The wild west of Cody! Alternatively, the wild west of...Walmart?!

Pulling into Cody, the town founded, among others, by the famous Buffalo Bill Cody, we stopped at the visitor's center, per usual. Hoping to camp out by the lake at the state park, S went in asking for info and directions and such. Thinking we were on our way to a beautiful campsite yet again, come to find out we were apparently heading to the Walmart parking lot down the street......Turns out the winds in this area of the world are fairly fierce, especially down by the water.  Soooo, the kind man at the visitor center recommended we stay in a more secure location, the local Walmart!

Now, we already knew RVs can spend nights and days free of charge at most Walmarts (and Sam's clubs), depending on city ordinances, but we had yet to actually do it.

We pulled into the parking lot, settled into a nice spot on the far end right by the grass, along with many other RVs and their inhabitants. We were not the only ones there, by far.

Well, given all the things we ended up doing in Cody, combined with our nice 'campsite' and it's lovely neighbors, we ended up staying there 5 nights!  5 nights in a Walmart parking lot! How funny!  To us anyway :-)

Our new neighbors were, yet again, a lovely retired couple that we visited with frequently.  S helped them work out some major computer problems and they gave us advise on other free places to stay and most importantly, on how they heat their RV without using the heating system!  I.e. a large propane heater.  This has changed our life, but more on that later.

Our stay in Cody involved ice skating, almost daily -





Library visiting (I was still frozen from the ice rink, hence the heavy jacket! That rink has got to be the ccoollddeesstt rink I've ever been in!)



Workin' on her blog,



RV lego building - actually, that's pretty much a constant around here, not Cody related necessarily.  I've been asked to note that the RV includes a bathroom, couch, beds and slideouts!



This RV has two slideouts too, as you can observe :-)



This next event is definitely Cody specific, though I'm sure other wild west towns have something similar:  The Buffalo Bill street gun fight show! This one included Buffalo Bill (of course), Wyatt Earp, Calamity Jane, WIld Bill Hickok, the obligatory drunk jail keeper, and some well known outlaws, apparently.

The show began with the National Anthem, recognition and appreciation of all active and retired military personnel, a mention of the charities they raise money for by selling posters of the show, and of course, thanking their long list of sponsors. On a side note here, a nice couple in the audience had 'Buffalo Bill' give the kids a poster that they had paid for.  Wasn't that sweet?


In anticipation of gun shots by the outlaws, Inventor has prepared his ears.....



Those shots were REALLY loud....


The show included plenty of funny action scenes -



But the funniest part of the show was watching a tourist, who obviously didn't understand the whole gun fight show phenomenon, peer into the horse trough at the 'dead' man laying in it!  I wish I had gotten a shot of her actually peering in there, but the puzzled look on her face was priceless!



After the show the kids were excited to have their picture taken with the cast -



Jokin' 'round with the outlaws -



The girls, Calamity Jane and Analyzer -



The gun was a rubber one, not one of the real ones, not to worry!



My thought was maybe to leave them all in jail..... ;-)



The whole skit was very cute and entertaining with great adult humor that, mostly, went right over kid's heads.  Though the whisky joke apparently was well comprehended..... :-).  The guns were real but the bullets were blanks.  We soon learned though that even blanks can destroy a coke can if shot from close range......so watch out!

I have to tell you, I didn't expect much from the show, but it was really fun! I love being pleasantly surprised like that.

After the show we walked around the Irma hotel (Where the gun fight took place).  This is the original hotel built by Buffalo Bill and named for his daughter and where many famous characters stayed, including Annie Oakley!



Once home from the show all were excited to 'work' in their own way:  Analyzer sat down to report the evening's events on her blog.  Inventor kept repeating, about 14,000 times, "That gun fight was sooo cool!" and "I loved that gun fight!".  Followed by "Who invented the first gun? I know it wasn't Benjamin Franklin!"  Since I had no answer, I guess we're about to embark on a history lesson on guns.  Whirlwind came up with a little project of his own.  He set off to write CODY on his self made name tag that he then hung on his bed.  It's become his password so he says.

Tomorrow, The Buffalo Bill Historical Center!

Those kinds of days.....

