We had our Hampton Inn breakfast and loaded the coach for our drive west to the predominantly Mormon community of Cody WY. This trip took us through the Bighorn Mountains, much of which is National Forest land. We stopped at a 6700′ overview, a site often used as a launch site for hang gliders. These mountains are much higher than the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Ponderosa pines are replaced here by lodge pole pines. Unfortunately, large areas have been devastated by the pine bark beetle and by an imported fungus. Lots of cattle and sheep are brought up into these mountains for the excellent grazing during the summer months. I did catch a glimpse of a couple of western mountain bluebirds, with their brilliant blue backs in the bright sunlight, but we passed them too fast for me to get any photos.

Coming out of the mountains onto the Bighorn Basin, we traveled through the Shell Creek Canyon. The creek itself is named for the fossil shells found in the area. The geological layering is prominent in the canyon with large deposits of bentonite, and many large buttes rise up along the canyon sides. To be honest the road was a little intimidating to me and I was sure glad Ron was driving and not me.

When we left the canyon we made a quick pit stop at Dirty Annie’s, where many of us indulged in some ice cream, before continuing on to Cody. As we neared Cody, we again saw many large wheat and alfalfa fields, along with a number of beautiful bright yellow sunflower fields. We also saw the distinctive silhouette of Sleeping Indian (or Heart) Mountain.

In Cody we spent all afternoon at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, which is really a world-class museum. We were there for five hours, which was probably longer than we needed, not because of all the things to see but mainly because we were just getting very tired. The Whitney Western Art Museum, just one small part of the center, was especially wonderful – featuring scores of works by Frederick Remington, Charles Russell, N.C. Wyeth and many others. If you are ever in the Cody area, you should definitely not miss this.

Leaving the Buffalo Bill Center, we checked into The Cody Hotel and then rather quickly left for dinner at Bubba’s Bar-B-Que. After dinner we attended the Dan Miller Cowboy Music Revue in a refurbished movie theater on Sheridan Avenue in Cody. This was another of the activities that Marilyn said we must not miss. Most of us were tired and attended rather grudgingly, but once again Marilyn was absolutely right. This was a delightful and gentle musical show by Dan, his daughter Hannah and two friends – a very enjoyable experience.