From
the East entrance to Yellowstone we drove through the scenic Absaroka
Mountains (8,500 feet), the Shoshone Gorge and round Buffalo Bill Lake
to arrive at the "quaint" Pawnee Hotel in Cody. This very cheap and
clean Hotel was totally tasteless and the pleasant building was ruined
by plastic junk and polystyrene. A short step away we witnessed the
evening "shoot-out" outside Buffalo Bill's Irma Hotel staged by the
local Rotary Club for charity. This is the most popular watering hole
in Cody serving good food and Real Ale! Cody has a few Saloons and Bars
but is really very quiet. Over a drink, chatting to friendly Bikers, at
the Irma, we learned that the vaste number of Harleys we had seen on
our travels had been due to the huge Rally at Sturges in South Dakota.
The
next day was spent visiting the world famous Buffalo Bill Museum. This
is set amongst pleasant grounds and in a complex with 4 other Museums.
We were very impressed with the good mix of detail and visual
stimulation. The Natural History Museum was superb and the Plain's
Indians Museum poignant. The gallery of Western Art was also excellent
but we didn't do it justice. We also visited Bill Cody's birth place
house and admired his statue "The Scout" behind the museums. In the
evening we thoroughly enjoyed the Rodeo, which is bigger in these parts
than Baseball, and takes place every evening - each
"event" last 8 up to seconds and on the whole the livestock got the
better of the Cowboys!
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