After leaving the lush green Shoshone Forest with it's amazing canyons and beautiful mountains, we descended into a desert like valley. Our surroundings reminding us quite a bit of the arid dry scereny on the drive down to Eilat (through the southern desert of Israel).  Especially while listening to Shlomo Artzi, for those of you who know of him :-).  Seems a bit confusing as to where we are sometimes.....

Anyway,

Our drive that day was yes, full of history and beauty, but for some reason, the inhabitants of the backseat decided to loose their minds....

OY!

Those kinds of days send the inhabitants of the front seat running for cover.....

On those kinds of days, I miss my minivan....terribly.  I want it back and I want it back NOW!

On those days, the back seat is like the wild west, except much smaller.

On those days, hands and feet can't seem to be controlled and voices seem amplified by a factor of 100.

On those days I wish the occupants of said back seat were much MUCH further back, like they were in the minivan....

I wish they had what seemed like miles in between each other....

Alternatively, a motorhome is another thing I wish for during those times.  That way they could be buckled up at a table, couch, or whatever, with a great distance between them.

But, this 5th wheel and truck is what we've got.  And we got them for a reason.  Cause when we're in the RV itself, they have their OWN room with a door that CLOSES!  And that, for us, right now, is what it's all about.

Especially, on those kinds of days.

On the road again....Plus, our first major history lesson

First of all I want to apologize for disappearing for a few days, we've had no reception let alone wireless...Here's a new post, and I'll try to get a few more up to be published over the next few days.  Enjoy!


And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.....


 The drive out the northeast entrance was by far, in our humble opinion, the most colorful, mountainous and beautiful.  The geological phenomena in the park are of course spectacular and beautiful in their own right, but to be honest, most of the immediate surrounding areas are either pretty bland or 'just' your typical forest, meadows and trees :-).  In contrast, heading northeast out of WY, into MT and then back into WY, we feasted our eyes on high jagged cliffs, thick dense forests, a picturesque creek, fly fishermen/women, and hoards of buffalo hanging out in the valley meadows.  


Funny thing was that as we began our drive out Analyzer observed that we had seen more buffalo at the Tetons than we did in Yellowstone!  Literally 5 minutes later we began to see buffalo.  And more and more and more buffalo.  The entire valley was covered with them!  So, buffalo yes, but no bear!  We were really hoping to see some, one?  But, alas, the only glimps of a bear we got was at the Tetons.



Just as a side note here, you can really tell what we're seeing and learning is sinking in to the kid's heads when you hear things like "Look at how that lava flowed!" (Inventor commenting on the rock formations we were driving by) and " I'm heating up the magma to make my gyser explode" (Whirlwind building his own gyser with sticks and dirt the other day).  It also shows up in their creative play on a daily basis.  Funny how sometimes days later the information they've absorbed finally comes out and demonstrates how well they really did 'get it'.  Seems it takes that long for information to incubate sometimes.  Which is just fine.  Sometimes I need to ruminate on things before I can completely comprehend them too.


Anyway, back to the itinerary....


From one gorgeous route to another.....we were heading into the Shoshone National Forest.  An absolutely gorgeous drive on the Nez Perce Historic Trail and Chief Joseph Scenic Highway.  As wonderful as the scenery is, the story behind the name of the trail is anything but.  A significant and heart wrenching history lesson awaited us....

The name Nez Perce, or traditionally Nimiipuu, actually represents may different and culturally diverse tribes who lived peacefully together.  They lived in the northwest and migrated to the Great Plains during the hunting season.  The Nez Perce hold a special place in Analyzer's heart as she spent a wonderful time last year delving into their lives in her homeschool history class led by the magnificent Christine, another homeschool Mom (We miss you!).  Kaya (thank you Chris!), one of her American Girl dolls, was the 'main character' of that part of the class.


Way down below, we were up at 8000 feet, is where the Nez Perce managed to outwit and eventually outrun the US cavelry.  The history is as follows:  In 1877, after a large battle and eventual massacar, the Nez Perce realized that the US government and cavelry had no intention of leaving any future survivors.  Their only hope was to try and head north, quickly, and meet up with other friendly tribes, some all the way up in Canada.



After 60 days of running from the military, the exhausted and heartbroken party of almost 700 (plus 2000 of their horses!) began climbing up from the valley to this point.  They had figured that if they could get over these mountains before winter they just might make it.


