Big summer Trip, Devil's Tower & Cody

Day 10 (Monday) - A long day of driving.  We drove to Devil's Tower.  We opted not to take the scenic route as we were worn out of driving.  Just as well as there was a lot of road construction the route we took.  At one point, we were just driving in dirt.  No road at all, just following a "Follow Me" truck through dirt.  We did eventually make it to Devil's Tower and it was really impressive.  We were surprised that we got there quite a bit before my parents who went on a longer route, so we got some junior rangers and then we got our lunch and ate some.  Once everyone was there, we went and walked the trail around Devil's Tower.  The kids, especially Seth, loved the rock scrambling at the beginning.  Seth was upset that we didn't let him hike even more.  We had Noah in the stroller, and boy - that was one brutal hike with the stroller.  It was pretty steep and I was completely worn out and faint by the end.  The kids loved the hike, especially climbing on rocks and looking for climbers on the tower.  We got some snacks, got the Junior Ranger badges and then headed back to the car for the drive to Cody.

The drive to Cody was pretty long, but quite scenic.  I saw some pronghorn (I think everyone else missed it).  The mountains were beautiful - pretty steep, but we didn't take the most scenic / super steep way.  I couldn't get enough of the wildflowers - they were gorgeous.  We got stuck behind a truck painting lines, so I figured we would be way behind my parents, but we all got to Cody pretty close to the same time.

Day 11 (Tuesday) - Cody

We first went to the Buffalo Bill museums.  They had a wagon cooking food in the front, so we decided we'd definitely have to head over their for lunch.  We started with the art museum.  Or tried to.  I had told the kids about the playground inside, I guess an unwise move, so we had to take Noah and Logan there first, while the others say the art museum.  Then, we headed back to the art museum.  It was really nicely done, plus they had a few nice kids exhibits - the kids spent a lot of time on the computer making their own artwork using pieces of art from the museum.  Then, we went and the kids played more on the playground.  Then, we went to see the Indian museum.  Nicely done with lots of artifacts.  We watched a little presentation on the native americans.  It seemed like we kept losing Seth.  Then, we played some more on the playground.  At some point, we went and had our lunch outside and also sampled the muffins and beans from the wagon in front.  Quite good.  We went and saw the Buffalo Bill museum - very interesting as I knew very little about the man.  The kids liked the interactive parts - especially where you could watch a show about his show and where you could play a boardgame that he made.  Finally, we saw the natural history museum.  The kids stamped a booklet at different places throughout the museum and really enjoyed that.

Dad wasn't feeling great, so he went back to the townhouse and the rest of us went to the Heart Mountain interpretive center.  Noah fell asleep so we just pushed him around asleep in his stroller most of the time.  They had a very nice film and also a very nice museum.  I was quite impressed.  Heart Mountain was one of the internment centers for the Japanese during World War II.  The best part was the barracks showing what it looked like when they first got there and what it looked like once they settled in.  The kids got bored quickly and were being kind of loud, but I think Katsu still got to enjoy his time there.  Then, we went over and did a little walk around a memorial area where they pointed out different places.  None of the original buildings were open (probably only one or two are still there).  Then, we headed back to the townhouse for dinner.

After dinner, we hurried downtown to see the shoot-out at the Irma hotel.  We got there just as it was starting and it was pretty crowded.  It was pretty hokey, but the kids at least got to see a shoot-out.  It was hard to hear the actors, but that's probably okay, because they weren't much of actors.  Buffalo Bill must turn over in the grave every night when they play.

Cody was a lot of fun.  The kids really enjoyed playing at the park close to the townhouse as well.