Yellowstone Adventure - Day 28

   Well I awoke to a major rain storm going on, so I decided to skip any hike today and head to Cody Wyoming and a visit to the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum of the West.  I got some granola and bacon for breakfast and picked up my sack lunch. Went back to PB&J as I felt nostalgic. I headed out in the rain and a temperature of forty four degrees. I knew that I will be losing the jacket when I get to Cody as know the temperature will rise several degrees as I lose a few thousand feet in altitude.  The drive was pretty uneventful as there was not much tourist traffic over the mountain and through the Sylvan Pass.  I took it easy as I think the rain looked kind of slushy hitting the windshield.  The Pass still had snow on it but it is a lot less than the last time I came through. All the snowmen that were built in some of the turnouts are gone also.  Heading down the pass toward the east gate went pretty smooth. After exiting the park I ran into a thirty minute work zone stoppage. Wyoming was still chip sealing the highway and I got my place in line with the other cars waiting for the pilot car that would lead us through. I had a nice conversation with the guy with the stop/slow sign. He wanted to know more about working in the park. He basically came to the conclusion that they paid too little, but understood the draw of working and being in the park.  The pilot car finally showed up and our massive line of cars was able to head out. Once you get a few miles down the road and out of the mountains you get to speed up to 70 miles per hour. Believe me that is a great feeling after having to go only 45 miles per hour in the park. Leaving the park I see a Wyoming warning sign that is pretty interesting. It warns you that grizzly bear are dangerous and if you approach them you will be fined $5,000. A pretty big difference from Yellowstone's approach to bears.
  Getting into Cody I went straight to the museum. Found out that being an employee of Yellowstone only got me three dollars off a ticket price.  The museum is basically broken into four areas. The Buffalo Bill Cody exhibit of his life and times, the plains Indian exhibit, the western art exhibit and the firearms exhibit.  They also had a transition section that had natural history exhibits.  My first stop was the life and times of Buffalo Bill. Since I was last here the museum has updated a lot of their exhibits with new technology. They are putting LED monitors and interactive computer screens to good use. Even though I have seen much of the exhibits before I was able to watch a lot of old film footage of Buffalo Bill that I never seen before. There was also quite a bit of new donated items from Bill's time that went well with the exhibits. Buffalo Bill certainly had a colorful life and he was a very brave individual. I would recommend that you all read up on his life as you will be amazed at all he accomplished.  
  The second exhibit I went to was the firearms. The museum has the most complete collection of firearms in the world. They organize it by manufacture and then type of firearm and the year of manufacture. There is also special sections to show Hollywood guns, engraved guns, limited run guns, experimental guns, etc. I managed to only get through half of the collection before I took my lunch break. After a tasty PB&J lunch in my car I continued my walk through the firearms exhibit. After completing my circuit through I took the elevator down to the basement where more guns are stored and some other gun exhibits. The area also has the office of the head of the firearms exhibit and if you walk into his office you can ask him any firearm question.  The basement also has the guns in sliding cabinets that you can pullout and look over the excess guns. Believe me the place has a lot of guns.
  Heading back up the elevator I checked out the western art exhibit. I just love looking at Remington and Russell's sculptures and paintings. These two guys were amazing artists and adventurers. The place has many original paintings and sculptures to look at.
  My next stop was the plains Indian exhibit. One thing they talked about with Buffalo Bill was his view of Indians changed as he grew older. He even fought for them to gain citizenship and to be treated fairly. Since I am not that up on Indian history I could not tell you if the exhibit was fair or not. But it sure was filled with a lot of items and information. They even had a pretty impressive theatre that detailed the Indians coping through all the seasons on the plains.
  All in all the museum is well worth a stop if you ever get to Cody.  Especially if you love firearms.  After the museum I went to the local McDonald's and updated my cell phone. I headed back to the dorm then and during the two and half hour drive I got to listen to the Cubs lose to the nationals. :( 
  Well I will be back to early shift tomorrow and look forward to next time I get off.  You all take care and thanks for reading about my adventure. Stay well and do good.