River Check and Potluck

When we were driving into town on the day of our arrival on June 10, we spotted two rafts on the river not too far from our Resort area here. We wanted to see, if possible, where the rafters put in to the river and where the take out points might be. We will be taking a rafting trip one of these days - it's free for employees of the Village Resort. We drove for several miles outside town, following the river, and we found what we thought might be a take out point for these rafters. I took pictures of the river in both directions from this point so you can see how fast the current was running here:

We wanted to try to find the starting point for these trips so we headed back into town and finally found one of the starting points that was right under the bridge where we first saw the rafters on our arrival. The river runs pretty fast in this area:

It didn't take too long when a van, loaded with people and towing a raft, arrived to launch a trip:

Everybody put on life jackets and were loaded into the raft in certain positions by the guide so that the weight would be balanced for the trip. It was only about 10 minutes, and they were ready to go:

As soon as they pushed off from shore, the current caught them and they were gone in a short time. Below are two shots as they floated away:

The driver of the van took some pictures of the group and was going to head back to the office, print the pictures, and head to the takeout point which, as it turns out, was the very spot (above) where we first took pictures under the bridge. He indicated that the total trip was about 7 1/2 miles. There are several rafting tour companies in town and we aren't sure yet which one we will be taking. The son of the owners of Blair Hotels - our employer - owns one of them and will be the trip we take for free. That will be exciting.

Our dinner hour last night was taken up by a potluck dinner that was sponsored by the owners. It was a very nice time and gave us a chance to socialize some more with the other workers. It was a very busy night at work, as usual, and even Josie was busy as she sold over $700 worth of merchandise to one family alone. Maybe she will begin to get busy with the holiday weekend coming up.

We're not sure yet how we will spend our "Friday" today, but we are happy to see the work week end again...

Wild Mustangs

After having breakfast yesterday, we took a walk downtown and were enjoying the beautiful weather when we decided to take a short trip east to try and find the Wild Mustangs. There is a tour that you can take that costs $24 per adult and it is in an open van that takes you the 22 miles or so to the area outside town. People we have talked to about this trip said you could see as much on your own, in your own vehicle, and save the money. I'm sure that the guides on these trips have "secret" locations they go to to get the most viewing of wildlife, in addition to the mustangs, but we thought we would give it a try.

We left around noon and found the turnoff almost exactly 22 miles east of Cody. There are these 2 signs as soon as you turn onto the dirt road that goes into the area:

As soon as we past these signs we spotted a herd of mustangs on the top of a hill about 1/4 mile away. This is a view of the small herd from the start of this road:

We were very fortunate to have seen this herd so soon. Usually, people have to drive into the preserve and try to locate the horses in one of the fields or canyons that spread for miles and miles in this area. We were able get a lot closer and it surprised us that they didn't "spook" and run off when we got closer. They are obviously used to seeing vehicles come and go and are accustomed to seeing people up close. Following are more shots as we got closer to the herd:

As we got further into the area, we saw several horses that were paired off and grazing, separate from the herd:

This area is so vast that you could probably drive for long distances between seeing horses. They hide out and spend a lot of time in the canyons that run throughout the area. If we had more time, we would have driven down to some of these canyon areas that you can see below:


We probably will come back to spend more time at some point. The landscape just keeps changing in every direction we drive. It is a fascinating area, to say the least.

We're getting breakfast ready now, and we will be trying to figure out if there is another short trip in our day before going to work. More tomorrow...

Beautiful Summer Now

It has finally warmed up enough the last several days where we have turned on the air conditioner for the first time since last year. The average daily temperature has been in the high 80's, with one day reaching 92. There has been very little rain except for an occasional thunderstorm in the afternoon on a couple days. These beautiful days of warm weather, coupled with little or no wind just makes us want to get out and go someplace. We will figure something out for this morning.

The get-together yesterday for the couple that is leaving was a nice affair. There was a huge cake and some ice cream and people all sat around on a grassy area in our RV parking area and reminisced about all their experiences on the workamping trail. I would have taken pictures except we had to go to work from there and I didn't want the camera sitting at work all day. It is interesting to hear about other couples' experiences and to listen to discussions about other neat places to go. We found out about another great local trip that is about an hour's drive from here - to the Bighorn River Canyon. We'll have to do some investigating on that 2 hour boat trip down the Bighorn River.

