Cody Wyoming – Part 3

This may be the first time that I have had a had a three part blog update for one location. But, we were in Cody Wyoming for two weeks and there is so much to see and do. We really enjoyed our stay and the whole mountain state tour. So, without further ado, here is the final installment!

Buffalo Bill Museum

We have now seen many, many museums all over the country. The Buffalo Bill Museum has to be rated right near the top! It rivals the Smithsonians in DC for the quality and quantity of their displays. It takes a minimum of two days just to see it all! I was extremely impressed!

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The Cody Firearms museum is a huge wing of the Buffalo Bill. To date, the Cody Firearms Museum has over 7,000 firearms with more than 30,000 firearms-related artifacts. I could spend an entire day in this section. It has just reopened after a major renovation.

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Day Trip to Cooke City Montana

After Bryan left, Pat and I took the very scenic Chief Joseph Highway up to Cooke City Montana. This was about a two hour drive and is touted as the most scenic drive in America along with the Beartooth HIghway that we also drove a portion.

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They built pull off areas at about every scenic vista. And we stopped at most. The views are absolutely incredible. Everyone needs to do this at least once. I would place the views as the second best that I have seen. #1 is the view from Pikes Peak. And #3 is the view from Cadillac Mountain in Acadia.

Cooke City is quite a charming old western resort town. It is also the seventh-highest US city by altitude at 7608 feet. The population is 140 people and basically closes during the long winter months except for a handful of people we heard.

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We had a good lunch at the Beartooth Cafe and then walked the main street down to a coffee shop for the mandatory after lunch Americano. It was a great day.

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Chuckwagon Cookout

In conjunction with the Buffalo Bill museum, they have a twice per week evening cookout that you can attend. It was a little pricey at $35 each, but gotta tell you, it was worth every penny.

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This is done to preserve the western chuckwagon process and teach folks how they made dinners for the cowboys on long cattle drives. I suspect that our version may have been better.

Anyhow, the cook (Rich) uses all the same tools, recipes, and techniques as they did 100 years ago. In fact the chuckwagon used was from the late 1800’s. Everything was cooked over an open mesquite wood fire. The cook drives to Texas to buy the wood once a year.

The dinner consisted of a New York Strip steak that was about one pound and two inches thick, seasoned and cooked to perfection. Then a pot of beans that are from the original stock. Some sourdough biscuits cooked in a cast iron dutch oven on the coals. A salad and then desert was blackberry cobbler also cooked in a dutch oven. Finally, he made cowboy coffee in a large pot over the first. Yep, grounds dropped right down into the hot water, then settled out.

The chuckwagon cook and his wife do the entire thing. His wife (Debbie) is a bank manager in town we met while depositing a check. Love the small towns! Here is a link to their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=409130086602632&story_fbid=430843744431266

Wrap Up

Wow, those two weeks went by fast! We are now on the road again, beginning our long slow drive back east. The western tour is about over for this year as is the summer. Where did it go? Thanks for following along and until next time, take care and God Bless.