From Dinosaurs to Cowboys...

Buffalo was a cute little city, but we were anxious to hit the road as we were going a little out of our way to check out hot springs and dinosaurs in Thermopolis before heading up to Cody (the eastern gate to Yellowstone!!).  Along the way, we got to drive through yet more beautiful state parks, so the scenery was nice:

The land out here was amazing because the kind of rocks, color of the dirt and land formations were constantly changing.  After a few hours, we made it to Thermopolis where we got to see more bison/beautiful open land, on a reserve:

I guess you can't tell from the pics, but we were actually decently close to the bison.  Keep in mind that all over the news the days before we saw bison for the first time were those news reports of those kids that got sort of attacked in Yellowstone by bison when they got too close (though I think they were also pestering them a bit).  Still, we didn't want to push our luck!

After stalking the bison, we went over to the free hot springs, and soaked in the super hot water for the 30 minutes you're allotted!  Although we smelled a little bit like sulfur when we were done, we felt totally refreshed, so it was definitely worth it!  Next stop: dinosaur museum!

The Dino museum was pretty cool because it had lots and lots of real fossils dating back a ka-trillion years (technical term) and chronicled the Earth for billions of years, through the different eras we've had so far (FYI, humans on earth is like a second in that history).  There is an archaeological dig site nearby, but it was closed for the season (which was a bummer b/c we missed out on another dig site as well...some day).  While most of the pics below are of replicas of fossils that have been found, they did have some real dinosaur bones on display too.  Soo cool!

Buffalo Bill's Cody
After getting our fill of all that Thermopolis had to offer, we drove around for a bit more and then made our way up to Cody.  The town is actually named after William Cody, aka, Buffalo Bill because he had land in the area, and the town exists because he decided to build it.  There is a really cool Buffalo Bill Visitors Center in town that is actually comprised of like five different museums, but we ended up getting into town so late, that we were only able to roam around it for about 20 minutes; not nearly enough time (though the lady did let us in for freeeee!).  There is actually a lot of cool looking stuff to do in Cody, like the museums and nightly rodeo, so we'll certainly have to go back some time to do it all.  We did get to check out the Irma Hotel (one of the many Cody built, named after his daughter), and caught part of a gunfight re-enactment, which we left early because it was pretty lame.  We managed to find a yummy place for dinner and then hit the road because we were staying as close to the Yellowstone entry gate as possible (about 30 more minutes from Cody).  I had wanted to make sure we'd get as much time in the park the next day as possible.

Me next to a random sculpture of a moose outside the museum complex.  

-ENCM