It's time to get breakfast and get going on some local activity that we can enjoy in the 5 or so hours before work begins...

Typical Work Day

Since my schedule was changed from a 3:30 PM start time to a 2:30 start time, the free time is shorter for us every work day. That, coupled with sleeping in a little longer as a result of our late quiting time at work, makes it tougher to plan for any visits to interesting locations on our work days. By the time we finish breakfast, there are only a few hours left. So, we have taken that time to do our necessary chores. Josie did laundry yesterday, and I ran a telephone cord from our power pedestal to the opposite side of our fifth wheel so we could have the use of a land line phone while we are here. Every site here has the capability to connect a free land line which we haven't used for over a year. The only thing we would use it for would be for faxing documents from our rig. There hasn't been much need for that but since it's free, we decided to connect it anyway.

We have been getting more input from people at work about future trips to the Grand Tetons and Jackson, WY. It will be the main destination once we have seen as much as we can at Yellowstone. That trip may require an overnight stay, so we'll see. We are also trying to schedule a couple days to visit the Buffalo Bill Historical Center here in town. We have been saving that visit for a time when we can visit on 2 consecutive days which is what the admission price allows. There are 5 museums there and we would like to spend some time in each of them. They do offer a family membership for $65 which allows free admission anytime for up to 12 months, but we feel the $13 senior admission, for each person, for 2 consecutive days would allow us to see most of everything we want to see. Josie also wants to take a ride - about 20 miles - outside of town to see where the Wild Mustangs roam. That may be a trip that we can do anytime.

There is a farewell get together today for a couple that has to leave so that the husband can have back surgery. He is an individual that I worked with for a short time at the front desk until his back flared up and he had to schedule the surgery by his Doctor in Denver, their home base. Other than that, it is just another typical work day...

Winding Down From Yellowstone Trip

We are still talking about our first trip to Yellowstone and how different that place is from any other place we've been. There is something special about all the National Parks and this is no exception. We spoke to somebody yesterday that also went to the Park on Thursday and they took the part of the loop road that we plan to take on our next trip. They saw several bears and a couple wolves on their trip. Our next trip there will not be far off in the future.

Thursday will be the start of the 4th of July weekend and we already have our tickets for the Cody Stampede Rodeo for Thursday, our next day off. Even though there is a nightly Rodeo held all summer long, this is the big event with all the top Rodeo performers in the country.

People at the office have told us that we are getting into the busy season here. I don't know how much busier you can get if you are sold out every night, which we have been. We went over to the corporate office yesterday to pick up a couple long sleeve shirts (part of our uniform) and I got a "Blair Hotels" hat so I could advertise their hotels instead of the places on the hats I've been wearing to work. We also tried to meet with Pernille, the Manager, to discuss options about having Josie move over to the front desk from her "boring" gift shop job. She had already left for the weekend.

Our work week begins again today at 2:30, so we will just relax and enjoy the time we have left...

Awesome Day

Everything that has ever been said about Yellowstone National Park is an understatement. We left at 9:30 AM yesterday and returned at 8 PM and we had one of the most fun and interesting days we've had in a long time. Josie and I took 150 pictures and it was tough deciding which ones to post in today's entry. But here goes....

Every place we visit we try to get a picture of the sign where we enter and this was no different, except we had to wait for probably 15 minutes while families cleared out that were taking shots of their family in front of the sign. We finally had an opening:

Between the entrance and the first turnoff, we passed some beautiful countryside, some of which still had damage that was visible from a forest fire several years ago:

Just as we approached the Yellowstone Lake area, we saw the first of many, many Thermals in the Park:

These are areas that have bubbling, hot water and steam coming out of the ground. The Park is known for its geysers and there are more of them in Yellowstone Park than the rest of the world combined. Just before we reached the Fishing Bridge turnoff to the lower loop on the Grand Loop Road, we came upon this bison that could care less about the traffic jam he created:

