Bozeman

The last few days of the vacation were spent waiting for the van repairs to be completed.  We needed to be close enough that we could go pick it up when it was done but couldn't afford more nights in Missoula.  We found a hotel in Bozeman that would allow all of us to be in one suite, was affordable and included made to order breakfasts.  We killed time by checking out anything cheap or free in Bozeman. 

One of the museums we went to was pretty interesting.  The Pioneer museum is housed in an old jailhouse that was built in 1911.  The building itself is a historical monument.  The tour was self guided except the first room which tells the history of the area.  They share the story of the history of Bozeman with you and give you the layout of the museum.  Since we love history and we were the only people there we got to ask questions and learn some of the gritty details of Bozemans beginnings.

The original population of Bozeman was composed of miners who were not able to make it rich in the gold fields.

In 1864, John Bozeman started bringing settlers over a trail that was a spur of the Oregon trail. The Bozeman Trail remained the primary route to Montana until it was closed by the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians.

The town was established and named Bozeman in 1864.  In 1867 it became the county seat. But at the time nobody really knew very much about John Bozeman.  As the years went on he became known as a philanderer and a gambler.

Bozeman was murdered while traveling with his business partner in 1867.  His partner, Tom Cover, reported they had been attacked by a band of Blackfoot Indians. Inconsistencies in his story have led historians to suspect that Bozeman was actually killed by Cover himself.

After learning about the towns namesake we went into the next area of the building.  It was a room built as a public execution area.  However, only 1 hanging actually took place here. 

They had a neat collection of handcuffs, ball chains and restraints. 

The Jail section was left as it was in 1911.  You could walk in and shut the doors to experience the living conditions of prisoners in the early 1900s.

This was fun until the children got locked in here.  The museum docent had to come get the door open.  He said it happens all the time when they host field trips.  We think maybe he just said that to make us feel better.

It would seem Clara hasn't seen enough Loony Toons. 

 "Now why won't this thing fire?"

They had one of the biggest collection of antique toys that we had seen but it was behind glass and in a dark corner of the museum so most of the pictures didn't turn out. 

 I loved the toy/learning sewing machine for little girls.

Before we went to the museum we went to check out a historical railroad trail.  The trail runs along what was once the original tracks to the area.  It was labled in tourist brochures as an interpretive trail but we went quite a distance and didn't come across any signs or information other than this one.  But it was still a fun walk.

We ended the day with a quick visit to this climbing rock.  It was neat because each side offered a different challenge.  The little girls went up this easy side and the older kids did the more challenging side.  Jacob was able to go up the "arms only" side after working at it the whole time we were there.  Right before we left he managed to pull himself to the top arms only. 

The clouds were rolling in by the time we went home, you can see in the background it is getting very dark.  This was one of the few times we experienced clouds on the vacation.

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.