While up here, the Indians had apparently no choice but to leave behind a wounded warrior.  That warrior was later found by calvary scouts and killed. Hence the name of the peak, Dead Indian Pass.....




Knowing that the army was only a day or two behind them, Chief Joseph, among others, devised an escape plan. In an open space a couple miles southeast of here, they ran their horses around in all directions in order to leave confusing tracks.  Then, backtracking north, they headed down some serious canyons and ridges until they put a safe distance between themselves and the cavalry.


The army was indeed confused and the Nez Perce had accomplished what very few tribes had, a remarkable escape and survival (of a fraction of the people unfortunately)!  This was shocking and practically unheard of of course.


Upon exiting the national forest we were met with these postings.  Again, commemorating the great escape, but this time memorializing one of it's leaders, Chief Joseph.







This trail will also now live in our hearts.....

Pulling a 180 here, and under the heading, again, of:  Some people have absolutely no shame or respect, take a look at this:





Yes, that's a bullet hole right through the warrior's heart!


Really??  Could you get any cruder than that??


It really saddened me to finish our path along the trail with such a sour taste in our mouths, but I guess reality is reality.  Disgusting or not.


Just awful.

The End

Finally.

To Yellowstone that is.  Not that we wanted it to end necessarily, we just wanted to move on already.

Why are we rushing?  Well we're not really, but we would like to get out of potential snow areas as soon as possible.  We've had some nights of upper 20's already, mainly at the Tetons, but we don't want to risk anything more significant.  Also, we need to head east towards NY to be there by mid Oct. So we need to keep movin' right along.....

So back to Yellowstone, cause there's still more to share.

As per usual, we had an obligatory stop to make before we left the park:  The visitor center to get the badges!

Driving from Gardiner, MT (where we camped) into the park one passes through this -



I know, looks like it was built by the crusaders, what's it doing in Montana??  Well you'll be surprised to find out that, no, it wasn't built by the Crusaders :-), it is the historic first enterence to the park.  Built by the government in 1903, 31 years after Yellowstone was declared a national park by Congress, "For the benefit and enjoyment of the people" - the quote engraved on the other side of the arch. As I think I mentioned before, it was the very first national park in the US and even, so they say, in the world.  The calvery was first in charge of protecting and preserving the park and that is why a fort was established at Mammoth Hot Springs.

Back to our assignment: Into the Mammoth Springs visitor center we marched (a very small visitor center btw, but given the extend of the other centers in the park, it's forgivable).

First their work was reviewed -





Then came the ceremony, with all eyes on them.  The Ranger had offered to announce their new status to all those present but they declined :-)  Like mother like children.....



If you recall we didn't get 3 different programs this time due to cost, instead Whirlwind helped a little with Inventor's program and they were all going to share the patches they earned. Well, the ranger didn't want Whirlwind to leave empty handed so she gave him a Yellowstone ranger sticker.  He was thrilled!



Everybody with their loot! It's amazing what motivation these things provide.  It really is.



So that was that.

With much satisfaction and Yellowstone patches in hand, we headed out towards the northeast exit of the park and then south, to Cody, WY......

The never ending Yellowstone - Mammoth Hot Springs

Although outside of the caldera, Mammoth Hot Springs is a direct result of the same catastrophic volcano 640,000 years ago.  The same magma chamber under the eruption site provides the heat for this area as well, a good 20 miles north! There are two differences here though:  The 'plumbing system' shape and form and the composition of the earth.  Regarding the plumbing system, here, instead of large 'pools' underground, we have cracks and fissures that allow the underground water to rise up and come out.  Regarding composition, limestone is the key component here as opposed to the rest of the park.  Why does that make a difference?  Well, the main component of limestone is calcium carbonate.  The acid in the water dissolves the calcium and at the surface hardens and becomes travertine. Yup, that same stuff that tiles bathrooms and floors and has a beautiful whitish creamy look to it!

The terraces (some large and some small) btw are formed by the water (of course), the general slope and any objects in the water's path. They say they are constantly changing, sometimes even over night!



Dried up terraces with no life.  At the moment anyway.  Looks like snow!

Terraces with life -

Still some life here, but you can start seeing the calcium deposits developing on the branches that fell in.  Soon, if this area dries up completely like it did above, the branches will be totally white and on their way to fossilization with the help of the calcium carbonate.