The drive was spectacular all along the lake, and the shot below is just one view:

We reached the turnoff to the Falls at Artists Point and soon after turning onto this road we were stopped by a line of cars that had people scrambling up a hill to view something. Following is a picture of the largest elk I've ever seen in the wild and he still was in velvet, which means his antlers are still growing:

The road continued to the Lower Falls parking area and we were awestruck by the view of these falls:

This is known as the grand canyon of Yellowstone and below is another shot of this beautiful canyon:

The colors were unbelievable. Then, a short distance down the road we turned into the parking area for the Upper Falls, which were also beautiful:

We saw bison just about everywhere we went. Below though, is a rare picture of a bison and and elk grazing together:

Again, the elk is in velvet and is smaller than the previous one we spotted.

Below is another shot of bison and how they disrupt traffic, since they have the right of way:

The thermals were also everywhere in this area of the park, and below are a couple more shots of some unusual thermals:

We were nearing the end of the lower loop road when we came upon the most famous landmark within Yellowstone, Old Faithful. The crowd was building as we arrived at around 4:30 PM:

The next "eruption" was scheduled to occur at 4:55 PM and it was right on time:

A perfect ending to a perfect day. We were fortunate to have perfect weather all day, and a thunderstorm was moving in from the north. We headed out and enjoyed the views while exiting the Park in a light rain. There was one bear that we saw that ran across the road on a curve and we couldn't get a picture fast enough. We didn't see any wolves, but we know we will the next time. We are looking forward to our next trip to the Park, when we get to enter from the Northeast and drive the upper loop of the Grand Loop Road.

It was a tough entry to post today because of the volume of pictures, but it's worth every minute. Later...

Free Time Arrives

Our final work day of the week was mostly uneventful yesterday. The front desk was very busy, as usual, and we sold out every cabin, as usual. Josie was not that busy, as usual, and it turned out to be a very long day for her, as usual. We are going to try to get her job moved to the front desk to work the phones and reservations. There have been some problems with the girl that works that job now. Both my partner, Karen, and I have complained to our manager, Pernille, about her attitude and her trying to assume duties for which she isn't trained and causing problems for us at the end of the day. She is a 16 year old high school senior that was hired by the owner because she felt sorry for her. It's nice to help out a teenager that you feel sorry for, but the job they assigned her is way too important and complex for someone that young. We (Josie and I) will meet with Pernille on Friday to discuss that option.

We will finally get to go to Yellowstone National Park today for the first time. We have heard that the bears are still "out and about" and there have been lots of wildlife spotted in the last 2 weeks. We will have the camera and hope to get lots of pictures of our visit today. The trip we have planned will take us into the Eastern entrance and and around the lower portion of what they call the Grand Loop Road. The upper portion of this road will be taken on our next visit. It's time to get our "lunch" coolers prepared and to get started. The weather is fabulous (82 degrees yesterday) and it is clear and calm this morning...

Closing In On Free Time

It seems that we get busier and busier each day of the week from the time we start on Saturday until our free time begins on Thursday. The first 2 days (Sat & Sun) have been easy both weekends we have worked. Each day then gets more hectic until we reach Wednesday and Thursday and it hits full steam. There are 83 cabins in the Village, and on the weekends we usually get at least 2 tours in on each day which fills up the cabins quickly. We only have to deal with the Tour Director to check-in the entire bus load which varies from 30 to 45 people. When there are no tours coming in, we have all 83 cabins to rent to individuals and the pace gets frantic at times. As a result of the faster pace during the weekdays, we especially look forward to our days off on Thursday and Friday.

We are excited about going to Yellowstone on Thursday and we are planning out the day. It's a real advantage to be so close (50 miles) and to have the Golden Age Passport for National Parks so that we can visit on a regular basis and see everything there is to see, as often as we can go, at no charge for admission. Longer term, we are also excited about going to Jackson and seeing the Grand Tetons, but that will require more time and possibly an overnight stay in order to see everything.

Today we will probably catch up on some of the shows we taped during our working hours before heading out to work at 2:30 for me, and 3:00 for Josie. Until tomorrow...

Slight Schedule Change

There was a little bit of a change in our schedule yesterday. Actually, it was more of a change in my schedule. Instead of starting at 3:30 every day and working until 11:30, I will start at 2:30 and work until 10:30 - and not stay until we are closed out for the day. That has been a very stressful and long process that always started at 11 PM at night and had lasted until everything was complete - some nights that has been until nearly midnight. My co-worker, Karen, has indicated that she wouldn't mind doing the closing alone for awhile to see how it goes. It has been management's desire all along to have only one person closing at night. So, we'll see. Josie has been trained in closing the gift shop now, but she will only have to do that 2 nights a week, according to her schedule. So much for that.

The weather is rapidly improving here. Our high was 86 yesterday and is more typical of this time of year. We are still planning our first trip to Yellowstone on Thursday and we are both looking forward to that. There have been several people at work that offered suggestions on how to see the park and they have been very helpful. We heard the other day that someone was killed by a grizzly bear in the park - a hiker - and that the rangers had to destroy the bear. Those kinds of encounters happen at Yellowstone but usually because people try to feed the animals or try to walk up to them. That's a no-no.

Our morning today will be a stay at home morning. We have had breakfast and we will just hang out until I have to start work at 2:30. More tomorrow - 2 days to go...

Going to the PowWow

As planned, we went to the Indian PowWow in Cody at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. This is an annual event that is attended by the tribes from all over the northwest that get together for celebration, dance competition and to show and sell their jewelry, artwork, rugs, and collectibles:


There were probably 50 booths set up along the outside of the huge outside, grassy theatre area at the Historical Center:

We went early enough to walk around to all the booths before the show, or, I should say, competition started at noon. It started with a march of all the competitors into the dancing area to the drums and music of the tribes:

The color guard (above) were later introduced and they were all decorated veterans of the Vietnam and Gulf wars. As they all paraded into the competition area, the area filled with beautiful costumes and probably a hundred dancing contestants, each wearing a number on their colorful dress:

They danced for probably a half hour and then the announcer came on and said there was a tie in the judging of the dance - we didn't realize they were all being judged as they danced around in a big circle. Anyway, the 2 contestants that were tied held a dance-off to determine the winner:

As it turned out, the judges declared a tie and the dancers split the $400 first prize. There were dancers scheduled to compete the whole afternoon in many different categories and age groups. As it was getting late for us, we took one one more shot of one of the contestants that would be dancing later, and we were convinced she would be a winner:

It was a very interesting and entertaining event but we had to leave to get ready for work. It was about 2 PM when we got home and it was off to work by 3:30. Once again, we were sold out in the cabins and Josie closed the gift shop for the first time and did fine.

We are planning to go to Yellowstone on our days off this week - 3 days to go...

Another Beautiful Day

It was another beautiful day weather wise yesterday. The high was 79 again and, except for a late afternoon thundershower, it was dry and clear. These are the kind of days we hope to have when we go to Yellowstone. Our first trip there will probably be this weekend. We have been holding off on that trip for a couple reasons - to wait for the snow to melt in the higher elevations and to get a feel from discussions with people that have spent a lot of time there, what the best approach would be to splitting it up into several trips so that we can really see everything that we can.

It was a rather calm day at work. we had a couple tours come in and we also sold out every cabin once again. Most days this past week have been sold out. The summer months in the Cody area are great for hotels since almost all of them (about 22) are sold out every night. We tried to help some people find rooms in town last night and we called all of the hotels and Bed and Breakfasts (about 6) and there was not a room anywhere. People have to learn the hard way that they need to make reservations during these busy times near Yellowstone.

Today - before going to work - we plan to attend the Pow-Wow that is in town for the weekend, and is one of the reasons for all the hotels being booked solid. This is an event that occurs at the end of June every year and is a celebration for all the Indian tribes from miles around. It takes place at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and is full of song, dance and arts and crafts from all the tribes. We should have some shots tomorrow of this event.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to the DADS!!

