Day 10 Cody, Wyoming

"Happy trails to you...until we meet again.
Happy trails to you...keep smiling until then!"
What a memorable day in many ways. When I was a little girl, I would strap on my six shooters (yes, I was a tomboy) and pretend that I WAS Annie Oakley. I was sure I would grow up to be just like her! Cowboys (not Dallas) were my heroes. But then the 60's came with Hula Hoops, Skateboards, and the Beatles and I completely changed my mind. But today in Cody, I went back to those days.
I fell in love with Cody, WY, what a great little town. William F. Cody, "Buffalo Bill", started the town in the middle of this Wyoming desert in 1896. What a man he was! Do not get him confused with Wild Bill Hickok, even though they did work together for awhile in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. William Cody was born in 1846 and had to become a man early at age 11 when his father died and it was up to Bill to support his mother and sisters. He worked on wagon trains at that early age, and started riding for the Pony Express at 14! It is reported that he was a Spectacular rider! He was an excellent scout, and Indian fighter, and a buffalo hunter for the railroad. That is where he got the nickname, "Buffalo Bill" and it stuck. He was probably the most well known man during his lifetime, partly because of his traveling show and because of dime novels written about him...by 1900 more than 1 billion words had been written about Buffalo Bill! He even won a Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery in Indian Wars. But, what was amazing to me was how he also later supported Indian rights, as well as supporting women rights! Wyoming was the first state to allow women to vote! How progressive thinking of them. His Wild West show included Indians and Cowboys and was known world wide, even traveling Europe for 10 years. It is said that Queen Victoria, who never went out, went to his show in England. At the end of the show, she bowed to the American flag. With that one unusual act, Cody claimed that his show caused American and England to bury the hatchet! There is an interesting mystery concerning Cody's burial. He loved his city here and wanted to be buried on the top of Cedar Mountain, overlooking Cody. He died in Denver while visiting his sister. Cody and his wife Louisa did not "get along" and were separated for much of their married life of 50 years. She "sold" Cody's body to Denver (which he hated for economic reasons) for burial there. The Denver men promised a lavish funeral, and it was, but they were also hoping to create a tourist attraction, which they did! The people in Cody were up in arms. They wanted Buffalo Bill to be buried here on his mountain. Cody's body was in cold storage until the ground could thaw for burial. Legend has it that 3 men from Cody set out for Denver with a "look a-like" body, switched the bodies and brought Cody back and buried him here, the exact location on the mountain a secret. Denver denies this version, but just to make sure it could not happen after burial, they poured 30 tons of concrete over his grave! He died in 1917, but the controversy lives on! So much more I could write about Buffalo Bill, but I have to stop somewhere!
If you ever go to Cody, you must take the Trolley ride. They say if you give them an hour of your time they will give you 100 years of history...so true. We saw some Sears catalog homes from 1909, the bank that was robbed by the Hole in the Wall Gang, Cowboy red light district, old beautiful restored homes and much more.
Now to the highlight of our day, The Buffalo Bill Historical Center. What a Fabulous museum and truly the Smithsonian of the West. There are actually 5 different museums under one roof, the Buffalo Bill Museum, the Plains Indian Museum, the Whitney Gallery of Western Art, the Cody Firearms Museum, and the Draper Museum of Natural History. We only touched 3 out of the 5, not making it to the natural museum or Indian museum. What we saw was wonderful! There are so many artifacts from Buffalo Bill's life. The neatest thing was that they would show a picture of him (blown up large) and then have the clothes he wore displayed in front of the picture. I can't tell you what a fascinating man he was! I very much enjoyed the art museum (I studied art too--if some of you don't know that). Phil really loved the firearm museum. I liked it a bit when I saw Little Joe, Pa, and Hoss's 6 shooters and holsters! Those are the Cartwrights of "Bonanza" fame for all you young folks out there! and if you don't know who they are, I am sad for you. What has happened to all those good western shows out there?
After the museum we went to the Irma hotel, built by Cody in 1902 and named after one of his daughters. It is a beautiful old building..just georgeous and visited by many dignitaries of Bill's time. We ate dinner there and then topped off the evening by going to a "Cowboy Music Revue". Now that was a blast--hearing those old songs, and singing along! They closed with "Happy Trails". Did I mention that the old Cowboys were my heroes--Roy Rogers being tops!
If you ever get up this way, you absolutely MUST stop for at least a day, preferably 2 in Cody. Great Town!
I'll be out of touch until Thursday (i hope that's all). We are going in to Yellowstone. Excited about that and I am sure I'll have many pictures Jeremy! Hope all is well with all of you reading. The numbers are growing and I am glad you are enjoying our adventure! so with that...
that is the news from the McCamper, where the women are hyped up, the men are in bed, and the children are at home missing their momma! Right boys?