Where the White Things Are: Cody and beyond

After two weeks in the mile high city, we prepped for our journey home. The plan was to stop one night in Cody, Wyoming, spend the following day in Yellowstone National Park, and then stay in Bozeman, Montana that night before driving the remaining 8.5 hours home the following morning. I find a bullet-point outline to be more straightforward:

Day 1: drive 7.5 hours from Denver to Cody, WY
Day 2: explore Yellowstone, sleep in Bozeman, MT
Day 3: drive from Bozeman to home (8.5 hours)

On Monday, July 13th, we hugged my parents goodbye one more time and hit the first leg of the road homeward--an easy drive from Denver to Cody. When we reached Thermopolis, WY, about an hour outside of Cody, we decided to stop and check out Hot Springs State Park since it sounded nifty and we had time to burn (hotel check-in being later in the afternoon).

We drove around a bison range and saw our first bison! I am unable to resist calling them buffalo, even though their official name is bison. They were so big and fuzzy and blunt-ended. My mind labeled them buffalo every time. Eventually I gave up trying to be correct and squealed "look at that buffalo!" any time the urge came. The first buffalo we saw was rolling in a wallow of orange dust. We pulled out our two pairs of binoculars and stared at the beast in all its hairy lumpy angles.

After about half an hour driving around viewing the buffalo, we continued on up the remote central Wyoming road to the rodeo cowboy town of Cody. Once we were checked into our hotel, Jeff and I went on a run while the kids unwound with screens in the hotel room. I felt a little guilty for not getting the kids out and about to diffuse their road trip energy, but the hotel didn't have a pool and the kids were lethargic after the day in the car. So I let them veg while I went on a fresh seven mile run at Markham Reservoir in the constant cleansing Wyoming breeze. It was just what my body wanted after 8 hours in the car, and kept adding onto my run until I reached seven miles.

When I returned to the hotel, Jeff was showered and ready to order pizza for dinner, so I hustled to get ready. The five of us took a walk through town to the pizza place, which was amusingly called Pizza on the Run. We ate it in our hotel room. It was pretty good pizza, although I rarely find true enjoyment in any food involving that much dairy, even with the assistance of a lactase pill. We all were so tired from a long two weeks of late nights with family in Denver, we draped ourselves around the hotel room and had a much-needed early quiet night in.

The next morning, we checked out of the hotel and drove the 2-ish hours into Yellowstone National Park. When we embarked on the drive, I told the kids "today is about the journey, not the destination, so look out the window and enjoy the scenery!" Instead of watching movies and listening to audiobooks while we drove, we turned on Piano Guys music and admired the various rocks, rills, hills, rivers, and trees on the long weaving drive into Yellowstone. It was not boring at all, with something new to look at around nearly every bend. I got out our two cameras and let the kids go to town taking pictures from the car while we drove.

Piano music in the background, scenery out the windows, and family chatter around the van made for a wonderful start to the day. I found myself thinking, "THIS is what a family road trip should look like!"

Thermopolis bison:

This is the buffalo that was rolling in the dirt. The hairy hump on his back made it impossible for him to roll on both sides of his back. It was probably frustrating not to be able to itch that other side.

We couldn't resist a buffalo selfie! (the buffalo is behind me, right by the steering wheel)

Running in Cody:

In Cody, Jeff and I ran the first mile together and had to take a second silly selfie in the same day in front of this unique street name. How would you like to live on Huff n Puff Ave? It seemed an appropriate name since we were running uphill at over 5,000 feet altitude. These are our huff-and-puff faces.

There were gorgeous sunflowers along one side of the reservoir.

The sky was deliciously moody.

I ran up to the top of a ridge and nearly blew off the other side in the strong wind!

Canal on the right, reservoir on the left. Kind of a fun little causeway-pathway to run on.

A location anchor picture--I never would have remembered the name of the reservoir without this picture! There were actually three small lakes here, so I'm not sure if just one of them was called Markham or what. None of the others had signs.

A little side path down to the third lake.

Cody:

Pizza On the Run!

The hotel breakfast was the scantiest offering I've ever seen. It consisted of a tiny fridge stocked with yogurt and prepackaged muffins, with a juice machine opposite. Thank goodness we brought a box of Mini Wheats! We are big breakfast people!

We saw the Cody Rodeo stadium on our way out of town. It would be cool to come see the famous rodeo in a non-pandemic year. I believe the rodeo was open while we were there, but we were not up for sitting around outside late at night in masks.

Driving to Yellowstone:

The scenery got better and better the closer we got to Yellowstone! All of these pictures were taken from the car.

Amber wanted to take a million pictures, but I limited her to five at a time before she had to take a break to save battery power, memory card space, and most importantly, to keep her from getting car sick.

We paused to get out the second camera--our big one--so more kids could have camera turns at once.

Amber took this picture of Rose.

Did I mention that we drove the entire way with Jeff's bike strapped vertically to our roof? It was a startling shadow to catch the corner of the eye every now and then.

Yellowstone bison are bigger than Thermopolis Bison. This guy looked like he wanted to charge our van. It was a rush just driving past him with our windows rolled up!