Old Trail Town and More

Just like that, summer arrived. The high temperature yesterday was 79, with clear skies and calm winds. What a perfect day for sightseeing. There are several more local attractions that we want to see but because it was such a nice day we wanted to at least start out with an outdoor attraction. After stopping at the Rodeo Central shop in town to buy our passes for the Nitely Rodeos and our tickets for the first day of the Cody Stampede for July 1, we headed to the Old Trail Town, just outside town on the west side:


This is a collection of 26 cabins that were placed - in 1967 - on the site that Buffalo Bill had chosen for the first town site of "Cody City" in 1895. Below are pictures of the street with the cabins on each side and many wagons in between:



There were several cabins that were especially noteworthy. One example is the Hole in the Wall cabin:

Then there was the Shell Store, built in Shell, WY., in 1892, and was typical of the stores in the old west:

And also the Rivers Saloon, built at the mouth of the Wood River, west of the present Meeteetse, WY:

There were bullet holes in the door and door frame that aren't visible here, but you get the idea. There were many other cabins of homesteaders, trappers, a school, carpenter shop, livery stable and even the cabin of "Curley", one of Custer's Crow Indian scouts that escaped the massacre at Little Big Horn in June, 1884. There were several grave sites at the end of this town of other famous "locals" of the time. One that was especially interesting to us was the grave site of Jeremiah Johnson, the famous person of the movie with the same title. Robert Redford played the role of Jeremiah Johnson in the movie and his remains were relocated to this site in 1974. Below are shots of his grave site and of the reburial ceremony in 1974, at which Robert Redford was one of the pallbearers:

Finally, at the end of the cabins, there was the largest collection of elk antlers I've ever seen in one place:

After leaving the Old Trail Town, we went a little further down the highway to Tecumseh's Miniature Village & Museum:

This was a very unique display of the old west in miniature and also contained huge displays of old Indian artifacts:

All in all, it was an exciting and educational day.

It's back to work today - bummer. Josie will do laundry this morning and then we get ready to start work again at 3 PM...

No Summer This Year

Our plan for yesterday before seeing the wind and getting a late start was to visit the Old Trail Town in Cody and the Buffalo Bill Historical Museums. We'll save those for another day. Possibly, we can do one of those today. It was windy and cold the entire day even though it was clear. The high temperature for the day was 59. We don't think there will be a summer this year. Anyway, we had an unexpected visit from my co-worker, Karen, who wanted to get a reading from me on how I feel about the job. There has been a high turnover in the front desk jobs as a result of the pace, pressure and long hours I described earlier. She wanted to make sure I wasn't going to get discouraged and quit as it appears that everybody is happy with the job I'm doing so far. It's good to hear that - especially since the main reason we left the last job was because we got no feedback, or only negative feedback.

During a short drive through town we took a shot of a famous landmark, the Sleeping Indian, which is below:

If you look closely, the highest point is his nose, and you can see what they call a "wart" on his chin to the left and below his nose.

We went to a great western wear and boot shop in town and spent a lot of time just walking around looking at everything. If we were 30 years younger and had the same figures we had then we probably would have bought a lot of stuff.

The employees at our Village get a 25% discount at the restaurant, QT's, that is part of our complex so we tried that for dinner before going to the Cody Nite Rodeo. Our dinner was nothing special - Josie had baby back ribs and I had their signature pot roast which wasn't so hot. The Rodeo was great, however. Every night between June and August, there is a Rodeo. The BIG Rodeo event though is the Cody Stampede Rodeo that will be held on July 1 -4.

The Rodeo was fun except that it was so cold and windy that we had to leave early because we didn't have heavy enough jackets. We did get some pictures of events they had while we were there, starting with the bronc riding:

And then the calf roping competition:


There were other events, such as the Calf Scramble for kids up to 12 years old. All the kids came down to the arena floor and the first three that could grab one of the ribbons that was tied to a calf's tail would win prizes. There were two calves, and probably 30 kids chasing after them. We will be buying a season pass to these nightly rodeos at a discounted price with our employee badges. They let us in for free last night since the place where we purchase these passes is in town, and not at the rodeo ticket booth. So, the fact we left early really didn't matter.

Today is our second and last day off so, hopefully, we will fill it with some fun things. Until tomorrow...