?

Same reservoir, but all whipped up by the afternoon winds that shoot down the Wapiti Valley every day. Unfortunate that the water is very cloudy, due to all the limestone sand in the runoff.

Built back in 1910, the Buffalo Bill Dam (seen here from above) was then the tallest dam in the world. Moreover, it was built without any steel reinforcements. Amazing.

Gorge behind the dam. Cowboy Beau in front of the gorge.

 

Cross country trekker, Lorne Ketracite, whom we met at the Buffalo Bill Dam. He didn't ask, but I donated to his trip. I'm a sucker.

In town, we took a trolley tour and then visited the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, which had a fantastic exhibit in its Whitney Gallery of Western Art,  including pieces by Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell, and N.C. Wyeth, among many other notable artists.

Remington's "Buffalo Bill in the Limelight."

A famous Fredrick Remington sculpture, "Coming Through the Rye." Known as his most ambitious piece. The hooves of the horse on the left are not touching the ground. Impressive.

That night we took in another rodeo. Had to do it, even though Laura winces a bit throughout. I keep telling her the animals are fine. Not sure she believes it. Cody bills itself as the "Rodeo Capital of the World," and they put on a heck of a show. It was the first night of the Rodeo finals, so we saw the best of the best.

That's no bull! Actually, it IS a real, live bull. Notice the poop pile at the rear. Cody, a drinking town with a rodeo problem.

Laura took a closeup of a rodeo rider's butt on one of the chutes. Sigh.

They called this bareback bronc rider the "senior citizen" cowboy. Unfortunately, he got hurt pretty badly. Them old bones don't bounce, pardner.

The cowboys who "cleaned up" by rounding up the bucking horses were amazing riders.

And Finally (whew!), Our Southfork Drive

Our trolley tour guide recommended a drive for scenic views, so we devoted an afternoon to "Southfork Drive." It was well worth the time. The photos show you why....

A great photo Laura took and then made it look like a postcard. Kind of cool.

Can you tell how much we loved Wyoming? This entry was endless.

I'm plum tuckered out. This here bloggin' is hard work. Till next time, pardners. Now giddyup!!

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 112: Geyser Gawking: The Yellowstone Experience

First, we want to send our love and concern to our friends and family who are in the path of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene. We are thinking of you and wish we could be there to help or provide support. It is a helpless feeling hearing about the storm from across the country. So we are crossing fingers and toes and whatever else. Keep in touch and PLEASE let us know how you are. All our best.

(Compared to what you are all experiencing or about to experience, I am a bit sheepish about this blog -- it seems so trivial. But maybe it can be an after-the-storm diversion.)

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We just left West Yellowstone, Montana and Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone was immense, fascinating, wonderful -- and oddly disappointing. The geyser fields and scenery were mind blowing, but we wanted more fauna, dammit. You have seen those photos and videos of cars stopped on the roads in Yellowstone, to allow herds of bison or bears or deer or moose across? Well, we didn't see any of that. We swore we kept seeing one bison -- we named him Barry/Bob/Bill (whatever moved us at the time) -- five different times. He was always right alongside the road. We figured that maybe he just makes appearances throughout the park, like a roving entertainer. 

Eventually, as we left the park and headed east, we discovered where the buffalo roam -- we saw big herds in a grand expanse of yellow rolling meadow toward the east entrance of the park.

The best sight, and the first wildlife we encountered during our visit, was a coyote hunting in a meadow. Very exciting for us, in that neither of us had ever seen a coyote in the wild before. The next-best experience was a moose (again, the first ever for both of us), but it was about a half mile away. We could only see him with the binoculars. He was a young bull, antlers just blooming and still in velvet.

Coyote cutie. Probably hunting mice.

A bald eagle from afar. This is the best I could do with our zoom.

Barry/Bill/Bob the bison, along the road, moving on to his next appearance in the park.

Found the rest of the herd, finally.

Is bison poop in a geyser field an oddity? I think so.

Beyond these sightings, we saw only small herds of elk, one deer, and two chipmunks. No bears, no wolves, no nuttin else. Bummer.

But the geysers and fumaroles and other geologic wonders were just that...wonders. Yellowstone, basically a collapsed caldera, sitting on one of the largest supervolcanoes in the world, has more geysers than anywhere else on earth. On earth, my friends. And we saw a lot of them, including, of course, Old Faithful. (For email readers, please go to our blog for a video of a geyser hissing and bubbling.)

 

We almost decided to skip Old Faithful, but then figured we had to see it. It was impressive, but surprisingly, not that much more so than the Old Faithful geyser we witnessed in Calistoga, CA.

 Below, photos of various other sights of Yellowstone:

I think this was Midway Geyser Basin.

 

There are geysers below and above the surface of Yellowstone Lake. The lake is huge -- and gorgeous.

 

Typical sight as you drive through the park -- steam.

One view of Mammoth Hot Springs. Amazing.

The colors in the geyser fields ranged from brilliant cerulean blue to rich orange and copper. Stunning.

 

Mammoth Hot Springs walkway.

One view of The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

 

Too many photos of me in this blog. Behind me, the incredible Lower Falls.

Upper Falls in the Grand Canyon.

Beau had to try his hand at fly fishing in one of the park rivers, the Gibbon. He caught only a small creek chubb, whatever the hell that is. He did have several bites from trout, but none landed.

The park, most of which is in Wyoming, averages 8,000 feet in altitude. The Continental Divide snakes through it. We must have crossed the Divide, in various places, at least seven times. Had to commemorate it.

OMG - We Actually Went Whitewater Rafting

I stole these photos of our rafting experience on the Gallatin River from the Geyser Whitewater Expedition site (thus the "proof" labels). We took a trip with them out of Big Sky, Montana. I still cannot believe I did this. I am terrified of drowning. But I have to say, it was a BLAST for both of us, and I would do it again in a minute. These were only Class II and III rapids, but for our first time, they were perfect.

They put the old hefty folks (us) up front for ballast, I guess. We got drenched. Thank god for wetsuits.

The water was 50 degrees.

We are crazy old loons.

A Baby Rodeo 

(Again, for email readers, please go to our blog for a video of the rodeo we attended in West Yellowstone -- pretty cool.)

A few blurry photos of the rodeo experience:

The little dog beside the horse is a bull wrangler. He makes sure the gigantic bulls return to the stalls after throwing and stomping the cowboys. It was scary watching him work, right under the bulls' hooves.

Next posting we will include photos of the towering Grand Tetons in Teton National Park. Yet another awesome spectacle we have been privileged to enjoy.

Tanks, Panky