Miles Driven Today: 110   Total Miles Driven 3011

A much better day weatherwise.  Still cloud about and the temperatures not much above 19C but definitely sunnier.  No rain till this evening.

We got up early and took breakfast with us to go out and see if we could see some wildlife.  Online recommendations suggested that elk and moose would be found around the Sunshine Basin, a non paved wilderness area accessed from the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway.  That sounded good.  We were also happy we would see the byway without the low slung cloud of yesterday.   So, back up the chicanes of 296 and then 14 miles of dirt/grit road.  Not the best decision to not have breakfast before we left.  I “came over all funny” and nearly fainted…. Anyway, we pulled up at the little bridge over the river and had breakfast and looked for animals.  Absolutely nothing; zilch; zero.  Weirdly we havent seen a wild animal since we left Red Lodge.  There are lots and lots of cows and horses but no other sightings.  Still, it was a nice drive out and back and the countryside was gorgeous.   Felt better by the time we got back.  Lesson learned!  Breakfast before sightseeing from now on.

Came back to Cody and had our picnic lunch.  Then went to the Buffalo Bill Centre of the West.  This is an absolutely amazing museum in Cody, well… five museums rolled into one really.  It is affiliated to the Smithsonian Museum.  There is the Buffalo Bill Museum; The Museum of the Plains Indian, The Natural History Museum, The Whitney Western Art Museum, The Cody Firearms Museum.  website

Really enjoyed our visit.  The tickets are good for 2 days, something we can’t take advantage of as we are on our way to Yellowstone tomorrow.  However, we spent a few hours in there enjoying the exhibits.  It’s very interactive in all the sections.  I probably enjoyed the Buffalo Bill exhibit the best, although I enjoyed them all.  I had no idea he had toured the show to so many places.  Literally thousands.  Not just in the USA but also through Europe and many shows in the UK in the 1880s.  I knew he had brought it to the UK because Queen Victoria saw the show and gifted him a massive cherry wood bar which now adorns the Irma Hotel.  But he also gave the show in Truro, Harrogate, York, Scotland,……  There was a huge amount of memorabilia, not just of Buffalo Bill, William Cody himself but also Wild Bill Hickock who was a close friend.  And Buffalo Bill was responsible for much of the legend of Custer’s Last Stand.  It was a big part of his show and there were very interesting exhibits about this.

The Museum of the Plains Indian was also fascinating.  Some incredible examples of artwork, beadwork, wonderful musical instruments and horse/weapon adornments.  We saw the painted lodges of the Blackfoot.  The interaction was especially good in this part.

Spent a good couple of hours most enjoyably.  When we left, we stopped off at Walmart and stocked up on lunch stuff for the next week.  Tonight we were meant to be meeting Eric for dinner but he was a no show.  Hope he is ok.  Nothing other than the Irma seemed to be open in town, so it was rammed.  We ate dinner here again.  Not the buffet this time, just entrees off the menu.  Truly it was below mediocre and the service was poor.  Possibly because they were so stretched.  While we like our room a lot, I would never choose to eat here again.  It’s poor.