This is part thirteen of a travel series to Yellowstone and the Grand Teton National Parks. If you'd like to start at the beginning, go HERE!
There are lots of cute western towns surrounding the Yellowstone area: Jackson Hole, Gardiner, West Yellowstone, and Cody, to name just a few. We popped in to see a couple of them, and then we also spent a day or two in the others. They are all so fun to visit! Because we were arriving in Yellowstone from the East, we spent two days in Cody: one on our way into Yellowstone and one on our way out.
Cody is most famous for their rodeo, which we unfortunately did not attend. I didn't know about the rodeo until later in the day that we were there, but if we ever go back, I'll make sure to get rodeo tickets. So our day in Cody was mostly spent shopping, eating, and visiting "Old Trail Town".
You can read the sign above to learn all about "Old Trail Town". It really is quite amazing and worthy of a visit. The history in this place and how they managed to gather up all the original buildings and even the graves of the most infamous western characters is amazing.
I took photos of every single building and sign but I ended up with so many photos that if I placed them all here my post would be ten pages long! So I'm gonna just show you a few highlights.
Below is a carpentry shop. It is one of the first buildings of Cowley, Wyoming. It was built in 1901 and used by George Taggart. A Mormon pioneer that came to the Big Horn Basin by Wagon Train in 1900.
Next is "Curly's Cabin". A log cabin home of Custer's Crow Indian Scout, Curly. Curly escaped from the "Battle of the Little Bighorn" on June 25, 1876 and brought the news of Custer's defeat. The Cabin was built near Crow Agency, Montana about 1885.
Below is the "Morrison Cabin" . This cabin was built at the foot of Copper Mountain, East of Shoshoni, Wyoming, by Luther Morrison in 1884. The Morrisons brought some of the first sheep into central Wyoming in 1882. Morrison had originally come west on the Oregon Trail in 1853.
This is a Buffalo Hunter's Cabin. The cabin was built on Shell Creek at the hunting camp of Jim White and Oliver Hanna in 1880. Jim White was murdered at the camp in late October 1880. The cabin was later used by Al Kershner when he homesteaded the property in 1889.
The Shell Store. This was the first store in Shell, Wyoming. It was built in 1892,
As I mentioned early, the property also contain the graves of some of the Wild West's most infamous residences. This is the gravesite of Jeremiah Johnson...wow! What a character he was. I hope you can enlarge the photo enough to read about his life on the plaque, if not, google him. We had to rent the movie with Robert Redford when we returned home just for fun. I think they "tamed" his character in the movie quite a bit.
The natural background couldn't be more perfect for this Wild West town.
The violence of this time period was so evident when reading the history of all the buildings, but seeing actual bullet holes in doors and walls was shocking and made it real for us.
I highly recommend visiting "Old Trail Town" to learn all about the history of the area.
After our tour we went to the Main Street in Cody to do some shopping. The town of Cody isn't as cute as Gardiner, Jackson Hole, or West Yellowstone,; it is more spread out and modern. I should also mention they have a huge museum in Cody: The Buffalo Bill Center of the West. It has five museums under one roof: The Buffalo Bill Museum, Plains Indian Museum, Cody Firearms Museum, Draper Natural History Museum, and Whitney Western Art Museum. Our time did not allow us to visit it as it would have eaten up a good portion of our day as it is so large. It is so large, your ticket is good for TWO DAYS!
We did enjoy some great food and treats in Cody. Once again we had handmade Huckleberry Ice Cream, this time at Annie's Soda Saloon. This place is so cute! They are known for their Old Fashioned Soda Fountain, but customers rave about their ice cream and food too.
I just loved the decor in this place.
For dinner, we ate at "Michael's Tacos". It was just a little store front restaurant but the food was AMAZING and very reasonably priced.
But probably my favorite restaurant of all was Rooster's Cafe. Oh my gosh! Incredible! I loved everything about this restaurant from the decor to all the food. It is a "farm to table" establishment, which are always my favorite type of restaurants. We had a hearty breakfast of French toast and an omelette and then we got a cinnamon roll to take with us,
The tin ceiling was just gorgeous, and the cow print benches were such a cute western touch.
Have A Great Day! Amy
Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!
For more information on our trip out west, please check out these posts:
YELLOWSTONE:
Fountain Paint Pot, Lake Hotel and Cabins, and Hayden Valley
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
The Yellowstone Caldera, Tower Fall, Calcite Springs, & the Roosevelt Arch
The Golden Gate of Yellowstone, Mud Volcanos and the Fishing Bridge
Nearby Western Towns Not To Be Missed:
The Grand Tetons:
