I love chatting up multi-generational vacationers. They are easy to spot as the little ones clearly enjoy being with the grandparents, and the grandparents enjoy spoiling the little ones. Meanwhile, the parents get to escape work, house maintenance and back-to-school shopping while “letting” the grandparents pick up dinner checks and buy souvenirs.

For many of these families, this is not their first trip to the coolest Western town ever. The parents and grandparents are busy pointing out local landmarks that really haven’t changed much. The Irma Hotel and other Sheridan Avenue structures look much the same. The Poker Church is a comforting site, and Cassie’s is a constant reminder of simpler times.

The one thing the older generations remember best, however, is our status as the “Rodeo Capital of the World.”

When I asked older (non-kid) visitors what they remember about their childhood visits to Cody and the area, far and away the most common answer is “the rodeo.”

Yes, we love our rodeo, and nobody remembers when it was not an integral part of our community. While the Nite Rodeo happens every night in June, July and August, the biggest summer event is the Cody Stampede Rodeo at the beginning of July.

In 2019, Read More

Every year, more than 4 million people lock up their homes in Manchester and Salzburg, Pittsburgh and Denver, Toronto and Sao Paulo, Wellington and Amsterdam with strategically packed suitcases and pre-downloaded apps on their fully charged phones, and they make their way by car, RV, airplane or bus to the world’s first national park.

Some of those visitors are bound to be ninnyhammers, and I wish they’d just stay home.

Ninnyhammer was the special label my genteel grandmother reserved for the occasional idiot who had the bad judgment to cross her path. She’d look the person directly in the eye and offer a carefully-worded put-down that usually started something like, “I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you,” and ended with something like, “anytime you happen to pass my house, I’d sure appreciate it.”

Grandma always had a lot of snap in her garters.

You can easily spot a ninnyhammer in Yellowstone. They are the ones who get far too close to wildlife, refuse to stay on boardwalks, bring their pets on trails, carry guns and ignore all the other rules that are liberally posted throughout the park.

Every year, a few park visitors get too close to wildlife Read More

I was greeted with a familiar scene the other day. As I was walking in to Sierra Trading post a friend of my mine was leaving with a sleeping bag, three pairs of Tevas and a portable camping stove.

I turned around and followed her to car which was full of more supplies.

“What’s going on, Kirsten?” I asked. Like the old show Dragnet, her name was changed to protect the innocent, even though she is not very innocent. She is also prone to overreactions.

“Just preparing for when the Big One blows its top,” she responded, packing her latest purchase in with an eight-pack of toilet paper and a six pack of Buffalo Bill Beer. “Didn’t you catch the latest press release from the National Park Service?”

Actually, I had seen the release. It described new thermal activity in the Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. Near Old Faithful geyser is an area called Geyser Hill which people can easily climb to gain a nice view of the area. New vents were erupting and splashing water on the boardwalks while surface fractures were appearing. Parts of the area were closed off to prevent people from getting too close.

The Upper Geyser Basin Read More

I recently ventured deep into the wild and spent some time admiring the majesty of a massive canyon that knocked the deer-hide socks off white explorers in the 1800s. Then I had a bison burger and bought a scarf.

Traveling to the Canyon Village region of Yellowstone National Park – the location of the 20-mile-long, 4,000-foot-wide, 1,200-deep canyon that we call the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone – is a breeze from Cody. You can access the region from the park’s east or northeast entrance. If you wanted to visit the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone before 1872, though, you had to work pretty hard to get there.

Early North American tribes first populated the area more than 11,000 years ago. By about the 1700s, tribes and fur traders began to explore the rugged terrain by horseback. By the early 1800s, exploration of the American West was in full swing, but the War of 1812 and the Civil War, rough weather and the nationwide preoccupation with “gold in them thar hills” tended to disrupt serious attempts to explore the region.

In 1870, members of Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition successfully descended into the canyon. A year later, the Hayden Expedition secured scientific and photographic evidence of Read More

Travelers from Cody lined up at the East Entrance to Yellowstone National Park – one of two park entrances accessible from town – on the day it opened for the summer season, ready to experience the world’s first national park in all of its springtime splendor and hoping for a glimpse of the park’s wildlife.

According to an account by Cody Enterprise reporter Lew Freedman, some of those early-season visitors were in luck. Just a few miles into the park, visitors spotted a grizzly lazily stretching and rolling around in the grass and stretching one paw and then the other skyward as if exercising. A quick-witted ranger dubbed the grizzly “Yoga the Bear.”

Bears are often seen stretching and playing in the sunshine. National Park Service photos.

