Cody, Wyoming

What a cute little town Cody, Wyoming is! I just loved it.

I’ve always been a fan of Western Stars, and Buffalo Bill rates right up there.

We almost didn’t make it there. Our D Brake gave out again. This time we barely made it into town. The only good thing that came out of it was that we got to spend an extra day in Cody waiting for the truck part to be sent overnight.

We started our tour of the town in the Buffalo Bill Museum.

All I can say is WOW! It’s like 5 museums all under the same roof! We toured through the special exhibit of Lewis and Clark first since it was a special exhibit and only there for a short period of time. Then we went on to the natural history section.

Next was my favorite, all about Buffalo Bill. I don’t think we realized (or remembered) that he was the youngest rider for the Pony Express at age 14. He also played a very big part in putting the town of Cody on the map AND getting a road to Yellowstone built. What made him really famous though was the Wild Wild West Show that he put together, where people like Annie Oakley, Wild Bill, and Sitting Bull played a part.

What was interesting that I had never heard of before, Buffalo Bill played Santa Claus for the Miner’s children in Arizona. Below is a picture taken in 1912.
The museum also had artifacts from Buffalo Bill’s cabin and house. It was pretty fascinating.

Another interesting thing we found; they had the model buffalo which was used to make the statues located on the bridge going into Georgetown in Washington, DC.
While in the museum, we ran into Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane actors.

There was a showcase about Annie Oakley which included some photographs and a couple of outfits.

Annie apparently like living out of her tent and she had all the comforts of home.

Beneath her photograph was a picture of Sitting Bull. He apparently took her in as an adopted daughter and even gave her an Indian name.

Another section was devoted to the Indians, there was an art gallery, and a gun museum. Needless to say, we didn’t get to see the whole museum.

The next day we visited Main Street where they had every kind of cowboy shop you can imagine. I just loved this stuffed bear that they dressed up.

And here Bill is “contemplating” on whether he should buy this sword as a gift for our grandson, Shane. No, Bill, maybe in another 20 years……
The highlight was the nightly gun fight in front of the Irma Hotel.

The Irma Hotel is an historical landmark because Buffalo Bill built the Hotel and named it after his daughter, Irma.