Best Dog On Museum in The West

After our magical trip down the yellow-brick road (ie Yellowstone) we landed in Cody, WY. Completely starved. No matter how many Sour Patch Kids, Gummi Sharks, Salt Water Taffy, and Pretzels we ate... we were all wolf-dog-hungry by the time we got to Cody. We ate at Granny's. I had chicken-fried steak. My sister Julie has a theory that when going to restaurant and you don't know what to get- people from the west always get Country Fried Steak and people from the east always get Chicken Strips. They are sure bets. I used to always get chicken strips and now I get CFS. Am I officially a westerner? Thoughts to ponder I suppose.

After dinner we were all stuffed. We went to Walmart because Ken and I forgot socks (and Immodium) and then we hit the sack early... which was good because the museum was a LOT bigger than we thought it would be. (One more quick foodie note: I had the best sticky bun ever for breakfast Friday morning. It was so good there was an encore performance Saturday morning. Yum. It was gooey and glazey and warm. Almost heaven.)

Onto the Museum!

This Buffalo Bill Historical Center consists of 5 wings: Buffalo Bill and The Wild West Show, Plains Indians, Whitney Art Gallery, Yellowstone's Natural History, and Guns.

Let's start with the least favorite of the bunch and work up to the finale. The guns ranked lowest on my list. I'm just not that into guns. To me there were 1,200 models of basically the same rifle. A few pearls in the mud were a gun made for Ol' King Louie that was over 6 feet long and weighed 28 pounds! A real doozie. There was the duck-foot gun:

I got such a kick out this cock-a-mamey gun! I can only picture someone trying to run from a bullet and this gun has just gotcha covered. No matter what direction their running you have a decent chance of hitting them.

Then there was this teeny weeny mini gun.

I can't imagine getting shot with that bullet would hurt very much. It's be like "plink!". And you'd swat your arm like a little mosquito was buggin ya. What a riot. When we were leaving the exhibit there was a sign that said "If You've enjoyed the 1,200 guns on display please visit our lower level for 1,700 more!" Wha?! Yeah. And we went and looked at 1,700 more. My favorite part of this exhibit was the trophy case.

Who knew you could stuff a walrus?

My snuggle bear next to a polar bear. Yoiks!

This bear had a secret to tell me... but I couldn't quite hear him without leaning in a little.




Ken has a dead-shot... half the time.

The Whitney Gallery was closed for remodeling- so that takes care of that. I peeked through the partitions and saw a HUGE elk sculpture. End of story.







Next up in line was Buffalo Bill. The collection of history is hard to fathom. They had a TON of artifacts. A lot of it was labeled "Do Not Touch" which is boring. But the museum did a terrific job of really bringing Buffalo Bill to life. Buffalo Bill's real name is William F. Cody. He was a celebrity. Toured the US and even parts of Europe. Served in the Civil War. Was married. And was put out of business when the silent movies came along. It was fascinating reading about him. Word to the wise: if you go to this museum and you only have one day- you really can't read everything. You have to pick and choose. But if you have a three day trip then read all you want. They relocated Buffalo Bill's house to Cody! I knocked but Buffalo Bill wasn't home.

It was a close call but I managed to out-run these buffalo. It was neck and neck there for awhile.
#2 in line of favorites was the Plain Indians exhibit. There was a really natural spirit feeling in the exhibit. They displayed stories of the Indians, artwork, and videos all centered around the Indians. Do you know the Indians traded with the Europeans to get all the beads for their outfits? And beads represented not only comfort and wealth but accomplishment and pride? The Indians danced for everything. The Rains. The Sun. To be Healed. I've taken up the habit of dancing for everything too and Ken thinks I'm a loon. Sheri and I sat in a replica of a mudhouse and watched a movies about how the Indians were driven from their land. I made me really embarrassed and sad. That we did that.

My favorite part of the museum was the Natural History exhibit. I credit this entirely to the fact that it was incredibly interactive. This exhibit talked about all the animals in Yellowstone, where they live, and why they live there. There were quizzes along the way, nature calls to make, and costumes to try on. Do you know Indians used the buffalo bladder as a water bottle? Kinda gross. But, hey, go Indians. At the end of the exhibit there were puppets and we all put on a show for Sheri. She got a big kick out of it. Unfortunately there was only one picture taken. Ken had the camera. Bummer.







It was a fanTASTIC trip. I think it turned this group of City Slickers into some real rugged cowboys!