The Schells' Travels 2011: Beartooth Pass, Buffalo Bill Historical Center & Yellowstone

We have had a fun-filled week here in Cody and as I write this blog on Saturday afternoon, there is a hint of fall in the air (I know our AZ friends are anxiously awaiting that 'fall' feeling). This morning it was 50 outside at about 7 a.m. but has warmed up nicely this afternoon. Once that sun goes down though it is really cooling off. Dick actually turned the furnace on this morning for a little while just to take the chill out of the air inside the rig.

Last Sunday we took a drive on Beartooth Highway Loop. Outside of Cody about 16 miles you turn onto Chief Joseph Scenic Byway and wind your way to the top of Dead Indian Hill where the view is awesome of the canyons and basins below. Continuing on we crossed Sunlight Creek Bridge (highest bridge in WY) and eventually we turned on Beartooth Highway where we passed Beartooth Falls and on up to Beartooth Pass, the highest motor crossing in WY at just under 11,000 ft. It was beautiful and the temperature was much cooler up there, than down below. Coming down the pass there were many switchbacks eventually ending up in a cute little town called Red Lodge, MT, (yes, we crossed into MT) a historic mining town but now just a friendly little town full of cute shops and restaurants. We found a place for a late lunch/early dinner there and did a little shopping before heading back into Cody. It was a beautiful drive and I can only imagine how pretty it would be with a little snow on the mountains in early winter or late spring. They do however close the pass in the winter.

Monday and Tuesday we took in the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, a 'must see' while in Cody. They have quite a museum to say the least. There are actually 5 'wings' to the museum and if you spent the entire day there, you could do it all in one day but we chose to break it into two days. Both Dick and I wonder where they get all the artifacts they have on display and, of course, that is true for any museum but for example, there are 1500 firearms of some sort dating back to the early 1800's to current day. Then there are another 1200 on display in their basement. That's a lot of guns! There is a Plains Indian section, a Yellowstone Natural History display, a display of Western Art and then, of course, Buffalo Bill's history. It was a very interesting and informative two days.

Wednesday was our day to go to Yellowstone. For those who have been there you know it's beauty because it is hard for me to put in words. We had a perfect day weather-wise leaving about 7 a.m. knowing we had an hour's drive through Wapiti Valley (in Indian, that means elk) before getting to the park's east entrance. (We took Murphy as we knew it would be a very long day). The day started by stopping to take a few pictures along the way before getting to the park and at the second stop, Dick discovered his phone was gone. We turned around and drove back to where we stopped the first time and there it was.......BUT........he had apparently run over it when we left so the glass was shattered........BUT.......it still worked. Of course, you couldn't see anything but it worked. Glad we found it but, of course, a trip to Verizon on Thursday was in order.

We had a great driving trip once in the park's east entrance. Traveled through Yellowstone (a few pictures at the bottom of this blog) making many stops on the loop we took passing Yellowstone Lake, Fishing Bridge, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, making our way to Old Faithful and then we continued on the loop that eventually took us back to Fishing Bridge and the east entrance and on back to Cody. All in all a 275 mile day that was well worth every minute getting home about 6 p.m. About 10 minutes before leaving the park, out of nowhere, came the hardest rain/small hail we have seen in years. By the time we reached the park exit it had stopped and the sun was out. Someone told us earlier in the week that if you don't like Wyoming's weather that day, just wait 5 minutes.....I guess that's true. We saw the first buffalo not too long after entering the park and continued to see a total of 6 of them throughout the day (all by themselves and one was walking right along the edge of the road towards us) and we saw a few deer but unfortunately no bears or moose on our visit that day. I will say that we were amazed at how much dead forest there is in the part of the park we saw although new growth is evident in the 23 years since the big fire of 1988.

After Thursday's trip to the Verizon store, we had a 'down' day of R&R. Dick had hoped (but he really knew better) that Verizon could just replace the glass on his phone since it was only a few months old, but that wasn't to be, so he has a new phone to learn once again and a new type holder on his belt as well.

Friday evening we went to a live western music show and chuckwagon buffet at the Cody Cattle Company. We enjoy something like this in Durango every time we go there so were afraid this one wouldn't measure up but it did. The food was good and music by three guitar playing/singing cowboys was also good. In fact, a couple of them perform in Phoenix during the winter so we'll have to check them out. The crowd was slim but they still performed like there were 300 of us in the audience. This show is nightly in conjunction with a local rodeo but now that the rodeo is over for the season, this too will be closing at the end of September. Apparently after Labor Day weekend, they will get quite a few tour buses passing through Cody and that justifies staying open longer than the rodeo.

Today was a housekeeping day and Dick is busy enjoying some college football once again. There are a couple of things left here in Cody we'd like to see before leaving on Wednesday when we'll head back through Yellowstone towards the Tetons and Jackson Hole where we'll stay and explore that area next.

Thanks again for following along and have a great week ahead.