Cody, Wyoming

 Today we were in Cody, Wyoming.  Trish and I spent the night at the historic Irma Hotel, built by Buffalo Bill Cody in 1903 and named for his sixteen year old daughter, Irma.  It was an experience!

This morning we went to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West Museum.  You could spend days here. It is actually five museums in one.

Since Trish and I know that we get “museum overload” after a couple of hours, we decided to spend most of our time in two of the wings:  Buffalo Bill and The Plains Indians.  The most fascinating thing about the Buffalo Bill Museum was the preserved garments from throughout his lifetime.  The workmanship and the decoration, all done by hand, were complex and beautiful.  It was also remarkable that these very perishable things have been so preserved for more than a hundred years.

We learned a lot about the growth of this man’s thought processes and discovered the extremely inclusive ethnic and racial nature of the Wild West Show by the later years of his life.

On the Plains Indian side, there was very beautiful and realistic appearing diorama settings interpreting the always moving life of these First Peoples. That practical possessions were always decorated, many with handmade precision, made what we saw here especially impressive. Beadwork was mind-boggling. Again, a remarkable aspect here was the plethora of artifacts collected and assembled.  We could have stayed much longer and will surely come again another time.