Hard to see, but Inventor found (he *always* finds things!) what we decided was a  human hair that fell in and soon became caked in calcium:



We looooove getting closer looks!





I think they were watching a poor insect that fell in.  Obviously he won't be long for this world...



After Mammoth, we headed south towards the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  Did you know there was one?  Well, now you do.  It is told that the first explorers out here didn't know it existed, obviously, and would have fallen right in if it weren't for their horses that stopped short.  They knew better.
Again, photo doesn't do it justice.


Standing above the lower falls of the canyon.  It was a steep hike down and up.  When you consider that we couldn't let go of Whirlwind for a second, it was slightly challenging....



Having fun with our food, apparently, at our evening picnic.



Whirlwind showing off his self made geyser, using sticks and branches -



Is there anything better than hanging out in an open field sketching?  Anything?

Subscribing to the blog - more RVkeeping

For all those who were asking, here's what you need to do to get automatic updates when a post is added to the blog. The same applies to post comments.
Find the 'Subscribe To' button on the left below the blog archive list.

Select 'Posts' or 'All Comments'.

Select the way you want to receive the RSS feed. This will be different for everyone. You will be redirected to a page per your choice. I chose 'Atom' (a more modern RSS format).

On the mac, I use the standard mail application to read my RSS feeds. You may use a different RSS reader then the one I use. It is up to you. All you need to do is choose your reader from the list above. Now, whenever a new entry is posted, you will automatically get an email notification.
Thanks for your patience and thank you S for clarifying it all!!  This is all new to me too.......
:-)

More Yellowstone, in a photographic nutshell

This post shall be mostly pictures, as there is just no way to convey it's magnificence in words. I'm only sorry I'm not a better photographer cause these pictures don't even begin to do it justice.  I could upload the 5,000,000 pictures we took but I might crash my computer.  It was sooo difficult limiting myself!   Yellowstone is endless, with so many different faces, there's always more to see, and more and more.....



Waiting for one of the larger geysers to erupt. Didn't happen.




A hot, acid, bacteria laden waterfall.....Yes, there is life in the river despite the acid flow!



Head first.....



Trying to get a closer look without falling in....



There's a hot spring out there surrounded by circles and circles of thermophiles.



I know you're just so anxious to see what these bacteria mats look like face to face, so here you go!



Taking it all in......they were all truly fascinated and can tell you exactly what's going on out there!







Analyzer working on her young scientist book to earn her patch.



Watching a mechanical geyser at work from the inside out, at the visitor center -



Enjoying an open meadow while a picnic dinner is prepared.....



I realized poor Labra didn't get much coverage so far, so here's his moment of fame!



As we worked our way from West Yellowstone to the north entrance of the park we stopped and visited a few more geysers.

Here we are, watching the tallest geyser in the world, not erupting.  We could have waited, but you never know if it'll be 2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 YEARS!



As we wound our way out the north entrance we drove by the Travertine terraces of Mammoth Springs that we would see tomorrow.  Once again we were in Montana!

It was getting late and we were driving in search of a campsite that according to our map, existed.  Well, after driving for about an hour here and there with no luck, we were told of another campsite that hopefully had room but it was up a very steep hill with a gravel road....not having much choice, we went in search of it.

Indeed, it was quite the road, and then, quite the ordeal parking. Not because it was a difficult site, no, it was extremely large and easy to maneuver in.  However, it was sloped at various spots.  Not having thought about this ahead of time (newbie slap on the head! Duh!), we parked, lowered jacks, secured tires and such, a whole process that can take a good 15 minutes start to finish.  Well, come to realize once we went inside, that the whole RV was sloped....So, we moved it.  Not to a different site, but to a different location in the same site.  This time, we were straight and great!  But.....S decided he didn't like that we were parked on an angle with our rear facing downhill (yes, you can be parked on an angle but not have the RV actually sloping with it, it depends on how you level it).....after going back and forth about it we decided it would be ok if we secured it better.  So, another 30 minutes went in to securing the tires and placing large boulders in back of them so we wouldn't find ourselves rolling down into someone's tent in the middle of the night....

The kids during all this were remarkable.  Thankfully the area was beautiful and space plentiful that they could explore and run around in.



We had a cute little babbling brook right behind our RV -



Analyzer also worked on teaching Whirlwind how to write his numbers -



Tomorrow, yet more exploration!