(2018 Alaska Ep 14)

We’ve been at Cody, Wyoming (RabbiTRAILS Alaska Map pt #19) for the past four days. Tomorrow we head to Yellowstone National Park for eight days.  After Yellowstone, a quick return to Cody for a couple nights and then ON TO ALASKA!

We decided to visit Cody in part because of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, a museum that is actually FIVE museums:

• Buffalo Bill Museum – tells about the life of William Cody, aka Buffalo Bill – Army scout, entrepreneur, showman, founder of Cody and American icon.
• Whitney Western Art Museum – western-themed paintings and sculpture, with originals from Remington, Proctor, Sharp and many more.
• Cody Firearms Museum – impressive historical firearms collections from many manufacturers – Smith and Wesson, Winchester, Colt and others.
• Plains Indian Museum – exhibits of Plains Indian peoples, their cultures, traditions, values, and histories, and the impact these on their lives today.
• Draper Natural History Museum – immersive, informative and inspiring displays about the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, from alpine regions to the plains.

In front of the museum, in keeping with the western theme, was a chuckwagon and gentleman who was making coffee in an old time coffee pot, campfire beans from scratch and sourdough biscuits.

Anyone who stopped by got free samples and a bit of cowboy cooking history.

Never one to turn down free food and VERY INTERESTED in Dutch oven cooking, this was a highlight of my day!

It took us two full days to see the museums.  If you are ever in the area, be sure to visit this great museum!

---

We spent the other days doing more mundane things getting ready for Yellowstone: cleaning the camper and truck, laundry, haircuts, adjusting camper tire pressure and checking lug nuts, grocery shopping, buying hiking boots…and of course, a couple hours walking downtown Cody looking for neat western souvenirs!