We couldn't take photos, but first thing Monday morning we took the Wyoming River Rapids Tour of the Shonshoni River, cut into the draw just behind our cabin. We saw deer, hawks, and pelicans. We saw the "hole in the wall" made famous by Butch Cassidy. We got soaked to the skin and laughed a good bit.

Downtown Cody features the Irma Hotel, built by Buffalo Bill and named after his daughter. We didn't go in, but it looked entertaining from the outside.

We had a Mexican lunch at Zapata's. Yum.

I could tell a long story about meeting a grizzly face-to-face, but it would be a lie.

The Buffalo Bill Cody Historical Center of Cody, WY, is actually five museums under one roof. They include the Buffalo Bill Museum, The Draper Museum of Natural History, the Plains Indian Museum, the Whitney Gallery of Western Art and the Cody Firearms Museum. We had only time to visit three of the five spaces.

This museum covers the cultures, traditions, values and histories of, primarily, the Northern Plains tribes, such as the Lakota, Crow, Arapaho, Shoshone, Cheyenne. Visitors learn not about the beautiful objects made by Indian people, but the stories of the people behind the objects. Exhibits include dioramas, craft objects, wearing apparel, and objects used in everyday life. Modern day Indian crafts are also on exhibit.

The voices of The People tell their own stories. Indian flute music is also played.

I very much appreciated being able to photograph parts of this wonderful collection. I am personally drawn to the culture of the Plains Indians, as the number of photos I took will speak to.

A courtyard separated the Plains Indian Museum from the mail lobby. Indeed, each museum branched from a central lobby area.

A long covered walkway divided a lovely outdoor space which contained trees, flowers, pathways and large sculpture of native peoples and animals. The bear in the top museum section was in the garden, as were the sculptural pieces shown here to the right.

The Whitney Gallery included large open spaces, many works of sculpture and some fine paintings of Western subjects. Many original Frederick Remington sculptures and paintings were displayed. One joy of the space was a reproduction of Remington's art studio workspace, including some of the western objects Remington owned or might have had displayed in his studio. The south end of the gallery has windows overlooking a mounted sculpture of Buffalo Bill Cody, "The Scout," and mountains and a deep draw cut by the flow of the Shoshoni River.

Miscellaneous events of the day included meeting a woman from Lawrence, KS, in a downtown jewelry shop with her three standard poodles. We know some of the same people. The Draper Museum of Natural History had stuffed bison. Supper was served at the Cody Cattle Company. Guests sat at picnic tables, were served in a buffet line, and had an hour of entertainment included in the price of the meal.

Every evening Cody has a rodeo. Tickets aren't expensive. Sunset in nice weather is beautiful and action gets lively at times. The rodeo clown has a microphone and is the star of the show. Some of the contestants looked as young as seven or eight. At one point most kids 12 and under went out in the ring and chased calves for the scarves on their tails. Two lucky kids who grabbed the scarves got prizes. Bull riding was too late and too tough to get any usable photos. It was too dark to freeze the action. If you go, take a sweater. You'll appreciate the option of putting it on or taking it off. You may be glad you have it along...even in July.