The day began just down the street from our hotel, at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. There's the guy himself.
And what do they have at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center? They have guns. Lots of guns.
In fact, they have probably the largest collection of historical firearms in the world. We saw about 1500 of them, including a "hand cannon" dating from the 15th century. We skipped the additional 1200.
My favorite were the "celebrity" firearms, mostly ones used in movies and TV shows. Here's one used by Gary Cooper in High Noon:
This was Bat Masterson's gun from the eponymous show:
And not the least, this one, which belonged to Dick Cheney (it has his name on it):
There was also a preserved log cabin, replete with furnishings and adornments such as this antler chandelier:
There was the original part of the center, the Buffalo Bill Museum of the Old West, where we learned about how a chuck wagon worked:
They had lots of artifacts, including some paraphernalia from the Wild West Show:
Plus, there was a large gallery of western art, much of which was pretty good. Some of the more unusual pieces caught my eye, such as this rather racist painting entitled "Making the Chinaman Dance":
And then there was this one called "Cosmos" (yes, it's made of a whole bunch of little cows stuck together and painted different colors):
Altogether, it was much larger than we expected it to be, and we didn't get out of Cody until afternoon. Once we did, it was back to the scenic drive. On the way to Yellowstone, we drove through the Shoshone National Forest. Here are some scenes:
We finally made it to the park itself. One of the interesting things about going to Yellowstone is that it can be somewhat dangerous, for a variety of reasons, and since so many visitors come through, they have to give people lots of clear and somewhat entertaining warnings.
They also couldn't stress enough not to feed the bears, or to leave food out where they can get it. Apparently, after they swipe your pickanick basket, they are more likely to maul you to death. Unfortunately, they didn't have a funny illustration of that.
Anyway, here are some of the scenes from Yellowstone. I think the pictures speak mostly for themselves, so I won't comment much.
Yes, they do road work in national parks.
We saw lots of bison during the visit. At first it was really cool. But after jamming up traffic along the roads several times, they just started to get annoying.
"Dragon's Mouth" spring:
Me at "Sour Lake":
Lots of steaming piles at Yellowstone.
Some wildlife emerges from its natural habitat:
The "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone":
As a special bonus, here is some video as well, because some things just can't be fully captured in still. First there's us getting through some of the aforementioned bison traffic:
Then there's this bubbling mud pit, which was possibly the highlight of my day:
We finished the day after rolling into West Yellowstone, a bustling little tourist town full of hotels, restaurants, tchotchke shops, and even its own IMAX theater, which we didn't go to. We had a nice feast at Wild West Pizza, which gets my recommendation, before calling it a night. More Yellowstone to come.
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