Once we departed Yellowstone, we headed east on highway 14, en route to South Dakota. We stopped in Cody to experience an authentic cowboy town. In the late 1800’s, Buffalo Bill Cody was instrumental in establishing the town of Cody…and everything in this town honors this man – a museum, nightly rodeo, hotels, restaurants and the launch of a new micro-brew in honor of this town’s forefather.
Off of the main highway is Old Town, an authentic and restored, 1800’s western town with cabins, stagecoaches, chuck wagons, furniture, saddles, clothing, guns, and personal belongings from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to many other outlaws, gunslingers and citizens of the era. It is also the burial site of the infamous, Jeremiah Johnson.
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| A typical 1800's classroom - quite a departure from E-Learning! |
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| The skies of South Dakota and Wyoming are gorgeous. |
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| My hubby appreciating former modes of transportation... |
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| The dollhouse on the left was charming. |
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| Saddles from authentic cowboys and cowgirls. |
After lunch, my daily iced coffee (I may be addicted), and browsing through the local shops, we got back on the road for a few more hours of driving. When we reached Bighorn National Forest, we were amazed at how beautiful the landscape was and the elevation (over 9,000 feet)! At a roadside scenic overlook, we met three Native American Indians from California that were a pleasure to chat with – vacation destinations, past experiences, and their journey to stay connected with the heritage passed onto them through ritual and practice. It’s always interesting to meet people along the way – diverse nationalities, culture, language, race, and ethnicity - it’s a function of traveling that makes our experiences rich and memorable.
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| Mother |
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| Nature |
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| Is |
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| Beautiful. |
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| Scenic overlook of a waterfall. |
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| My handsome hubby : ) |
Next stop: Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Black Hills, and the Badlands
Ciao’ for now : )
PS: I almost forgot...we stopped in Deadwood before we reached the Mount Rushmore area (yes, the town based on the HBO series). Back in the day, it was a completely lawless town filled with bad guys; now it's a honky-tonk tourist town.
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| Welcome to Deadwood |
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| Deadwood: a cowboy town of hardened criminals. |
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| A reenactment of two men being shot to death because of a card game quarrel. |
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| Live + Free : ) |
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