What We Loved About Cody Wyoming
Located to the east of Yellowstone National Park, Cody, Wyoming is the embodiment of the wild west and all of her glory and shame. Cowboys, Native Americans, and Japanese citizens intertwine in history in Cody. It’s one of the few places in the country where sagebrush rolls through the streets, where the month of June is rodeo every night, where you can ride horses on the edge of Yellowstone, and find yourself pulling up real estate listings because you never want to leave.
Our nine days in Cody included three days of travel into Yellowstone, one day of horseback riding, one night at the rodeo, one day shopping downtown and eating all the things at Irma, a day at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and finishing up the shops, and a day at the Japanese Internment Camp.
Day One:
Yellowstone. Be sure to click here to see all of our Yellowstone posts. We’re several years behind, at the time of this post, writing about all of the places we’ve been. Be sure to check back often.
Day Two:
Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West has amazing artifacts and one of the largest gun museum collections in the country. Literal drawers of guns they don’t have room to display. This museum is art, history, conservation – all in one. What you see in the pictures doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of this museum.
This is a huge album, so be sure to keep scrolling for more on riding, Yellowstone, and more.
Having lunch at The Irma, Buffalo Bills hotel and restaurant, in downtown Cody.
Day Three:
Back at Yellowstone.
Day Four:
Heart Mountain.
Over 14,000 Japanese citizens were taken from their homes and businesses in 1942 because of our war with Japan. They could bring only what they could carry. Many lost their homes and all possessions. Most returned to homes completely looted or destroyed. They were placed in this internment camp in northern Wyoming – which sees extreme hot and extreme cold – for years. They grew millions of pounds of food for themselves, so much they had massive root cellars (I wanted to see it, but it was closed off) for food storage and supplied millions of pounds of food sent by train to other parts of the country. Last week we visited a WWII POW camp for German and Italian prisoners here in Wyoming and it seemed they had it much better, despite being only 3 hours away.
I highly recommend taking the 15 minutes to watch the video at the museum. There was also a documentary released a few years ago that shares the story and shows inside of the actual remaining buildings (asbestos warnings so we didn’t go in), and the root cellar.
This building is a replica, but the other buildings, actual buildings used in the camps, weren’t as nice.
I didn’t take any pictures inside the museum. It didn’t feel like the place. It felt somber, not Battle of Little Bighorn level, but definitely a lot of sadness on those grounds.
Day 5:
Horseback Riding
Day 6:
Cody, Wyoming Rodeo
Day 7:
Down Day
Day 8:
Exploring and Preparing to Leave Cody.
Day 9:
Yellowstone/Idaho
Full-disclosure – we would have stayed longer if the campground had a spot for us. It was coming up on the fourth of July and the town was completely packed with vacationers and rodeo folks.
What We Didn’t Love About Cody, Wyoming.
I realized when I was editing this post that “What we love…” might be expected to include “What we didn’t love…” about Cody, Wyoming. Honestly, we haven’t thought of anything yet. We rolled into town with a hose in the truck throwing steam and in limp mode. We found a little campground and proceeded to make ourselves at home while the truck repair shop set out to help us in any way possible. Considering I was there with four kids and three dogs by myself, it meant a lot.