18 June, 2011 1 comments Leave a comment

We're glad we booked three nights at the Ponderosa Campground in Cody, Wyoming, because it is right in town and we can walk to everything. Our first full day there, after I did a fast four loads of laundry at the campground, we set out on foot to see what downtown offered.

First National Bank and Trust - Cody style! We admired this beautiful building with bronze sculptures of pronghorned antelope (shown here) and bighorn sheep (not shown). Cody must have a really strict bylaw to control the western look of the town.

The town of Cody was founded by 'Buffalo Bill' Cody and other folks in 1895. Evidently he was the best known American in the world during his lifetime. He worked for the US army as a scout and was well respected by the native people. In 1883 he created a travelling show depicting the frontier experience called 'Buffalo Bill's Wild West' which toured the US and Europe for 30 years.

Buffalo Bill built the Irma Hotel in 1902 as a rest stop for visitors to Yellowstone National Park and kept two suites and an office there for his personal use. The hotel is still in use today and we had lunch in the dining room there.

This cherrywood bar in the Irma Hotel was built in 1902 and is the most photographed spot in Cody. Notice the tin ceiling too.

Six nights a week, a mock gunfight is performed in the street outside the Irma Hotel, so of course we had to see it. The show is put on by volunteers from June to September each year and visitors can stand and watch for free or pay $2 to sit in a chair. The actors have great costumes and use real guns with blank ammo so the performance felt authentic.

First of all, the bad guys strut around and plot to rob the bank...

The the sherrif confronts the bad guys and asks them to leave town...

Then comes the obligatory poker game that goes sour and someone is accused of cheating...

And of course one of the bad guys ends up dead in the street.

All the characters pose at the end for photos. Well done!

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