Marsha Smith

Cody, Wyo., is famous for a lot more than it’s founder Buffalo Bill Cody. One is the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and another is the Cody “Nite Rodeo” held every night June through August, no matter the weather.

The historical center contains five museums: Buffalo Bill and the American Wild West, Plains Indian Peoples, Western Art, Firearms, and the Nature of Yellowstone. There is also an auditorium, research library, and sculpture gardens. Bill Cody’s childhood home is on the premise as well as the famous Buffalo Bill statue-The Scout. The horse Cody sits upon has one front leg raised, which according to legend signifies the rider died of natural causes; two legs in the air signify the rider died in battle. We visited on two days spending about three hours each and still did not come close to seeing everything the center had to offer.

A bullfight at the Cody ‘Nite Rodeo’ was a real treat.

The “Nite Rodeo” was a real treat, the show was bull fighting and bull riding night and we had seats above the chutes. We have seen a lot of bull riding in our time but bull fighting was a new one on us. The rodeo clowns are the Matadors, minus the sword, and do everything in their power to enrage the bulls. Of course this is an easy task since the bulls obviously do not think highly of the clowns to begin with. It was outrageously funny, but also sit on the edge of your seat scary as bull and clown made some serious bull-head to clown-butt contact.

A day-trip over the scenic Beartooth Hwy is also a must. We left Cody and traveled to Red Lodge, Mont., to make the loop over Beartooth and back through Indian Pass to Cody during one of the only sunshine days we had experienced. By the time we reached the top of Beartooth Hwy we were driving between six-foot high snow walls on either side of the Hwy. The drive was breathtaking, frozen lakes and streams, some giving the appearance of glaciers. On the way down a storm caught us and it was a snails pace back into Cody.

Wild horses are an awesome sight to behold and we were not disappointed. A local gave us a heads up on where to find the horses. We found two huge herds along a BLM road as per her direction. A sign stated to stay over 500 feet from the horses. I guess the horses can’t read as they blocked the road in each direction and proceeded to approach and circle the Jeep. Could be that people had fed them in the past and they were checking out their options. Needless to say we sat tight and just enjoyed their beauty until they decided to move on and give us room. One paint mare with a colt rested her chin on the hood of the Jeep and I am not sure, but I think she was telling me her colt was off limits. The local also told us that paints are not native to the herds. Local folklore has it that during off-season Buffalo Bill would let his show paints roam with the wild horses and they did what comes natural. Our new friend presented a more plausible version. She said that no one would allow prize show horses to run with wild horses and expects to get them back with the same demeanor, if rounded up at all. She said the paints are the result of a local paint breeder (many years back) who had a stud whom was put out to pasture to run free when his breeding life was assumed to have run its course. Turns out he had plenty of stamina left for the wild mares, at least as the story is told.

One of the sayings in the museum I found interesting, “There is a little myth in every true story.”

Next week Jackson Hole and the Tetons.