I guess if you spent several months in a deep slumber, you might want to stretch out those limbs too. I’ve always thought grizzlies are one of the most compelling of all wildlife species in the park. They can be ferocious, sure, but they are predators and that’s what they do. The sows are fiercely protective of family members – at least for a year or two – and they have a playful side that is a joy to watch, from a safe distance Read More

Last week I shared my dream of personally witnessing Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park erupt. I realize the odds of that occurring are pretty long, especially since there is no lodging in the Norris Geyser Basin.

With all this talk about hot spots and geysers, a few of my loyal readers have asked me just why there is so much thermal activity in Yellowstone and the surrounding area.

The answer is simple. Yellowstone National Park is sitting on top of a volcano.

All those great thermal features in Yellowstone are the result of the volcano under the park.

Volcanos are certainly in the news these days, what with Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano suddenly creating new fissures and spewing enough molten lava to destroy whatever is in its path, including several homes in Leilani Estates on the big island. I have been watching this with great interest as I have a couple of friends who live less than 10 miles from the new volcanic activity.

There is a local connection as these friends have traveled with me to Yellowstone, and one enjoyed the experience so much that he applied for a job and worked as a reservations agent for Yellowstone National Park Lodges one summer.

Fortunately, my friends have been able to live their Read More

Do you know how we go through stages where it seems like you keep hearing the same term to describe something?

For a while the term “world class” was used to describe everything from a Cody vacation to how handsome Dan Miller is. Now, while both of those examples are accurate, we can certainly come up with some “totally” and “awesome” descriptions that aren’t used so often.

And don’t get me started on people saying “unique” to describe something that is anything but. Unique means one of a kind. That’s it.

I don’t like the term “bucket list.” You know, something you want to do before you go to the great rodeo grounds in the sky. I used to have a mental list of places I wanted to do and see, but then I realized that I was pretty much living that list here in Cody Yellowstone Country.

There is one thing, however, that has truly been elusive in my life. I want to see Steamboat Geyser erupt.

For those of you who don’t know, Steamboat is located in the Norris Geyser Basin – the hottest geyser basin – on the west side of Yellowstone National Park. When the geyser erupts it shoots 200-400 cubic Read More

In just a couple of months, the streets of Cody’s Sheridan Avenue will be teeming with visitors from around the world, and I can hardly wait. It is always thrilling when I hear so many different languages spoken on our streets. It’s also great fun to chat with visitors from the East when it is their first trip to the Western part of the country.

We locals often are asked a broad range of questions about our beloved little corner of Wyoming, and we are always delighted to chat with our out-of- town guests. Here are some answers to common questions:

Who is the most famous person to visit Cody?

Buffalo Bill Cody was the most famous man in the world when his Wild West Show was in full swing, so even though he’s the town founder he’s also the most famous person to walk the streets. There have been plenty of others. Ernest Hemingway stayed at the Chamberlin Inn down the street from the Irma Hotel, and Buffalo Bill hosted the Prince of Monaco at Pahaska Tepee.

Pahaska what?

That’s the name of the hunting lodge Buffalo Bill built just outside the east entrance to Yellowstone. He liked to host famous guests there. They’d hunt in the forest and fish in the Shoshone Read More

When the beginning of March rolls around a lot of people I know start talking about Major League Baseball’s spring training or the pro football draft or the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Not me.

Instead I am reminded how fortunate I am to live in a place where people from all over the world make their way to enjoy the world’s largest concentration of geysers and the valley featuring the finest wolf watching in the Lower 48 states. In addition to natural features, people take in tours of the coolest log structure ever built – the Old Faithful Inn – and stop for photos next to a stone arch named after a U.S. president with the foresight and commitment to set aside public lands.

That’s right. I am talking about the World’s First National Park. On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill setting aside 3,468.4 square miles (close to 2.2 million acres) to create Yellowstone National Park. Now, I know a few people in California who argue that the other “Y” park has a legitimate claim to being the first national park, but these Yosemite Sams lose me with their convoluted explanations about land grants and such.

Here are a few of my favorite facts about Yellowstone.

Whether they are ranchers, cowboy singers, hotel housekeepers, foodservice employees or are involved in the myriad jobs around here, people in Cody/Yellowstone Country work hard.

Some of us pretty go at it non-stop during the peak tourist season (and no, you don’t want to see the grindstone when we’re done with it) and then take time off during the shoulder season. Others work closer to traditional 40-hour weeks and play on weekends and vacations.

Whatever suits you best is my belief.

What I don’t like, however, are the people who think they are indispensable and leave vacation time on the table every year. You know who you are or you know the type.

Some are worried that the boss will think less of them if they are out of the office, store or restaurant instead of producing. Others cannot imagine the business surviving without them, and still more are worried about that ambitious young 20-something taking their jobs if they aren’t there to do it themselves.

I got some news for you. You aren’t doing anybody any favors by refusing your time off. We all need to get away from work, relax and recharge our batteries.

So when I heard about the U.S. Travel Association’s Project: Read More