Today we said goodbye to Yellowstone and set off for more sights and adventures.
We had breakfast at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge dinning room
. The food in the park is acceptable but nothing special. It will get us to the next meal in Cody. The Old Faithful schedule board stated the geyser was set to erupt at 8:30 so we thought we had enough time to get our luggage loaded into the van. Somehow they changed the anticipated eruption time to 8:18. So a few of us were able to run over and see Old Faithful this morning in mid-eruption. It was nice to see it in the morning light. We loaded up and headed toward Yellowstone Lake and the east entrance.
Along the way we made a couple stops to see some cascade waterfalls, lakeside boiling caldrons and some wildlife. After we exited the East entrance/exit to Yellowstone we dropped off our Gaperguide at a little gift shop. We soon realized how much we enjoyed the timely and informative messages of the Gaperguide.
The approach to Yellowstone through the East entrance is considered the most beautiful and scenic. We can understand why many have that opinion
. The terrain changes quickly from the lush Yellowstone, to canyon walls similar to the Grand Canyon but farther apart, as we get closer to Cody the terrain turns more high desert like. We pass the Buffalo Bill Reservoir and through a tunnel in the mountain and drop into Cody, Wyoming.
Cody is a small town of about 10,000 people. It has a quaint downtown area with some old and new buildings. Many shops take advantage of Cody being a gateway to Yellowstone and also the towns founder, William J Cody. We ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant that we will not mention. The service was poor, the food was poor, but the owner personally apologized and comped our entire meal. Moving on...
Our next stop was the Buffalo Bill Museum. It is considered to be one of the best museums in America and is a Smithsonian affiliated museum. The museum features five different areas each with a different focus. Buffalo Bill, Natural History (animals), Local Indian Culture, Western Art, and Guns
. They are all worth exploring. I found the Buffalo Bill and Natural History most interesting. The Gun museum is a bit overwhelming unless you are a serious gun person. I am not sure how many guns are on exhibition but I lost count at 3,478.
The Natural History museum has a unique design where you go from the top level to the bottom level like you are going from high altitude to the lower altitudes Yellowstone and the Cody region. They have excellent animals on display and exhibits on various elements of the region. We learn lots of new things like there are burrowing owls who live underground.
The Buffalo Bill Museum tells the story of William F Cody and alter personal Buffalo Bill. He acquired his famous nick name when he was hired by the railroad at the price of $500 per month to hunt buffalo to feed the men working on building the railroad. In an 18 month period he killed more than 4,200 bison and was called "Buffalo Bill" by the railroad workers
.
Cody had many ups and downs in his life but always maintained an optimistic attitude towards the future. He is famously known for his extravagant Wild West shows that played all over the world - including stops in Spokane and Sandpoint way back in the day. He played for presidents, royalty and even met the Pope. His Wild West show featured cowboys, indians, and the calvary. He reenacted indian raids on stagecoaches and had Annie Oakley show off her shooting skills. Chief Crazy Horse toured with Buffalo Bill as part of his Wild West show as well.
The blue skies had now given way to dark clouds, lightning and heavy rain. We pointed the van north and headed for Billings Montana. Along the way we passed numerous herds of cows, fields of sagebrush, corn, wheat, and some other unknown crops. The GPS, that I updated right before we left on the trip, tried to detour us through a field at Belfry, Montana. Fortunately we found our own way and the GPS eventually realized we knew where we were going.
Arriving into Billings we passed by a large oil refinery. Billings has three such refineries, and a coal fired power plant. We checked into our hotel and then headed on to downtown Billings for dinner.
Dinner was by far the best meal today. We ate at The Fieldhouse. A wonderful restaurant with fresh food, excellent service and the best homemade chocolate truffles.
Back at the hotel some swam in the pool while others used the exercise room, while still others typed a travel blog.
No surprise - tomorrow is another very full day. So full that the blog may not be updated tomorrow night. It might have to wait till Thursday morning. Till then - Happy Trails.
Day 4 - Montana Bound
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Billings, Montana, United States
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