Cody, WY August 21-27

At Cody Historical Center

The Poker Chip Church

For a town of 9400, Cody sure can put on a show!  We spent two days at the BB Historical Center, as it housed 5 different areas:  Buffalo Bill, The First People, Firearms, Natural History of Wyoming, and Western Art.   The greatest part of our time was spent in the Cody and First People wings.   Very well done.   We took the Trolley Tour to see the various points of interest and to help us sort through what we wanted to see/skip.   

Bill Cody was one of the 5 founding fathers of the town of Cody.   In the event you're ever on Jeopardy, the other four are George Bleistein, H. M Gerrans, Bronson Rumsey and George Beck.

We visited Old Trail Town which is a collection of old buildings gathered from around the state on the original location of Cody.   The town moved 1 mile from this original location because of the difficulty of getting water.   When we visited Old Town, I could almost hear the horses and the clink of spurs on the boardwalks!   The Bill Cody Dam was built in 1910 and was originally called the Shoshone River Dam.  It was renamed in honor of Bill Cody.   The dam provides irrigation to the farms and ranches in the area.

The Poker Chip Church came into being when the founding fathers were in a high stakes poker game.   The stakes got to $500, and Bill Cody suggested that the winner should donate the winnings to build a church in the town.   It had 11 bars, but no church.   As a result the Poker Chip Church was built.

Our final excursion was to the Cody rodeo on Friday night.   It was great fun watching the bull riding, bronc riding, barrel racing, the cattle roping and team cattle roping contests.   Even the kids got into the act when all kids under the age of 12 were invited down to the arena floor.    It was explained that 3 calves would be let into the arena and that there would be red bandanas attached to their tails.   The three kids who were able to get the bandanas each got a prize.   In the barrel racing, the youngest contestant was a three year old girl who could barely sit on the horse.   Naturally she didn't race -- the horse walked slowly around the barrels and her Mom rode beside her on another horse.   Her time was 1 min. 11 seconds as compared to the winner who completed the course in 20 seconds.   The youngest bull rider was 7.   They start them young in WY!

Sunday we left Cody for the Grand Teton National Park.   We will be there about 5 days.   More on that later.