Day 07 - To Cody and Billings

Today we head to Billings, Montana by way of Cody, Wyoming.  We had a shock this morning when we left the lodge for breakfast.  It was snowing!  The weather channel said it was to get to 26 degrees overnight, but snow on June 6^th?  What a difference from the upper 90’s when we left Las Vegas six days ago.

So, we are heading out the east gate.  To get there we will pass through Hayden valley again.  This is the area that we saw all of the bison.  Bison are once again in the area where we have been seeing them and see a couple of male bison butting heads while another is swimming across the river. 

We see deer (sorry, no picture) right away and hope we get to see a bear before we leave the park.  Instead, we get another picture of bison hanging around hot springs, even though we have already taken plenty of pictures of bison.

We see exceptional views of the Park on the way out. 

But, one thing no one ever expected was to see a snow plow driving down the road.

We were disappointed that we did not see any bear in Yellowstone, but just after leaving the park and before getting to Buffalo Bill’s hunting lodge, Carmen, who was sitting in the front seat with the tour director because of the curvy road, spied a grizzly and here cub on the hill side.

Ching, the bus driver, stopped the bus on the side of the road and we were able to take pictures from inside the bus.  (With the windows heavily tinted, most pictures have a slight blur and are not as clear as if we were outside.)

The cub kept standing on its hind legs and looking over the mother.

After watching the bears for about 5 minutes, the mother bear stood up on its hind legs as if it sensed something and was trying to see or smell the thing that troubled it.  Shortly it fled up the hill with the cub in tow and we continued on our way.  A great sighting and it allowed us to check off our last animal sighting.

On this trip, we were able to see all of the big animals we wanted to see including deer, elk, moose, coyote, fox, wolf, and finally bear.

We stopped at Buffalo Bill’s hunting lodge before leaving the area.

The countryside is very nice with rocky hills and spires along the road. 

The scenery has made the journey between stopped locations easier to deal with.

When we arrived in Cody, we visited the Buffalo Bill museum.  The museum had different sections, including art, Native Americans, Buffalo Bill, and Firearms. 

There were several bronze statues in the museum that were very nice.

We arrived at our hotel in Billings and almost immediately are back on the bus to our optional Cowboy Dinner excursion.  As we nearly get to the location, we are “attacked” by robbers on horseback and shooting guns in the air.  Of course, it is part of the dinner show, but everyone is excited when “Happy Pappy” comes on the coach.

We have dinner, cooked cowboy style, consisting of beef, beans, potato salad, and fried bread.  Everything was very good.  While we ate, we were entertained with songs by Norrine the Outlaw Queen and Happy Pappy. 

After dinner, Happy Pappy entertains us, again, while we sit around a camp fire.

Later while being entertained, a person in traditional Indian garb rides by on the other side of the river where the campfire is located.

Carmen and I, of course, don our cowboy hats for a picture before heading into the sunset as we leave and head to the hotel.  Giddy up, "so long until we meet again", as Roy Rogers would say.