Cody Wyoming

Unfortunately by the time we arrived in Cody 3 of us were very sick.  Fever, chills, stuffy heads and stomach flu symptoms.  We pretty much checked into our hotel in Cody and crawled into bed.  We had food delivered for people who were well enough to eat and we stayed in bed for about 24 hours.  Towards the end of the 2nd day in Cody we felt well enough for a trip to Albertsons to get some drug store items and food for the kids to snack on.  Then back to the hotel to recover for one more night.  Because of all the sickness we were not able to do all of the things we had planned to do in Cody.  We managed to do 2 things before we had to head back to pick up our van in Missoula.

Wyoming just seemed like the kind of place where you have to do a horse ride.  Stephanie, Kylie, Clara and Anna were the last ride of the season.  They actually did one extra ride for us and the kids had the trail guides all to themselves.

It was a good thing mom didn't know about the cliffs, heights and rocky terrain ahead of time.  They probably never would have been allowed to go.  But they had a great time and they all returned in one piece.   Notice no helmets!?  They didn't even have any there!  In Washington trail ride businesses have to put helmets on everyone under 18.

The View from the top.

We also made a short trip to the Buffalo Bill Museum which takes at least two days to see.   I (mom) was so sick that I spent most of the visit in the cafe drinking water.  The museum is made up of 6 parts,  Buffalo Bill, Western Art, Greater Yellowstone History, Plains Indians, Firearms (the most comprehensive in the world) and a research library.  We only got to see the Buffalo Bill section and the Greater Yellowstone historical section.  A few of us took a quick look at the firearms but we are hoping to go back someday and see the rest of the museum.

Clara got the best score in our family and I don't know what is considered "good" but people walking by were saying things like "that girl got better than dad"  and "look at that girls score!" 

 NRA membership for her next birthday maybe?

West Yellowstone

While we were seeing Yellowstone we stayed in the town of West Yellowstone.  There are a lot of touristy things to do there but our favorite thing to do in the evening was settle in at the cabin and unwind.  The kids did school work, filled in their junior ranger assignments and played games.

One of the unexpected favorites of the vacation was the Wolf and Grizzly Discovery center in West Yellowstone.

When Yellowstone park was established in 1872 wolves were hunted as predator control.  Unfortunately by the 1970s there were no wolves left in the Yellowstone area.  In 1994 they re-introduced wolves to Yellowstone national park. At the end of 2011, at least 98 wolves in 10 packs plus 2 loners occupied the park.  You can learn about the fascinating story at the Wolf Discovery center.  You can also follow their progress at-  http://www.nps.gov/yell/naturescience/wolves.htm

The Discovery center takes in wolves and Grizzlys that are no longer able to live in the wild either because of illness, injury or because they have shown aggression to humans.

The very observant may notice there are pictures from two different visits.  We went late in the evening one day and our pass was good for one more visit so on our way out of town the next morning we went again.  We got there when it opened and it was COLD.  But the wolves were very active and hunting fish in their stocked stream.  The pictures of them fishing didn't turn out unfortunately.

 

Next we went to see the Grizzly bears.

Then Jacob, Clara and Anna signed up for a class on bears that included getting to hide food for the bears at the end.

The challenge of hiding the food is that bears can smell amazingly well and are extremely strong.  So the children were suppose to hide it under rocks, logs, stacks of wood, anything that would give the bears a challenge when they were released into the enclosure.

They spent about 15 minutes stacking wood, lifting rocks, and hiding the food in hard to find places.

Good job kids!  Now leave the pen so the bears can look for the food you hid.  How long will it take?

 Here come the bears.

Within a few minutes they have flipped over stumps that took 3 kids to move.  Turned over boulders.  Pawed through bushes.  They found all the food much faster than it took the children to hide it.

Elayna was too young for the program but she did get to watch through the telescope.

"Hey!  I was here first!"

Right before you leave there is a fun play area with a cave, tipi and playground equipment.

 

The discovery center is also used as a test area for makers of "bear proof" garbage cans and food containers.  Here are a few that were sent back to the drawing board.

Yellowstone (part 2)

Fishing Bridge Visitor Center-

On the last day mom and dad and little kids were too tired (and sick, since this is the day the flu hit the rest of us) to hike the Artist Paint Pots.  But  the oldest 4 went on their own and had a great time.