Day 11: Cody, Dinosaurs, and Jackson Hole
So now I am back to writing about Day 11. The first post I wrote about Day 11, was actually written on Day 11 (check out the original post if you want to see the complete route we took through Yellowstone for our five days there). The original blog post was a quick post written from Jackson Hole as we checked into the hotel; it was also the first real working wireless since I left Yellowstone. I could skip writing about Day 11, but then I would have skipped writing about one of our favorite days on the trip.
Last Impressions of Cody
I woke up this morning, I had a blue moon in my eyes… hmmm… wrong state. Let’s try again…
I woke up this morning from the dreams of Cowboys, Indians, Guns, and stuffed animals; tents and trains, shootouts and rodeos, and I didn’t even have a hangover. Our tour of Cody was a one day quick tour. Over a disappointing breakfast buffet at the Irma for about $9.50 a person, I decided two things: one, I should have ordered the normal breakfast, and two I really probably needed at least another day in Cody to get a good impression of it. One thing we did finally realize was that the number of motorcyclists in the region was because of the just ending Sturgis Motorcycle Rally that is held once a year in Sturgis South Dakota. This years event took place between August 4th and 10th, and many places on our road trip are known “Sturgis Pit Stops” for those returning home from the rally.
Cody, Jackson Hole, and even on Beartooth Highway there was a preponderance of fellow road warrior types, enjoying the road for the road. Come to think of it, except for only a handful of cars, the Beartooth highway basically ours with the exception of the motorcyclists. Sharing the road, and Yellowstone, with these people was a pleasure. Come to think of it, some of the friendlier people on the road that we met on our travels traveled themselves on motorcycles.
I suspect that Cody would be a less interesting town with all of the interesting bustlingly of the motorcycle enthusiasts, although I still think it might be a good place for a good days worth of people watching. If I had to do again, I would book another day, sit on the balcony of the Irma with a bottle of brew, and whittle away the hours, stealing wireless Internet time for the Irma Hotel, of course, from the coffee house across the street… tsk tsk tsk…
The Road to Jackson Hole
Dogen’s brilliant fascination with scenic routes brought us through to nearly the creamy center of Wyoming, and it was worth it.
Thermopolis
When we got to Thermopolis I think I changed my mind about where to book that extra night. Dino’s and hot springs in Thermopolis.
The Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis was lots of fun. The museum displays mostly a gigantic personal collection of fossils (unfortunately I did not write down his name). The hero of Dino Center spent years traveling the world and collecting specimens large and small for his incredible collection.
The way that the Dino Museum story goes, is that this collector (whose name escapes me) was suspicious that there was a region of earth where Dinosaur bones were to be found in this region of Wyoming, so he hire two geologist to scout the area. As they drove through the region they saw geographic indicators that the collector was correct. The then requested permission of the owner of the land (it was a farm at the time) to walk through area’s they thought might have fossilized remains. Then Bingo! they found fossilized Dino bones coming up from the earth, and the rest was history. The collector came in and purchase the land.
Here is a picture of the fossilized remains of a Archaeopteryx on display at the Dino Museum, the only known remains of the “missing link” between bird and dinosaurs. This fossil shows the remains of living thing that has both feathers and reptile.
Along with many small specimens, there larger ones as well… like this…
Or this…
There was also a fossilized skeleton of a Supersaurus that was so big that I didn’t bother taking a picture because it stretched the length of the place that was the Dino Museum.
But the fossilized remains were only one cool part of the Dino Museum. What really brought the place to life was the tour of the “dig” site.
The Dig Site
You wouldn’t think that a small van ride to a place where someone talks over some marked outlines in the earth would make any of this more interesting; but it did. The really neat thing about the Dino Museum is that it is a working museum. The building structure is actually just a van ride away from working dig sites. The crew there has about 60 documented sites, although it is only working on about 6 currently. Digging our dino’s is a slow business.
The picture above this text, with the man standing net to the pillar, is a picture of one of the first dino fossil sites they found. This one has been left in place because it is one of the only “feeding frenzy” sites known. In this site there can be found bones from many types of dinosaurs that lived at the time. There are also the tooth and nail remains of the predatory dinosaur, Allosaurus, that brought the remains here to this site.
This dig site tour was only about an hour ride, but it was one of the highlights of our trip so far. Very cool. The Dino Museum also offers “dig for a day” options, and signs up volunteers. Sounds like a neat thing to do for a Summer for retirement. I think we may be visiting here again one day.
Worlds Largest Hot Springs
Says it right here on this hill…
If I had another day, I certainly would have gone.
Thermopolis although not as touristy as Cody, certainly more quiet and quaint seemed to have a lot going for it. Thermopolis seems the real deal for some quiet recreation.
The Road to Jackson Hole
The road to Jackson Hole from Thermopolis on 26 was neat, some parts were just beautiful. I loved where on the road various rock structures were described by signs describing what period the rock structures were formed. A geek’s paradise.
Wireless… It does exist!
We drove our way into Jackson Hole about 7:30 PM. There seemed to be more motorcycles on this day in this small city than there were cars. The street in front of the Cowboy Bar was one motorcycle after another; not a car parked on the street. I wish I could have snapped a picture.
We stayed at the Painted Buffalo Inn, a nice hotel, walking distance from down town, that had paper thin walls, but the best wireless I had since leaving Oregon. Oooooo… ahhhh….
Tonight’s mission was simple. Get a light dinner, tomorrow morning we might be taking flight in a hot air balloon, so we both wanted to take care with our tummies. Neither of us had ever been hot air ballooning, and based on my experiences with heights (even driving down the Beartooth Highway was a little scary), that this might be quite the scary experience for me.
I blogged my Day 11 blog as quickly as I could, we called the hot air balloon company leaving a message that we were in town for the ride the next day, and then we found some food in what would be our breakfast stop for next few days. The hot air ballooning company’s voice mail was not reassuring for tomorrow’s flight; today’s has been canceled because of high winds. No doubt it was the same crazy high winds that caught up with us the previous night at the rodeo in Cody. It was possible that we might have to flex out the ballooning idea…
Pout…
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